Chocolate Cake with Mint Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

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A winner at any time of the year, the classic combination of chocolate and mint works well for this delicious Easter themed cake. Soft, light and moist chocolate sponge cake, sandwiched and covered with mint buttercream frosting, loaded with fine granules of dark chocolate mint.

Even better, decorate this cake with a luscious chocolate mint nest filled with mini chocolate eggs, and I guarantee you will have a very Happy Easter!

How to make Chocolate Cake with Mint Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

This recipe is based on my Butter and Oil Cakes – Core Recipe. I have simply added coffee, replaced the cornflour with cocoa and adjusted the flour accordingly.

Collect all your ingredients together:

For the cake:

• coffee powder and water
• unsalted butter, cubed
• plain/all-purpose flour
• cocoa
• fine salt
• baking powder
• bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
• light brown sugar
• caster sugar
• vegetable oil
• large eggs
• natural yoghurt

For the mint chocolate buttercream frosting:

• unsalted butter, at room temperature
• fine salt
• icing sugar
• cream or milk
• peppermint extract
• mint green food colouring (optional)
• mint dark chocolate

To decorate:

• mint dark chocolate
• chocolate mini eggs

How to make this amazing cake:

1. Grease and line 2 x 20cm/8in round cake tins
2. Mix the coffee powder with the water.
3. Using a microwave safe mixing bowl, melt the butter in a microwave. Leave to cool a little whilst you collect all the remaining ingredients together.
4. Add the dry ingredients: sieve in the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda directly into the bowl and then add both the sugars.
5. Add the wet ingredients: oil, eggs, coffee and yoghurt
6. Beat with a balloon or electric whisk until incorporated – be careful not to over-mix. It should take 30 seconds to a minute and you may need to stop half way to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.
7. The batter is quite runny. The easiest way to transfer the cake batter to the cake tins/cake cases is by pouring it. I use a mixing bowl with a spout or you could transfer to a jug. I sit a baking tin on the scales and press zero. I add the cake batter and then do the same with the other cake tin ensuring they are divided equally. Each cake batter should weigh around 435g.
8. Cook in a preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until cooked.
9. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes and then transfer the cakes to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

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Now make the Mint Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1. If the butter is a little hard, slice it thinly to allow it to come to room temperature more quickly. Beat with an electric whisk until light, fluffy and much paler. This will take a good few minutes – if you have a freestanding mixer, use it!
2. Add the salt and half the icing sugar and fold in quickly by hand – this is purely to avoid an icing sugar cloud making a mess of your kitchen and lots of clean up time!
3. Beat with an electric whisk until light and fluffy.
4. Add remaining icing sugar and quickly fold in by hand.
5. Beat again until fluffy and add some milk or cream to adjust the texture – it should be light and fluffy but firm enough to spread and keep its shape.
6. Add peppermint extract to taste.
7. Now add your green food colouring if desired. Add it very very carefully – I like just a hint of colour. I use gel colours which are very strong. Dip a cocktail stick into the colour; this ensures you don’t transfer too much. Beat until the colour is evenly distributed.
8. Break the mint chocolate into pieces and blitz in the food processor until it forms small granules.
9. Add the chocolate granules to the buttercream and gently fold in.

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Decorate the Cake

1. First grate the chocolate. The best way is to use a potato peeler to create little curls of chocolate. Once grated, transfer to a small bowl and place in the freezer until you are ready to use it.
2. Place one half of the cake on a turntable or your serving plate, top side down and spread over ⅓ of the buttercream.
3. Top with the other cake, top side up, and add another ⅓ of the buttercream. Spread to cover.
4. Use the remaining buttercream to cover the sides of the cake.
5. I like to neaten the buttercream on the sides of the cake but leave the top quite rough – totally up to you, your choice! If using a turntable, transfer the cake to your serving plate when you are happy.
6. Take the chocolate out of the freezer and use to decorate the cake. I like to place some around the base of the cake and then use the remainder to create a ‘nest’ in the centre of the top of the cake.
7. Fill the nest with mini eggs and place some around the edges. Any leftovers are the chef’s privilege!

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Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.