Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

February 22, 2013 by 10 Comments

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake by JavaCupcake.com

I’m heading out of town this weekend to Garmish, Germany for a marriage retreat courtesy of the US Army.  Three days and two nights at the Edelweiss Resort all on the Army’s dime.  When they offer these kinds of weekends – you don’t tell the Army no.  You say, THANK YOU and enjoy yourself!

Unfortunately, by going on this retreat I’ll be missing my dear friend Chasity’s birthday on Sunday.  Sad, yes.  BUT – being the awesome friend I am… I’m making her birthday cake before I head out of town!  Her husband asked me last week if I’d make the cake for her and of course I jumped at the chance.  Chasity’s favorite flavors are mint & chocolate chip.  No lie about this too.  We went to Poland together last weekend and stopped in Dresden and she ate two giant scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream.  She LOVES this stuff!  (PS Sorry, Chasity for calling you out on the ice cream haha!)

I started with a basic two layer 8-in chocolate cake.  You can use any recipe you like…  for a quick cake, I like chocolate fudge box mix or you can use my favorite recipe for chocolate cake. Since most of the awesomeness of this cake comes from the frosting and the decorations… the cake part wasn’t my primary focus. I frosted the cake with buttercream – but kicked it up a million notches by adding mint and chocolate chunks to create the mint chocolate chip aspect of the cake. For garnish I made a mint chocolate bark that was super simple yet so darn yummy.  Overall – this cake ruled!

Enjoy!

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Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

Total Time: 6 hours

Yield: 1 2-layer 8-inch cake

Ingredients

    Chocolate Cake
  • Click on this LINK for the RECIPE
    • Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 2lbs powdered sugar
  • 1 Tbsp mint extract
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • Wilton Food Coloring Gel - Green
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
    • Chocolate Ganache
  • 4oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla
    • Mint Chocolate Chip Bark
  • Click on this LINK for the RECIPE

Instructions

    Chocolate Cake
  1. Make 1/2 the recipe for the chocolate cake using the recipe in the link above.
  2. Cover and freeze layers for several hours or overnight.
    3. Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream
  3. Cream butter and shortening together until smooth.
  4. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
  5. Mix in the mint, salt, and heavy cream. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until light and fluffy. If the mixture is too thick, add more heavy cream.
  6. Add the food coloring and mix until the color is uniform.
  7. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
    8. Chocolate Ganache
  8. Place chocolate chunks in a medium glass bowl.
  9. In a small sauce pan, heat the milk, butter and vanilla until it boils.
  10. Pour immediately over the chocolate and let stand for 2 minutes.
  11. Using a metal spoon, stir slowly and gently until all the chocolate has melted making sure not to incorporate any air into the ganache.
    12. Mint Chocolate Chip Bark
  12. Follow the recipe found in the link above.
    13. Assembly
  13. Trim off the rounded edges of the top of both layers of cake.
  14. Using an offset spatula, spread a 1/2 inch layer of buttercream over the first layer of cake. Make sure to spread it flat and evenly all the way across the edge of the cake.
  15. Spread a thin crumb coat of buttercream around the outside of the cake. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
  16. Generously spread more buttercream around the outside of the cake until you have about a 1/2 inch layer of frosting. Smooth out the buttercream.
  17. Prepare the ganache on the top of the cake in the center. Using an offset spatula, gently bring the ganache to the edge of the cake and let it pour over. Start by pouring a small amount of ganache, you can always add more if necessary.
  18. Garnish with a stack of mint chocolate chip bark.
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Mint Chocolate Chip Cake by JavaCupcake.com

Filed Under: cake, chocolate, chocolate cake, frosting and icing, mint frosting, peppermint and mint, recipes

Frosted Peppermint Dark Chocolate Cake Donuts

December 3, 2012 by 10 Comments

Living here in Germany, I don’t get the opportunity to eat very many cake donuts.  Last week, the commissary bakery was selling a glazed chocolate cake donut that was pretty yummy.  And now… I can’t get them off my mind.

So my cake donut obsession and my current peppermint obsession came together today to make my first peppermint recipe of the season!  Baked glazed peppermint dark chocolate cake donuts! NOM!

The recipe is a simple one.  Two bowls, one whisk and just a little bit of mixing are necessary to make a thick, fudge brownie type batter that will get piped into a donut pan and baked to puffy, cakey perfection.

Instead of a typical glaze, I wanted a thicker frosting.  So, I made my vanilla buttercream and made it a little smoother than I would if I were frosting a cupcake by adding more heavy cream.   After frosting each donut, I topped them with crushed peppermint candy canes! YUMMM!

Enjoy!

