The kids and I have been doing so much baking around this house, even if there are hardly any posts to show for it lately. I think we've done a lot of "routine" baking....you know, the old standby stuff. We have made lots of brownies, chocolate chips cookies and breads.
However, a few weeks ago we did do something different. The kids and I made a birthday cake for my friend. A mint chocolate chip birthday cake!!! It wasn't something that we made up, that's for sure. I wish I could take credit for this one! The weather had been so nice at the start of May that summer was really on my mind. Summer = Ice cream. Ice cream can really only mean two things: Tiger Tail or Mint Chocolate Chip. (Well at least to me, anyway). My husband would likely strongly disagree on the Tiger Tail ice cream flavor. It was hard to find for awhile....but I feel like it's making a resurgence! Maybe I'll try and tackle a cake with that flavor one day.....
Anyway..... to Pinterest I went. It took me about 37 seconds to decide that THIS was it. The recipe looks pretty similar to other chocolate cakes I've made in the past, and the buttercream is also pretty much exactly like one that I usually make. This seemed like a low risk, high reward recipe to try. I'm so glad I did! Again, here is the LINK to the recipe that I used, courtesy of confessionsofacookbookqueen.com. I made a couple minor changes, so I will rewrite what I did, here:
For the cake:
-2 cups white sugar
-1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
-1 cup cocoa powder (I used Fry's Cocoa)*
-1 1/2 tsp baking powder
-1 1/2 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp salt
-2 eggs
-1 cup milk (I used 2%)
-1/2 cup canola oil
-1 tsp vanilla extract (the original recipe calls for 2 tsp)
-3/4 cup boiling water
*The original post asks for Dutch Process cocoa powder. I have always wondered what this means. Thank you Google, for helping me find this super easy explanation, via Foodbloggersofcanada.com.
-Combine all dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, and gently stir until fully combined (I just use a spoon at this point so I don't have a dry ingredient explosion in my kitchen).
-Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Scrape the bowl and then slowly whisk in the boiling water.
-Pour batter into two lightly greased and parchment lined 8 inch round pans. (The original recipe also notes that you can use 9 inch pans). I prefer a taller cake and usually stick with 8 inch.
-Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in a preheated 350F oven. Start checking the cake at the 30ish minute mark. Allow to cool in the pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes and then remove and allow to completely cool on the racks for about 2 hours.
For the icing:
-1 cup soft butter (I have found that you can also sub sticks of margarine for this)
-1/4 cup 2% milk (the original recipe calls for 1/3 cup heavy cream)
-1 tsp mint extract (the original recipe calls for 2 tsp, but I think less is more when it comes to mint extract). I also took out the 1 tsp of vanilla extract called for in the original recipe.
-a couple drops green food coloring. (I used a couple dabs of Wilton Kelly Green paste)
-4 cups icing sugar
-2 oz (that's 2 squares) of semisweet baking chocolate, finely chopped
Cream butter until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in icing sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with 1 tbsp of milk after each addition. Add mint extract and green food coloring. If you desire a thinner consistency, add additional milk, one teaspoon at a time. Lastly, beat in chopped chocolate.
Fill and frost the two cakes. This is such a nice easy one to frost because it's supposed to look like ice cream. Don't worry about getting it smooth!
I wish I could have gotten a picture of this cake when it was cut, to show how nice and dark the chocolate cake was. This is a very sweet cake...one little slice goes a long way.
Enjoy!
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