Shamrock Reveal Mint-Chocolate Pound Cake

Minty, chocolaty, shamrock reveal-y bliss in cake form.MORE+LESS-

Mint Cake

1

stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2

cups Gold Medal™ unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4

teaspoon baking powder

1/3

cup buttermilk, room temperature

2

teaspoons peppermint extract

Chocolate Cake

1 1/2

sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2

cups granulated sugar

2 1/4

cups Gold Medal™ unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2

teaspoon baking powder

1/2

cup buttermilk, room temperature

1/3

cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Mint Frosting

3

tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2

cups powdered sugar, plus more as needed

2

tablespoons milk, plus more as needed

1/2

teaspoon peppermint extract

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• 1

  Begin by gathering your ingredients.

• 2

  Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for a dark or nonstick pan). Lightly grease and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan; set aside.

• 3

  To make the mint cake: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, beating one at a time, until incorporated.

• 4

  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, peppermint extract and about 20 drops green food coloring. Alternately add flour and buttermilk mixtures to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour, until all ingredients are just combined.

• 5

  Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

• 6

  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in loaf pan. Remove from pan and cool completely on a cooling rack.

• 7

  When mint cake is completely cool, make the chocolate cake batter: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, beating one at a time, until incorporated.

• 8

  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour, until all ingredients are just combined. Add cocoa powder and stir to combine. Set batter aside.

• 9

  Slice mint pound cake into 1-inch thick slices. Using a 3-inch wide shamrock cookie cutter, cut a shamrock shape out of each cake slice.

• 10

  Lightly grease and flour a clean 9-by-5-inch loaf pan; carefully prop the pan upright vertically. Carefully stack shamrock shapes on top of each other in center of loaf pan.

• 11

  Use a spoon to carefully place batter on either side of shamrock shapes to hold them in place. Carefully cover the rest of the shamrocks with batter; smooth top (you might not use all of the chocolate batter).

• 12

  Bake cake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the chocolate part comes out clean, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

• 13

  Let cake cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on a cooling rack.

• 14

  Meanwhile, make the frosting: Beat all ingredients together until light and fluffy, adding more powdered sugar or milk to achieve desired consistency.

• 15

  Frost top of fully cooled cake with frosting.

• 16

  Slice and see the shamrock revealed!

No nutrition information available for this recipe

More About This Recipe

• Dude, there’s a shamrock in your pound cake.It ain’t no luck of the Irish – there is, in fact, a shamrock hiding inside this mint-chocolate flavored pound cake. And if you follow these directions below, you can make it happen. Oh yes.Firstly, make sure you have all the ingredients you need to make this cake. It’s a wee time consuming, so the last thing you want to encounter is a missing egg or a lack of milk. Also, some of the ingredients need to be at room temperature, so be sure to leave those out for a few hours ahead of time.Wow your friends and fellow St. Patrick’s Day revelers with this snazzy cake magic. It’s the next best thing to getting a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.Mmm, cake!

A Craveable Flavor Combo in Cake Form: Mint Chocolate Layer Cake

One of my favorite things about December is embracing all things mint. We add that glorious flavoring to hot cocoa, brownies, cookies and most definitely cake.

This cake in particular features four moist layers of dark chocolate cake and a delicate minty buttercream slathered between the layers. The cake is covered in chocolate buttercream and topped off with a mint-green chocolate curl for both decoration and an extra boost of mint flavor. Check out the decadent recipe below.

Mint Chocolate Layer Cake

Butter, for greasing the pans

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans

3/4 cups good cocoa powder

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Chocolate Buttercream

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut)

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

4 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract

2 cups light green candy melts (or 1 cup green + 1 cup white)

Scant 1/4 teaspoon peppermint oil

For the Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.

In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

When cakes are completely cool, level each layer of chocolate cake and then cut each layer in half. You should now have four layers of cake. Chill until ready to assemble.

For the Chocolate Frosting

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes.

Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended.

*Don’t whip! Set aside until ready to assemble cake.

For the Mint Buttercream

In the bowl of stand mixer, cream sugar with 1/2 cup butter.

Blend peppermint extract, 2 tablespoons milk, and salt. Gradually stir remaining milk into frosting until desired spreading consistency is reached.

Melt the candy melts and the shortening in a large microwave-safe bowl for 1-minute increments, then in 15-second increments, stirring after each heating.

When candy is melted, add peppermint oil and stir until incorporated.

Take out a large, flat and clean cookie sheet and flip it over. We will use the back.

Pour half of the melted mixture over the cookie sheet and spread out with an offset spatula. This is important, as you want the layer to be as even and level as possible. Thin is good, but not translucent.

Place it into the fridge to set for 1 to 2 minutes. You can also leave it on the counter for about 10 minutes.

The mixture needs to be at the perfect temperature for curls to form. If it’s too cold, they will just break. If it’s too warm, they will just be blobs. Press your finger into the mixture. If it leaves a mark, the mixture is too soft.

Using a flathead screwdriver (clean!), press the screwdriver into the mixture at a 45-degree angle and then move forward slowly. Curls should form. Immediately place curls on a cooled plate or in the refrigerator so that they hold their shape. Chill until ready to assemble cake.

When ready to assemble cake

Place first layer of chocolate cake on cake stand or cake plate. Spread 1/3 of mint buttercream over cake. Repeat this with remaining chocolate cake and mint buttercream.

Cover cake with chocolate buttercream. Try to smooth out surface and sides of cake as much as possible. Place remaining chocolate buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large, open round tip (such as a 2A tip).

Pipe out dollops of frosting around the top of the cake. Sprinkle mint curls over top. Chill cake until ready to serve.

Recipe Summary

• 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate morsels
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 (16-oz.) package light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Peppermint Frosting
• Chocolate Ganache

Melt chocolate morsels in a microwave-safe bowl at HIGH for 30-second intervals until melted (about 1 1/2 minutes). Stir until smooth.

Beat softened butter and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer about 5 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating just until blended.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to chocolate mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Gradually add 1 cup hot water in a slow, steady stream, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla. Spoon batter evenly into 2 greased and floured 10-inch round cake pans.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks. Spread Peppermint Frosting evenly between cake layers. Spread Chocolate Ganache evenly on top and sides of cake.

Tips to Make the BEST Pound Cake

• Use high-quality ingredients. It really does make a difference.
• Use a well-greased pan. I have found that using Bakers Joy Cake Pan Spray works best.
• ALWAYS bring your cold ingredients likes eggs and butter to room temperature. This makes the biggest difference in producing a tender crumb and a moist cake.
• Take the time to spread the batter evenly in the pan before baking it. This way the cake bakes evenly, and you don't end up with pockets of batter or burnt edges.

St. Patrick’s Day Mint Chocolate Dipped Pound Cake Treats

the nice people at Sara Lee Desserts have asked me to come up with another recipe for National Pound Cake Day which is on March 4,2013.

I decided to make a St. Patrick’s day treat and it’s very easy and quick.

I started with slicing a family sized Sara Lee pound cake in half horizontally.

I was able to cut six shamrocks altogether with my size cookie cutter.

Mint Chocolate Dipping Sauce:

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix together and melt in microwave for about 2-3 min,

Dip the very top of your shamrock and add sprinkles. Refrigerate until hardened.

Do you have a great recipe using a Sara Lee dessert? Make sure to enter it in their “Share the Sweetness” recipe contest now through April 19, 2013.

Stay tuned for an exciting giveaway exclusively for Fancy Frugal Life readers sponsored by Sara Lee coming soon! Yay!