Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake with THIN MINT Frosting {Recipe @ www.ReMarkableHome.net}

Last night I went to a ladies’ church function where we share recipes and bring the food to be sampled.  Our theme for the night was chocolate, so I knew I needed to make something with chocolate.  I thought it would be a good idea to kill two birds with one stone and make a St. Patrick’s Day dessert.  I have a fantastic chocolate fudge Bundt cake recipe, so I decided to change it up a bit to make it minty and green.  The result was this Thin Mint Chocolate Fudge Cake......

I really like how the frosting turned out.  The cake was super moist.  However, the recipe calls for 2 cups of chocolate chips.  I decided to substitute chopped up Andes Mints.  I didn’t love how the cake itself tasted with the mints, but several of the women last night said that they did like it.  I am not a huge mint fan, so maybe that is why.  But I do LOVE Girl Scout Thin Mints.  They just have a great texture and flavor.  In this recipe, they are ground up and added to a cream cheese frosting, along with some optional green food coloring.  It tastes really good.

This is a VERY moist cake.  It contains both pudding and sour cream and then I brush it with a simple syrup after it comes out of the oven.  I think it is important to brush a Bundt cake with a simple syrup unless you are going to completely cover it with icing, frosting, or ganache.  Frosting is what keeps a cake moist.  Without completely covering it, your cake will dry out quickly.  So, for this cake in which the frosting is piped in strips, (copycat of Nothing Bundt Cakes frosting style) I seal the whole cake with a simple syrup, which is basically sugar water.  The result is an incredibly moist cake that I just love.

Another thing to note on this recipe is that it calls for an 18.25 oz. cake mix.  Cake mixes have always been 18.25 oz. until sometime last year the companies decided to start cutting costs and reduced the size of a cake mix by 2-3 oz.  I am not happy about it.  They claim it is necessary to keep their costs down, yet I can no longer buy cake mixes for $1 on sale like I used to be able to do.  So, the cost has gone up and the size has gone down.  It’s bad enough when you are just making the cake mix as instructed on the box, but for all those recipes that call for additions to the cake mix it is quite detrimental and will definitely effect the final product.

To remedy that problem in this recipe, I added 6 Tablespoons flour, 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder, and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder.  I left the recipe as intended with the 18.25 oz. mix.  You can open another box of cake mix and measure out 3 oz. or you can add the additions that I did.  I actually still have a few 18.25 oz. cake mixes in my food storage as well so I thought maybe someone else would, too.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the recipe.  Enjoy!

 

Recipe: Andes Mint Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake with Thin Mint Frosting

From the Kitchen of: Emily Nelson

Yield: 16 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (see note below)
• 1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 2 packages Andes mints (about 60 total) or 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips(see note below)
• Simple Syrup (1/2c. sugar dissolved in 1/4 c. water)
• 1 package of Girl Scout Thin Mints or Keebler Grasshopper Cookies
• 1 cup butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. cream
• 1.5 pounds powdered sugar
• Green food coloring (I use paste coloring)(optional)

Note: This recipe was originally developed with an 18.25oz. cake mix. Betty Crocker has reduced their cake mixes to 15.25. If using a 15.25 oz. cake mix, add 6 Tablespoons flour, 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder, and ½ tsp. baking powder.

Note: I didn’t love the cake with the Andes mints inside but some of my friends did.  If you’re not a huge mint fan, you might want to use the chocolate chips instead.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Grease and flour a 10” Bundt pan, taking care to not neglect the cracks

3. Mix the cake mix and additions in note above, if necessary, with a wire whisk

4. Add the sour cream, milk, vegetable oil, water and eggs

5. Mix with a hand mixer until well combined

6. Reserve 8 Andes Mints for the top of the cake

7. Chop the remaining mints into chocolate chip sized chunks

8. Add to cake batter and stir to combine

9. Pour batter into prepared pan

10. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes until cake springs back lightly when touched and toothpick comes out clean

11. To make simple syrup: Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat and stir until sugar is fully dissolved

12. Remove cake from oven

13. Allow to cool for 8 minutes, then invert onto cake plate

14. While cake is still hot, paint with simple syrup. Place paper towels around the cake to soak up excess and drips. Use all of the syrup

15. Use a damp paper towel to wipe sticky residue from around the cake

16. Place a flour sack towel over the cake and allow to cool completely

17. While cake is cooling, make the frosting:

18. Reserve 16 Thin Mints for the top of the cake. Process the rest in a food processor to make a fine crumb

19. Using an electric mixer, mix together butter and cream cheese

20. Add cream and vanilla

21. Add cookie crumbs

22. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl

23. Add 1 to 1.5 pounds of powdered sugar until frosting is desired consistency

24. Add food coloring to tint green, if desired

25. Cut remaining Andes mints in half diagonally

26. Once cake has fully cooled, pipe strands of frosting using a pastry bag and large tip. If you don’t have a large tip, you may be able to just use a coupler with no tip. If you don’t have a pastry bag, you can cut the corner off a zipper freezer bag to use instead

27. Pipe from the hole in the center of the cake out to the sides, creating 16 stripes

28. Top each stripe with a cookie and a mint half

29. Serve and Enjoy!

PRINTABLE VERSION HERE