Chocolate Mint Cake

5 from 2 votes

This chocolate mint cake recipe combines dark, fudgy layers of chocolate cake with a minty, green chocolate freckled buttercream. Think of mint chocolate chip ice cream in cake form.

Prep Time45

Cook Time35

Total Time1 20

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Worldwide

Servings:

Calories: 662kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Cake

225 g Unsalted butter softened
350 g Dark muscovado sugar
2 Eggs large, free-range
3 tablespoons Cocoa powder
75 g Dark chocolate melted
150 ml Buttermilk
350 g Plain flour all purpose flour
3 teaspoons Baking powder
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda Baking soda
275 ml Water just boiled

For the Mint Choc Chip Buttercream

325 g Butter - softened
90 ml Double cream heavy cream (48% fat content)
625 g Icing sugar
Green food colouring gel look for mint green
Peppermint extract to taste
100 g Dark chocolate chopped fine

Instructions

Make the Chocolate Cake

Put some water on to boil in the kettle and preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F/ GM 4.
Grease and line 4 x 6-inch tins or 3 x 8-inch tins* see notes.
Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or using a bain-Marie.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together using electric beaters until they are lighter and fluffy in texture. This will take approximately 3 minutes.
Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well between each addition.
Mix the cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of the water from the recently boiled kettle together to form a smooth paste. Add this to the cake batter and beat until well combined.
Pour in the melted chocolate and mix again.
Sieve the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.
Pour half of the buttermilk into the cake batter mix and mix in in.
Add half of the flour mixture and mix it in briefly.
Repeat with the remaining buttermilk and flour
Add 275ml recently boiled water and stir until it is just combines.
Pour equal amounts of batter into the cake tins and put them into the over the bake. This will take around 25-30 minutes for the 6-inch cakes and 30-35 minutes for the 8-inch cakes.
Check that the cakes are cooked by inserting a metal skewer into the centre - it should come out clean. Once cooked, take the cakes out of the oven and let them stand for 2 minutes, before removing them from the tins and allowing them to cool on a wire rack.

Make the Buttercream

Put the icing sugar, cream and butter into a large bowl and beat, with electric beaters, until smooth.
If using colouring, add very small amounts of the gel (using the end of a cocktail stick or small knife) mixing well after each addition until you reach a shade that you are satisfied with.
Next, add the peppermint extract. The strength of the peppermint flavour does vary across brands, so start by adding in 1 teaspoon, taste and increase the quantity used as necessary.
Finally, fold the chocolate into the icing until it is vevenly distributed.

Assemble the Cake

To assemble the cake lay one of the layers of cake onto a board and spread a couple of spoonfuls of the icing on top. then add another layer of cake.
Add an equal amount of icing, spread it out and add the third layer of cake. If you are making the 4-layer 6-inch cake, repeat with the final layer of cake.
Once the final layer of cake has been added, carefully spread a thin layer of icing all over the top and sides of the cake - a palette knife is good for this. This thin layer gives a good base to add the rest of the icing.
I found that adding about half of the remaining icing in the next layer, followed by the rest in a final layer produced a good end result.
Move your cake onto a serving plate and let it stand for 5 minutes. Then use your palette knife to put a neat pattern onto the cake - I gently pulled my knife from the bottom to the top of the cake all around the sides to give a subtle line effect all around. On the top, I pulled the knife from the centre to the edge in a wide arch

Notes

Cake Tins

Use the correct-sized tins. You’ll need either three 8-inch sandwich tins or four 6-inch cake tins. The quantities listed are enough to make 3 layers in 8-inch tins or 4 layers in 6-inch tins.

If, like me, you only have cake tins in pairs, the mixture is fine to sit for the time it takes for the first 2 cakes to cook. Once baked, remove the cakes from the tins as soon as possible. Wash, dry, grease & line the tin/s as before and bake the remaining cake/s.

For a smaller version, halve the ingredients then you’ll have sufficient batter to make a 2 layer cake in 6-inch cake pans.

Tips

Always use digital kitchen scales and measure your ingredients using grams. It’s THE most accurate way to measure baking ingredients. I do not support the use of cup measures EVER as they are just not accurate.
Always grease your sandwich tins and line the base with baking paper to make the cake easy to remove.
The chocolate cake mixture is quite thin, so use classic sandwich tins without loose bottoms and don’t use springform tins, as they could leak.
Use baking strips to help the cake bake evenly.
Make sure the cake is completely cold before applying the buttercream. If the cake is still warm then the buttercream will melt.
If you include chopped chocolate in the peppermint buttercream then it will be difficult to pipe as the pieces of chocolate may block the nozzle.
The precise amount of peppermint extract needed to flavour your buttercream will depend on two things: the strength of the extract you are using (all brands do vary) and your own taste preferences. Begin with 1 teaspoon and add more in gradually from there until you are happy with the taste.
Keep the cake in an airtight container and store it at room temperature. Once cut cover the exposed edges of the cake with foil or food-wrap to keep it fresh. Don’t be tempted to keep it in the fridge as it will make the cake dry out faster.

Nutrition