I have been stalking all things Katherine Sabbath lately. (Except for Katherine herself. Australia is really far away. She’s lucky I live in the U.S.)
Ganache topped, candy overloaded, drippy, gorgeous cakes. It has become an obsession and I may have a girl crush. I dare you to go to Pinterest and type in the search bar “drippy cake”. And then I dare you not to drool.
These cakes are spectacular. And best of all, not covered in fondant. Can you have a beautiful cake that tastes absolutely delicious? The answer to that riddle is an overwhelming yes!
This weekend I decided to try my hand at one of these cakes. My younger sister turns 28 today so I told her I was baking this for her birthday cake. It really was just an excuse to make a cake.
In my Pinterest travels I found a blog which I immediately fell in love with. A chocolate cake with mocha buttercream was what pulled me in. Liv for Cake is where I found this recipe though I did change things up just a bit. My sister’s favorite flavor is mint. (We are very much alike.) So I had a chocolate mint cake in my head. Easy enough to change the Swiss Meringue Buttercream flavor. And I happened to have recently purchased a small arsenal of chocolate-mint flavored candies from Nuts.com to adorn my cake appropriately. I had chocolate-mint malt balls, chocolate-mint cookie bites, chocolate mint squares (similiar to Andes mints) and mini mint chocolate chips. The mini chips were my absolute favorite of this purchase. They are sooo adorable!
The cake was AMAZING. The best cake I have baked. Definitely a recipe to keep. I shaved a little off the tops of the cake thinking I may use the crumbs on the bottom of the cake however, someone in our house got a hold of the crumbs and then there were none… Andy tried some of the batter and ate the crumbs. Between mouthfuls I was advised that the cake tastes like brownie batter. A+ from someone who doesn’t like sweets.
I’m a little hesitant when it comes to Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I made some a while ago and it just didn’t do it for me. But I really wanted to stick as close to the recipe as possible. I’m glad I did. It is delicious. Not too sweet and I can taste the difference good butter makes. I used two sticks of my go-to salted butter and a stick of unsalted just to balance it out. This will definitely be on rotation now!
Mint Chocolate Cake
adapted from Liv for Cake
Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee (hot)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease three 6″ round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Sift all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir to combine. In a medium bowl, whisk all wet ingredients together. Pour in coffee slowly while whisking to avoid cooking the eggs. Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into pans. Bake for 20 minutes and rotate pans. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.
Mint Swiss Meringue Buttercream
1/2 cup egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, cubed, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tsp pure mint extract
green gel food coloring (optional)
Directions:
Place egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk to combine. Place bowl over a hot water bath on the stove and whisk constantly until the mixture is no longer grainy to the touch (approx. 3 mins). Place bowl on your stand mixer and whisk until meringue is stiff and cooled (the bowl is no longer warm to the touch, approx. 5-10 mins). Switch to the paddle attachment. Slowly add cubed butter and mix until smooth. Add vanilla, mint extract and green gel coloring. Whip until smooth. Frost cake and chill before topping with ganache.
Chocolate Ganache
3 oz dark chocolate
3 oz heavy cream
Directions:
Finely chop chocolate and place in a bowl. Bring cream barely to a simmer and pour over chopped chocolate. Stir with spatula until smooth and all chocolate is melted. Cool completely before topping the cake.
Decorate cake with whatever trips your trigger!
I originally wanted to have some more height but this was fine for now. I can assure you there will be more “drippy” cakes to come!
Enjoy!
Ann