Chocolate Mint Chip Cake (with Mint Choc Chip Frosting) Recipe

As promised here is the recipe for the cake I took along to the Clandestine Cake Club. If you want to try it and can't find the mint chips to buy, check out my 'Links' page for online stores.

Cake Ingredients:

200g granulated sugar

180g unsalted butter (softened)

2 eggs (beaten)

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

200g plain flour

I teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon bicarb

40g cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate)

125ml buttermilk

100g mint chips

Frosting Ingredients:

250g granulated sugar

3 egg whites

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

60ml water

pinch of salt

1 ½ teaspoon peppermint extract

100 g dark chocolate chips

Drop of green food colouring.

Cake Method:

Grease and line to 8” cake tins. Pre-heat your oven to 180^oC.

In a bowl cream together the butter and sugar for a few minutes until they are smooth, creamy and the colour has changed to pale yellow. Next add your beaten eggs and vanilla extract, beating for a few minutes until the mixture does not look curdled and it has very slightly increased in volume.

In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarb to incorporate some air. Mix in one third of the flour mix to your sugar/butter/egg mix. Then add one half of the buttermilk, mix until combined, and repeat with another third of the flour, rest of the buttermilk and finish with the last third of flour. Stir by hand to make sure all the flour has been incorporated if you are using a stand mixer. Now gently fold in the green mint chips to the cake batter. 

Divide the batter between the two cake pans and pop into the oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centre. Remove and leave in the tins for about 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Leave to cool completely.

Frosting Method:

In a bowl place the sugar, egg whites, water, tartar and salt. Place this over a pan of simmering water and beat on high with a hand mixer for 5 minutes. The mixture will develop into marshmallowy fluff. Remove from the heat and add your food colouring (amount will depend on type used, but use less and you can always add more) and mint extract. Beat for another two minutes. Now this mixture is still warm and I added my chocolate chips at this stage so they melted slightly and gave the frosting a marbled look. If you don’t want this, allow the ‘fluff’ to cool completely before adding the chips.

Place one cake on to your serving plate of choice. Taking a palate knife, spread some frosting on top and down the sides. Take the other cake and sandwich on top. Placing more frosting on top and down the sides. If desired add more chocolate chips on top. At the cake club, I plunged an ice cream cone into the top - not necessary - but fun.

The cake is very moist and very chocolatey, cut with the sharpness of the mint. And the sweet frosting gives it an almost ice cream like quality. Enjoy…