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Frosted Peppermint Dark Chocolate Cake Donuts

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 13 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: 10 full size donuts and 12 mini donuts

Ingredients

    Donuts
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 tsp peppermint extract
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
    • Frosting
  • 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
  • 3-4 Tbsp heavy cream
  • Crushed peppermint candy canes or peppermint sprinkles for garnish

Instructions

    Donuts
  1. Preheat oven to 325 F degrees. Spray donut pans with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients... flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa. Make sure there are no sugar clumps remaining.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and extracts.
  4. Make a well in the flour mixture. Slowly pour in the wet ingredients and begin to whisk. Whisk until smooth, about 15 strokes.
  5. Spoon batter into a piping bag (you can use a ziploc bag too). Squeeze batter into donut pan filling about 2/3 full.
  6. Bake full size donuts for 12-14 minutes. Bake mini donuts for 9-11 minutes. The donuts will be done when you gently press down on them and they spring back.
  7. Cool in pans for about 3-5 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
    8. Frosting
  8. Beat together the sugar and butter until smooth. Mix in the vanilla extract.
  9. Add the heavy cream slowly until you get your desired consistency. I like my frosting smooth, creamy and spreadable
  10. Spread frosting onto each donut. Sprinkle crushed candy canes or sprinkles on top.
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Filed Under: bread and pretzels, chocolate, dark chocolate, doughnuts, doughnuts, peppermint, peppermint and mint, recipes

Thin Mint Cupcakes

January 25, 2012 by 26 Comments

It’s totally that time of year… GIRL SCOUT COOKIE TIME!

I can’t resist.  I bought 10 boxes.  Yes.  You read that correctly.  10 boxes.

2 to eat (with in the first 24  hours).

8 to bake with.

Yeah… you read that correctly.  8 boxes to bake with.

Last year I made Samoa Cupcakes and Tagalong Brownies.  This year… I started with Thin Mint Cupcakes.  These cupcakes are a super decadent chocolate cake filled with a whipped chocolate ganache topped with a mint buttercream.  Serious amounts of NOM NOM NOM.

PS…. This is my new favorite chocolate cake recipe.  I know it’s got beer in it… but I’m totally using it for every chocolate cake I make from now on!!

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes

1 bottle of Guinness Stout Beer
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.  Line cupcake pans with liners.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
  3. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter on medium-high heat.  Add the vanilla beer, whisk together and heat until it just begins to simmer.  Whisk in the cocoa powder and espresso powder and heat until it just begins to bubble up.  DO NOT BOIL.  Remove from heat and whisk until smooth.   Cool slightly.
  4. In the meantime, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sour cream.  Slowly pour in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture. NOTE:  DO THIS SLOW! You don’t want to cook the eggs, so start pouring a very small amount of the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture… DO NOT DUMP IT IN ALL AT ONCE.
  5. In three parts, add the flour mixture to the chocolate/egg mixture.  Whisk until smooth.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, making sure everything is incorporated.
  6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter.
  7. Bake 18-20 minutes, rotating pan after 12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  8. Cool in pan for 3-4 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before filling and frosting.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache

4 oz dark chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp corn syrup

1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

  1. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium glass bowl.
  2. In a small sauce pan, heat the heavy cream and corn syrup just until it bubbles.
  3. Pour heavy cream over chocolate and stir until smooth.  If the chocolate doesn’t melt all the way, place the bowl over a double boiler and continue to stir until smooth.
  4. Mix in the butter and extract.
  5. Allow ganache to cool to room temperature.
  6. Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the cooled ganache until fluffy.  Don’t over mix or it will get grainy.

Vanilla Bean Peppermint Buttercream

12 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
4 tbsp cream cheese, room temperature
2 lbs powdered sugar
1/2 cup Madagascar Vanilla Bean Cream
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
pinch of salt
Wilton Green Food Gel

  1.  Cream together the butter and cream cheese.
  2. Add half the powdered sugar and mix on high until incorporated and smooth.
  3. Beat in half the vanilla bean cream until smooth.  Scrape the sides of the bowl, making sure all the sugar is combined.
  4. Add the remaining sugar and the peppermint extract.
  5. Mix in the food gel until it’s the color you desire.
  6. Add remaining vanilla bean cream until you get the consistency you want.  Mix on high 3-4 minutes until smooth and fluffy.

To Assemble Cupcakes:

Thin Mint Cookies
Peppermint Buttercream
Chocolate Shavings
Piping bag & large round tip
Apple corer

  1. Core each cupcake using the apple corer.
  2. Fill each cupcake with whipped ganache.  (I filled a disposable piping bag, cut off the top and filled each one with that.)
  3. Using a large round tip and a piping  bag, pipe a round swirl of buttercream on to each cupcake.
  4. Top with a Thin Mint cookie and chocolate shavings.
  5. EAT! ENJOY!

And this is what you do when you have left over peppermint buttercream.  NOM NOM NOM

Filed Under: buttercream, buttercream, chocolate, chocolate cupcakes, cookie cupcakes, cookie cupcakes, cream cheese, cupcake recipes, filled cupcakes, frosting and icing, ganache, ganache, girl scout cookie cupcakes, Madagascar vanilla beans, mint cupcakes, peppermint, peppermint and mint, recipes, top posts sidebar, whipped cream, whipping cream

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011

December 12, 2011 by 4 Comments

I am so super excited to be a part of the 1st Annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!   The cookie swap had over 600 participants in it’s first year… I’d say that was a HUGE SUCCESS!

