Mint chocolate cake is a stunning combination of creamy mint frosting and fudgy dark chocolate cake. Decorating is easy with either a chocolate ganache drip or mini chocolate chips. Recipe includes a how-to video tutorial.
Mint Chocolate Cake
If mint chocolate chip is your go-to ice cream flavor, you are going to absolutely LOVE this mint chocolate cake! It starts with rich, moist, fudgy chocolate cake layers and is finished with a light and refreshing mint buttercream. It’s a bit different from the usual peanut butter chocolate cake or German chocolate cake, and I just love it!
I like to color the frosting mint green to be reminiscent of the classic ice cream, but it will still taste just as good without the food coloring. With the pretty mint green color, this cake would be perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- One bowl cake recipe! And there’s no mixer needed for the cake layers, just like my triple chocolate cake.
- Decadent and impressive. With three layers of fudgy cake and plenty of frosting, this cake makes a perfect celebration dessert. Definitely add the chocolate ganache drip if you want to put things over the top!
- You can easily turn it into a mint chocolate chip cake by foregoing the ganache topping and pressing mini chocolate chips into the frosting. I demonstrate this in my video below.
- Could be served at Christmas when mint chocolate recipes are particularly popular, but this mint chocolate cake would also make a pretty St. Patrick’s Day dessert with the mint green color and flavor (similar to a Shamrock Shake!).
Ingredients
This isn’t your average chocolate cake recipe, so there are a few more ingredients below than you’d normally see. Let’s go over a few before we dig in.
- Dutch cocoa. I love the way Dutch cocoa complements the creamy mint flavor of the frosting. If you can only find natural cocoa, I recommend making my chocolate cake instead (you can divide it into 3 pans and bake it as indicated below).
- Peppermint extract. Don’t use mint extract! Mint extract tends to lend a toothpaste-y taste instead of a classic mint flavor. In fact, I use peppermint extract in all of my mint recipes, like my thin mints, butter mints, and the mint chocolate cookies I just shared.
- Buttermilk. There are some instances where I recommend real buttermilk over my buttermilk substitute, but this mint chocolate cake recipe is not one of them. So, if you don’t feel like buying a quart of buttermilk, just make the substitute instead!
- Unsalted butter. Yes, that’s a lot of butter! This is a big three-layer cake, and we are making both the cake and the frosting, so it’s necessary. We’ll melt the butter for the cake and use softened butter for the frosting, and both should be unsalted.
- Hot coffee. This won’t make your mint chocolate cake taste like coffee, but it will make the chocolate flavor much more intense. I don’t personally drink coffee, so I keep some instant coffee on hand for recipes like this one. If you don’t have either, you can just use very hot water.
SAM’S TIP: Do not use baking powder in this recipe! Baking powder and baking soda are not interchangeable; I talk more about this in my baking powder vs. baking soda post.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Mint Chocolate Cake
Make the Cake Layers
- Whisk the dry ingredients and sugars together in a large bowl, then stir in the oil and melted butter. The batter will be very thick and dough-like at this stage–that’s totally normal!
- Add the buttermilk slowly until fully incorporated.
- Carefully pour in the hot coffee and stir until the batter is uniform. Be very careful as you do this and try not to burn yourself! Scrape the bowl after this step to make sure everything is cohesive.
- Divide the batter between your cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 15 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
Make the Mint Frosting & Decorate
- Cream the butter until smooth, then gradually add the sugar until combined. Do this step gradually and make sure each addition is incorporated before adding the next.
- Add the extracts, salt, and food coloring (if using), then whip in a tablespoon of cream until smooth and creamy. If you need to add more cream to get the right consistency, that is fine.
- Level and frost your cake. I like to do a crumb coat (I talk more about this in the recipe below!) before decorating.
- Decorate as desired; most of the time when I make this mint chocolate cake I just do a plain mint frosting (no extra decoration). To decorate the cake as in photos, you’ll need more frosting (increase the frosting by 50%) and a ganache drip. Another option is to just decorate the cake as written (just the mint frosting) and press mini chocolate chips up the side of the cake for a mint chocolate chip cake!
