Layered Chocolate Cake with Mint Buttercream Icing

Special occasions (my birthday) are about indulgence and this cake is just that. It’s rich and moist and chocolaty with cool buttery icing. Treat yo self.

Layered Chocolate Cake with Mint Buttercream Icing

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Yield: 16 servings

INGREDIENTS

For the Chocolate Cake

• ½ cup good quality semi-sweet chocolate chunks, finely chopped

• 1 ½ cups of hot coffee

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

• 3 cups granulated sugar

• 1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• ¾ teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 3 large eggs

• 1 ½ cups buttermilk

• ¾ cup vegetable oil

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
  

For the Icing

• 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 4 ½ cups icing sugar

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ¼ cup half and half

• 3 teaspoons mint extract

• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

• ½ cup good quality semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped

• sprigs of fresh mint (optional for garnish)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 300F. Grease two 10 by 2 inch round pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

In a large bowl sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a medium sized bowl pour the hot coffee over the chopped chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted. In your electric stand mixer beat the eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy (approximately 3 minutes). You can also use a handheld mixer for this step – you will just need to beat the eggs for a couple minutes longer. Slowly pour in oil, buttermilk, vanilla and the melted chocolate mixture. Once combined, pour in the sifted flour mixture, one cup at a time, still mixing on medium speed. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans and cook on the center rack until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean, approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 ½ hours.

Cool layers completely before trying to remove them from the pans. Once cooled, use a knife to score the cake around the edges and flip them onto wire racks. Gently remove the cake pans and the parchment paper.

To make the icing, whip the butter in an electric stand mixer on medium speed with the paddle attachment on high speed for approximately 5-10 minutes or until light and very fluffy. Add in icing sugar, one cup at a time to avoid it flying everywhere and making a mess (I did this). Add in salt, half and half, mint and vanilla extract. Fold in the chopped chocolate by hand. Divide the icing evenly between the middle and top layers, and garnish with fresh mint. In the photo above I added a chocolate ganache but it is not necessary. The cake is rich enough, I was just playing around to try and make it look prettier.