Chocolate Mint Cake

I planned a little surprise birthday dinner for a friend recently. Luckily it went well and the birthday girl was indeed surprised and very happy! I asked the restaurant if I could bring a cake and started thinking about what to bake. I remembered that chocolate mint is her favorite so I thought of a chocolate cake with a minty filling. I had great success with my chocolate cake and Oreo cream cheese filling so I decided to adapt that into a chocolate mint cake. I used the same cake recipe but added 1 tablespoon of mint extract. The filling also had mint and green food coloring and chopped up mint aero. The cake was then topped with a chocolate ganache and mint aero balls. I forgot to take pictures at the restaurant so I only have a few photos to share. The cake was absolutely delicious! Light and minty but not overly so. My friend's dad really enjoyed the cake and I got more compliments about the cake later from her family! 

I'm sharing this with Alphabakes which I'm hosting this month. Caroline from Caroline Makes is my co host. The letter this month is M for mint. 

For the cake

350g caster sugar

220g plain flour
85g cocoa powder
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1.5 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
250mls milk
125mls vegetable oil
1 tablespoon peppermint extract
250mls boiling water, cooled for a few minutes


For the filling
400mls double cream
225g cream cheese
85g icing sugar
green food colouring

2 large bars of Mint Aero, roughly chopped

For the ganache
200mls double cream
200g dark chocolate 

To decorate

Mint Aero balls

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Grease and line 2 x 18cm round tins. 
• Place the sugar, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix briefly.
• Add in the milk, oil, eggs, peppermint extract and finally the slightly cooled boiling water.
• Mix until smooth.
• Divide the batter between the 2 cake tins and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
• To make the filling, whip the cream until stiff then set aside. 
• Beat the cream cheese with the icing sugar until smooth. Add in a little green food colouring and mix thoroughly. 
• Stir in the whipped cream and chopped mint aero chocolate. 
• Chill in the fridge if not using immediately.
• To make the ganache, heat the cream gently until it's just starting to bubble - don't let it overboil.
• Add in the chocolate in small pieces whilst stirring.
• Whisk for a few minutes until it's smooth.
• Allow to cool for 5-10minutes before using.
• To assemble the cake, place one cake upside down on the cake board. 
• Spread the cream cheese filling evenly on the cake, smoothing out the edges as you go. 
• Add the second cake on top.
• Pour the ganache from a height on to the centre of the cake and allow it to spread out until it's dripping down the edges of the cake. 
• Decorate with mint aero balls.