I was paired up with two other fabulous military wives and bloggers here in Europe to send a dozen of my homemade cookies to!

Carrie Fields of Fields of Cake and Other Good Stuff

Jessica Sutherland of Jessica Lynn Writes

These fabulous ladies received one of my most favorite recipes for holiday cookies, but with a twist!  I took my tried and true recipe for sugar cookies and added a little mint, dark chocolate chips, and green food coloring turning them into “Grinch Cookies”!  Green and black mint chocolate chip cookies!  Seriously so YUM!

(Sorry, the only picture I snapped before I packaged them up was this pic with my camera phone!)

Grinch (aka Mint Chocolate Chip) Cookies
Makes 3 dozen cookies

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp peppermint or mint extract
4-5 drops green food coloring
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp milk
1 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Nestle brand)

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together.
  2. Add the eggs and beat on high for 2 minutes or until smooth and fluffy.
  3. Add the peppermint extract and food coloring and mix until all the color has been combined.  Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure all the color is incorporated.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
  5. In three parts, add the flour.  Between each addition add a tablespoon of milk.  Mix flour only until combined.
  6. Fold in the dark chocolate chips.
  7. Cover dough and place in freezer for 20-30 minutes or chill in refrigerator for at least an hour.
  8. While the dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 400 F degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  9. After the dough has chilled, scoop 1-1 1/2 inch balls onto the cookie sheet 2in apart.  Press each ball gently until flat (unless you want little round ball cookies, then leave them round).  The rounder the edges of your cookies, the rounder they will bake.  If you like imperfection like I do… just leave them with jagged, rough edges.  I pressed a couple extra dark chocolate chips into the top of a few of the cookies, just cause it’s pretty!
  10. Bake 7-8 minutes.  Do not over bake!  You want the bottoms to just begin to get golden, brown but not dark!
  11. Leave cookies on pan for 30 seconds before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Filed Under: chocolate, cookies, holiday, peppermint, peppermint and mint, recipes, seasonal

White Chocolate Candy Cane Blossoms

November 11, 2011 by 6 Comments

Halloween is barely over…. Thanksgiving is still two weeks away… but this girl has CHRISTMAS on the brain!  Last weekend I made white chocolate peppermint cupcakes for the craft fair which were a HUGE HIT.  I had some left over Hershey’s Candy Cane Kiss chocolates and figured I’d come up with something delicious to make with them.

Peanut butter blossom cookies are traditionally made with a peanut butter cookie and a Hershey Kiss… but I thought, what about a white chocolate cookie and a Candy Cane Kiss?  PERFECT!

Now, I know that white chocolate liqueur might not be easy to find… so you could make these with vanilla extract and some milk instead of the liqueur.  But, if you can find the white chocolate… use it.  It’s subtle but SO YUMMO.

White Chocolate Candy Cane Blossoms
Makes 2 dozen (and a few extra) cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp white chocolate liqueur
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Green and red sugar crystals
1 bag of Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.  Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.
  3. Cream together, with an electric mixer, the butter and sugar.
  4. Add the egg and beat on high for 2 minutes or until smooth and fluffy.  Scrape the sides and beat again for 1 minute.
  5. Mix in the white chocolate liqueur.
  6. Add the flour and mix on medium speed just until combined.  Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure all the flour is incorporated.  Do not over mix.
  7. Roll 12 1-inch balls of dough in the red sugar crystals and place on cookie sheet.
  8. Roll 12 1-inch balls of dough in the green sugar crystals and place a cookie sheet.
  9. Bake one cookie sheet at a time for 8-10 minutes.
  10. Cool on pan for 1 minute then place an unwrapped Candy Cane Kiss in the center of each cookie.
  11. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Filed Under: blossoms, candy filled cookies, cookies, featured, holiday, peppermint, peppermint and mint, recipes, white chocolate

Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

July 10, 2011 by 8 Comments

Hola cupcakers! :) Hope that you’re all having a great weekend! I’m a little behind on posting, because July is a crazy busy month for us, but I’m always baking (of course!) these mint chocolate chip cupcakes were a big deal at work :) hope you like them too!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: chocolate, chocolate cupcakes, cupcake recipes, featured, peppermint and mint, posts by jenn, recipes

Candy Cane Cupcakes

November 21, 2010 by 13 Comments

I’m not gonna lie… I’m kinda over pumpkin and spice.  I’ve made breads, cookies, and whoopie pies out of pumpkin and I’m all pumpkin’d out! So when it came time to bake cupcakes for Will Bake for Food, I decided chocolate and peppermint was the next best thing! [Read more...]

Filed Under: buttercream, chocolate, featured, peppermint, peppermint and mint, recipes, top posts sidebar

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

February 28, 2010 by 2 Comments

Yesterday’s mini cupcake disaster inspired me to turn the rest of the chocolate batter into perfect regular size cupcakes.  I was able to salvage enough for 21 perfect Chocolate Mint cupcakes. [Read more...]

Filed Under: chocolate, featured, peppermint and mint, recipes