I never ceases to unnerve me that I married someone named Dale when my mother’s name is Dale, too. I try not to think about it too much. However, of course, I love them both dearly…but only one of them is an excellent baker.
And that person is my mother.
And this is her cake. And it’s a true winner. Especially at the holidays.
It wouldn’t be Christmas in the Wallis household without Chocolate Mint Cake. It’s a decadent, rich, fudgy treat made more festive with an impossibly sweet mint-green tinted frosting. Because of the richness, my mom always cuts the sheet cake into individual two-bite pieces of about an inch square each. Sure, you might eat two or three pieces at a time…but you probably wouldn’t want a traditional cake slice worth all at once.
Or maybe you would, you beast!
Anyway, what’s also great about this refrigerator cake—that’s where you’ll want to store it, because it’s best enjoyed chilled—is that you can tint the frosting any color you like. If you are going to make it for Easter, for example, pink or yellow food coloring would be very Spring appropriate. If you’re baking the cake for a Halloween party, well, that frosting’s just got to be orange, right?
If you’re used to wiping up a Betty Crocker box cake, you might find this recipe a complicated process, but trust me when I tell you, it’s soooo worth it, and it yields a lot. It’s the perfect cake to bake, pre-slice, and take to a party. That, or you could put together five or six slices in a festive holiday tin to give to teachers, your hairdresser, or to that dude that takes care of your cat while you’re away.
Just make sure to hide some for yourself in the back of the refrigerator, because it goes quickly!
DALE’S CHOCOLATE MINT CAKE
Servings: 12 to 16
Prep: 30 to 45 minutes / Bake: 30 minutes
Cake Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2/3 cup butter (that’s one stick + 2.5 to 3 tablespoons from a second stick), room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 4 squares melted chocolate (We use Baker’s Unsweetened Baking Squares)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional – or make a cake with half walnuts, half without)
Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
- 4 cups (or 1 pound) confectioners’ sugar
- ½ cup of butter (that’s 1 stick), room temperature
- 3 tablespoons of whole milk
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- Green (or pink, or blue, or whatever) food coloring
Topping Ingredients:
- 1 square chocolate (Baker’s, like above)
- 1/3 cup butter (or 5 and 1/3 tablespoons)
Steps:
- For the cake: Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder in medium sized bowl.
- In another larger bowl, beat butter, sugar, and eggs with a hand or stand mixer.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients to the beaten wet mixture then add milk, melted chocolate*, vanilla, and walnuts, if using.
- Pour batter into a greased and lightly floured 9×13 pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350º F (177º C) (or 325º F (163º C) if using a glass pan).
- Allow to cool completely, in the pan.
- For the frosting: Mix together the confectioners’ sugar, butter, milk, extract, and food coloring.
- When cake is cooled, frost the cake.
- Then, melt together the remaining square of chocolate and the butter. then drizzle over the cake from the back of a spoon to create a thin layer over the frosting.
- Refrigerate immediately so that the top layer of chocolate hardens.
- When it’s time to serve the cake, cut into one inch square pieces and transfer to a serving platter.
- Keeps for about a week in the refrigerator.
* To melt chocolate, use a double boiler, or a small sauce pan filled 1/3 of the way with water with a heat resistant glass bowl resting on top. You want to gently simmer the water; you do not want a rapid boil. You’ll want to constantly stir the chocolate until all the lumps are gone. Alternatively, you can use the microwave, for speed, but you need to keep your eyes on it so that it does not scorch. Microwave chocolate in a glass bowl at 50% power for short intervals…stir…then go again. If you burn your chocolate, start over from scratch, because burned chocolate is bad chocolate, dude.
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