SAM’S TIP: If you are new to decorating cakes, check out my guide on how to decorate a cake for beginners. It outlines the entire process of decorating a cake like this one and even includes a how-to video if you are more of a visual learner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! This mint chocolate cake can be made in a 9×13″ pan or three 9″ pans. Your bake time will be different for each though, so definitely keep an eye on your cakes as they bake! Also, if you make the cake in 9×13 you will probably only need half the amount of frosting.
Hot coffee helps to “bloom” the cocoa powder, which bring out its flavor. It’s much like steeping tea; the heat is necessary for the proper flavor extraction. Hot water will work too, but coffee enhances the chocolate flavor even more (without imparting a coffee taste).
Yes! Just make sure to wrap it well (I like to use plastic and foil!) and store in an airtight container. I recommend enjoying within three months for the best flavor and texture.
If you love mint and chocolate together but don’t want to make quite so much effort, try my mint chocolate chip cookies!
Enjoy!
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Mint Chocolate Cake
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Servings: 14 servings
Calories: 910kcal
Ingredients
Frosting (see “decorating” section in notes below)
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Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and grease and flour three 8” (23cm) round pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined.
2 ⅔ cups (330 g) all-purpose flour, 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar, 1 cup (112 g) + 2 Tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder, 2 ¼ teaspoons baking soda, 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar
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Add oil and melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients have been moistened. Batter will be thick.
1 cup (240 ml) neutral cooking oil, ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter
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Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir well until batter is smooth and uniform.
3 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
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Gradually add buttermilk, stirring until batter is completely combined.
1 ½ cups (354 ml) buttermilk
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Slowly pour hot coffee into the batter and stir until uniform. Be sure to scrape the sides and borrow of the bowl and stir again.
¾ cup (177 ml) very hot/boiling coffee
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Evenly divide batter between prepared cake pans (if you’re weighing your cakes you’ll need 700 grams in each cake pan). Bake in center rack of 350F (175C) preheated oven for 35-38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. If your oven bakes unevenly, rotate cakes during baking.
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Allow cakes to cool in their pans for 15 minutes, then run a knife along the edge to loosen cakes from pan and carefully invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
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In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter until creamy and smooth.
1 ½ cups (339 g) unsalted butter
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Gradually add sugar, about a half cup at a time, using your electric mixer to stir on low-speed until combined before adding the next.
6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar
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Once all the sugar is added in, add salt, vanilla, and peppermint extracts and stir until completely combined. If desired, stir in food coloring until desired color is reached.
2 teaspoons peppermint extract, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt, Mint colored food coloring
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Add a Tablespoon of heavy cream, and beat until well incorporated. Add more cream as needed until frosting is smooth, creamy, and easily spreadable.
1-4 Tablespoons heavy cream
Assembly
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Level cakes if needed and evenly cover with frosting. I find it helpful to do a crumb coating, meaning after applying icing between the layers and stacking the cakes I’ll do a very thin layer of frosting around the exterior of the cake then place it in the freezer for 15 minutes (this will catch all the crumbs) then remove and finish decorating the cake with an even layer of frosting. See decorating notes below for more ideas on decorating.
Notes
Decorating Notes/Options
- Ganache: For a ganache drip, see my recipe and tutorial on how to do a ganache drip.
- Decorative swirls: If you’d like to do decorative swirls on top of the cake (as seen in pictures), you will need to increase the frosting recipe by 50%. I used an Ateco 848 piping tip for piping the swirls in the photo.
- Mint chocolate chip cake: As shown in the video, you can forgo the ganache and the decorative swirls and press mini chocolate chips up the side of the cake. They also work nicely as decoration on top of the cake and in between the layers!
Heavy cream
You may substitute milk (non-dairy would also be fine), just note you will need less as it is thinner than cream. The additional liquid is for thinning the frosting and giving it a somewhat light, silky texture.
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. This cake may also be tightly wrapped and frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 910kcal | Carbohydrates: 118g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 49g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 118mg | Sodium: 478mg | Potassium: 207mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 96g | Vitamin A: 1021IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 70mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
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