This was the cake that my daughter requested for her 11th birthday. It has chocolate cake and layers of a white chocolate mint ganache and is topped with a chocolate fudge frosting.
You guys – my little girl is 11 years old today. I can hardly believe it. Eleven years ago, I was a confused, excited and anxious mother-to-be. I had no idea if I would be good at my new job, if my child would even get along with me, and if the baby was going to be a boy or a girl.
Fast forward to today, and I am a proud mama to a bright and precocious young woman. Yes, we bicker, but I still love her unconditionally. She may find ways to annoy me, but she also finds moments to melt my heart. In a few short months, my baby girl will be off to middle school and embark on a new adventure at a new school. Thankfully, she will know many of the students in her grade, so it won’t be a completely unknown territory.
When I asked Addie what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she took a long time to decide. She concluded that it would be impossible to top last year’s chocolate Nutella salted caramel cake. She toyed with the idea of a chocolate caramel cake, funfetti cake, and salted caramel cake. In the end, she finally picked chocolate mint as her flavor combination. And then I was off to find a perfect recipe.
I ended up combination several different components for this cake. In all my years of baking, I have not come across a chocolate cake as good as the Hershey’s one. In fact, I used the Hershey’s cake recipe for Addie’s 6th birthday. I found a white chocolate mint ganache and added it in between each cake layer. Finally, I topped it off with a thick and rich chocolate fudge frosting.
Sadly, I had some issues with the frosting. I couldn’t quite get it to the consistency I wanted, so it was too thin, then too stiff. I began spreading it on the cake and noticed it was too thick and difficult to work with. So unfortunately, I did not end up with a beautiful cake. But, I did end up with a great tasting cake. It was so good, in fact, that both Addie and I gave this a 5 out of 5!
Happy 11th birthday to my baby girl!
Husband’s rating: 4 out of 5
Addie’s rating: 5 out of 5
My rating: 5 out of 5
Chocolate mint cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 and ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 and ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 and ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk of choice
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
White chocolate mint ganache
- 12 ounces white chocolate chopped finely
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 2-3 drops green food coloring
Chocolate fudge frosting
- 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 and ¼ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 5 and ¼ cups powdered sugar
- ⅔ cup milk of choice
- 2 teapsoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Bake the cake
- Preheat your oven to 350° F. Generously grease three 8" round cake pans and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt (I mixed this with a spatula). Add the eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla and mix by hand. Then turn the mixer on to low or medium low speed and mix until everything is well incorporated. Turn the mixer off and add in the boiling water by hand. Once the water is all mixed in, you can turn the mixer on low on to get the batter more uniform.
- Evenly divide the batter into your prepared pans and bake in your preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.
Make the ganache
- Place the chopped chocolate, heavy cream and butter over a double boiler. Alternatively, you can create your own by setting a small pot or saucepan over water-filled medium sized saucepan. Allow the water to boil; then turn down the heat to allow the water to simmer. Keep mixing the chocolate with a spatula until the chocolate and butter have melted completely.
- Remove the saucepan/bowl from the heat and add in the mint extract. Mix well.
- Transfer to your refrigerator to allow the ganache to set slightly. You want to make sure it's not too runny or too hard, so keep an eye on it.
- Transfer the ganache to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (you can also use a handheld mixer). Beat the ganache on low to medium low speed. Do not over mix the ganache or else it will become crumbly. If this happens, heat the ganache up in the microwave (in a heatproof bowl!) and start over.
Make the frosting
- In a small saucepan, melt your butter. Then mix in the cocoa powder until it forms a paste. Remove the saucepan from the stove and transfer the contents to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer).
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar and milk, alternating between the two. Keep adjusting the ingredients until you achieve the consistency you want. If the frosting is too thick, add more milk. If it's too runny, add more powdered sugar. Finally, add the vanilla extract.
Assemble the cake
- Place one cake layer, flat side down, on a cake plate or serving platter. Spread half of the ganache on top, reaching all the way to the edges of the cake. Top with another layer of cake (you may need to trim off any domes on the cake that may have formed during baking). Then add the remaining ganache.
- Add the final layer of cake on top, with the flat side facing up so you have a smooth surface.
- Frost the top and sides of the cake with a thin layer of frosting and refrigerate. Once the frosting has set, add the remaining frosting to the top and sides of the cake.
- Slice and enjoy!
Notes
I was pretty far into putting everything together for this, when I realized that in the instructions it says to “add the eggs, MILK, vegetable oil, and vanilla”… however there is no ingredient listing for milk in the “cake” section. Is there supposed to be milk in this? Bc now in looking up a bunch of other chocolate cake recipes trying to figure out of I need to add it, and if so how much.
Author
Oops – thanks for catching this error. There is 1 cup of milk in the ingredients that I accidentally left out! I will make that correction!