Well, it’s official, I’m a published author! So I guess it’s time to pack up this here blog and put an end to all this. PSYCH! I love it way too much to ever quit. What possible other reason could I give people for making 4-layer chocolate cakes every other Wednesday?
This Wednesday’s cake? A Mint Choc Chip Layer Cake. Four layers of tender chocolate cake, three thick layers of mint choc chip buttercream, and a shiny chocolate glaze.
Where all my mint choc chip fans at? Holla at me if it was your favourite childhood ice cream pick too! I will always love it, and I was faithful to it for many years. Faithful, really, right up until ‘getting ice cream’ stopped being a regular feature of my life.
Nowadays I’m more likely to pick whatever the weirdest flavour available is. But I still love the creamy, bright, rich, and slightly bitter combination of my old favourite.
And it’s those very things – the sprightly peppermint buttercream, the bitter glaze and chocolate chunks, the tender cake layers – that make this cake work too.
The very perfect thing to celebrate any occasion, like oh, say a birthday, and anniversary or…A BOOK LAUNCH!
I took way too many photos of this cake because I think it’s a bit of a babe; there’s just something about that pale green icing and the drippy chocolate glaze.
So scroll through if you’re interested, and if you’re not the the recipe’s just after the next photo. I hope you’re week’s going well, with plenty of cake, and something mega planned for the weekend.
PS – Love those colourful napkins from Antipodean Love!
xx Sarah.
- 1 + ¾ cup (265g) plain flour
- ½ cup (50g) cocoa powder
- 2 cups (400g) caster sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp instant espresso powder (optional)
- ¾ cup (185ml) milk
- ½ cup (125ml) canola oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (250ml) hot water
- 2 + ¾ sticks (300g) butter, soft
- 3 cups (450g) icing sugar (aka powdered sugar)
- 2 tsp peppermint essence
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- drop of green food colouring (optional)
- 100g (4oz) dark chocolate, chopped into chips
- 100g (4oz) dark chocolate, chopped
- 75g (3oz) butter
- 2 tsp corn syrup, glucose syrup or maple syrup
- Grease and line 2x 18cm (8inch) cake tins, and preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- To make the cake, sift the dry ingredients together (you really need to for this cake, otherwise you get cocoa lumps) into a large bowl.
- In a separate jug, whisk together the milk, oil and eggs. Pour them into the dry ingredients and stir together with a wooden spoon until combined.
- Finally add the hot water and stir until smooth - the batter will be fairly liquid.
- Divide between the two pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until risen and springing back when touched. Leave to cool completely in the pans.
- To make the buttercream, beat the butter for at least two minutes in a mixer at a high speed, until light, pale and fluffy (it can take up to 5 minutes).
- Add the sugar in two batches, beating well after each.
- While continuously beating, stream in the peppermint essence and then the cream, and the colouring, if using.
- Finally, fold through the chopped chocolate.
- To make the glaze, melt the chocolate, butter, and syrup in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir gently until everything is melted and combined, and then set aside to cool.
- To assemble the cake, trim the layers if they are domed, and then slice each cake evenly into two.
- Place one layer onto a cake stand, and spread over a third of the buttercream - leaving the edge swirly and messy. Repeat with the remaining layers and buttercream, pressing downy gently on the layers as you go, and finishing with a bare cake layer.
- Pour the glaze slowly over the top, letting it drizzle down the sides, and leave to set for a while (if it's hot, you might need to fridge it for a while) then serve!
congrats!!! so excited to dive into your book (: mint chocolate was never my favorite (i was a cherry garcia child), but it’s definitely up there.
Right there with you. My grandparents used to live near an Ice Cream Farm (it’s as good as it sounds) and we’d go every summer. There were about a million flavours of ice cream to choose from but I’d always go back to Mint Choc Chip. Now, if only my parents had allowed a two scoop cone, I might have broadened my horizons…
ALSO… Super Mega Congratulations on your book! We have to wait a little longer for it over here in the UK but I know it’s gonna be worth it!
Hi Sarah! Congrats on the book! I love your photos and want to make everything. Just a quick question :you mentioned that this is a buttermilk cake, but I don’t see it in the ingredients?
Total brain misfire Cheryl! I hardly ever have buttermilk in the house, but this is a beautifully tender cake, regardless!
What could be a better way to celebrate than chocolate cake. Congrats on your book!
This cake is what my dreams are made of! Congratulations on the book too! Hooray!
This is the perfect celebration cake for such a major occasion! I love it. And the mint chocolate chip frosting, yummmm! :)
Mint chocolate chip is all-time fave ice cream flavor!
I too, love mint chocolate chip ice cream! If I can’t find anything peanut butter on the menu, Mint chocolate chip is my go to. It’s also my little sister’s very favorite, and she is a goner for anything mint + chocolate! She will freak over this cake! I can’t wait until your cookbook releases in the U.S.!
Mint and chocolate.. definitely one of my favorite combinations!
PRAISE HANDS to this little beauty. I’m drooling so hardcore right now!
Congrats on the book release. It’s on the Christmas wish list.
Thanks Josie! I was just checking out your blog, I dig it!
oooooh my hubby would love this cake-he’s all about mint + choc!
I totally want in on this action. That cake is gorgeous. Mint chocolate chip was definitely my favorite as a kid, and I’ll definitely still eat it today. Can’t wait to try this.
woah. What an epic cake. And a book deal? good on you, that is my dream. so fab to hear that dreams can come true for food bloggers.