Heaven is coated in chocolate

Once a year, outside our grocery stores or even on our front porches, we are graced with the presence of Girl Scouts and their infamous cookies. As we all know, the best cookie in existence is the Thin Mint. Oh the Thin Mints! We seriously go ape shit over this stuff. Buying cases upon cases of them to last us through the barren months when those little scouts go into hiding. Going along with my trend of combining cake and delicious sweets, I created a Thin Mint cake to mollify the cookie withdrawal symptoms when our stash runs out using a base recipe of Helen Hudson Whiting's Celestial Chocolate Cake:

For the cake:

• 2 c. boiling water
• 1 c. cocoa
• 2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 c. (2 sticks) butter
• 2 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 eggs

Mixins for the mixins.

To get the ball rollin:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour three 9-inch round baking pans. Next, pour the boiling water over the cocoa powder, stirring with a fork until the mixture is completely cool. Then set aside to cool.

Cocoa! (And no it's not Swiss Miss)

Chocolate goop! Nom.

Now in the bowl of a stand mixer combine the butter and sugar, beating on a high speed until well combined and fluffy.

Buttah & Sugah before ultimate smack down.


Beaten, not stirred.

Add the vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. In another bowl, combing the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, stirring to mix well. Add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture in about four batches, beating after each addition only until the flour just disappears (like magic!).

Mixy, Mixy

Add the cooled cocoa mixture in three batches, every so gently folding it into the batter.

More chocolate goop!

Now divide the batter equally into the three prepared baking pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean.

Before...

After!

Let the cakes cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire baking rack.

Triple Decker Goodness.

Now a cake can't be a Thin Mint cake without the minty goodness. So get to it!

For the minty filling:

• 1 c. very cold heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 c. confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract (a little bit of this stuff goes a looooong way)

Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat on a high speed until thick and luscious (yes, I said luscious). And if you're really into it, you can add a touch of green food coloring.

Simply delicious.

Scrape filling into a smaller bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble your cake.

Now what is cake with out frosting? Chocolate buttercream frosting to be more precise.

For the frosting:

• 1 16-oz pkg. semisweet chocolate chips, about 2 3/4 c.
• 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
• 1 c. (2 sticks) butter, cut into chunks
• 2 1/2 c. confectioners' sugar

Peppermint Schnapps...what are you doing there?

To get your buttercream a goin':

In a double boiler, combine the chocolate chips, cream, and butter. Cook gently over medium heat, stirring often to help the butter and chocolate melt. Be careful not to boil the mixture! When the chocolate and butter have melted, transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer and let cool to room temperature.

You know, you could just stop now and dip strawberries in this...RESIST!

Now add the confectioners' sugar and beat well until the frosting is thick enough to spread.

Perfection.

To assemble the cake:

While you're waiting for various ingredients to cool, you can go ahead an level your cakes and infuse them with a very tablespoons of Peppermint Schnapps. This not only keeps the cakes moist but add an extra punch of peppermint. Using a serrated knife, level off two of the three cakes and drizzle a touch of the Schnapps on each leveled layer. Allow the layers to sit for about half an hour before you frost them.

Yes you're allowed to each the shavings.

Now, recapture your mint filling from the fridge and slather about half of it on the first layer, then carefully top with second layer and repeat!

It's starting to take form!

Then, frost the entirety of the cake and using an icing triangle, sculpt a pattern around the cake and decorate with crushed Thin Mints!

Thin Mint Cake!

And of course, the final step is to take the cake to work and brighten your coworkers day!

Slice-o-heaven

Let it snow!

I love this time of year! Especially all the flavors that coincide with winter, namely peppermint. Every quarter my work hosts a student appreciation lunch to "thank" the students who work in my office. I took it upon myself to bring a delicious treat to thank my fellow students as well. I've been wanting to try this cake out ever since I saw it on the cover of this month's Bon Appetit. Yes, I'm talking about the four-layered chocolate monstrosity, also known as devil's food cake with peppermint frosting, a dark chocolate ganache and a peppermint white chocolate cream filling. Yum. It was every bit as delicious as it sounds. I added a few bits of my own though. Through my endeavors of cake making, I've discovered that a good way to keep a cake moist is to use either jams or liqours drizzled over the cake layers. After letting the cake cool and leveling the layers, either melt a couple of tablespoons of your favorite jam/jelly or a splash of your favorite liqour and simply drizzle it over the layers of cake. Let the layers sit for about half an hour before you assemble and frost your cake. This not only adds a punch of extra flavor, but keeps the cake moist after you frost it. So for this devil's food cake, I used roughly 3-4 Tbsp. of Peppermint Schnapps drizzled over the four layers. If you're out of peppermint you could easily substitute it for a chocolate or vanilla liquor. Also, after assembling the cake, I used crushed peppermints in addition to the chocolate curls as the garnish. Another trick, take whole peppermints (or halve them if you're that patient) and line the bottom of the cake with them. It not only adds more visual appeal but it hides frosting lines and those occasional mistakes. I would definitely reccommend this cake, it's perfect for this time of year! Look for it in the December 2008 edition of Bon Appetit.