I'm full-swing into the Christmas spirit! The weekend was filled with Christmas shopping, cutting down a Christmas tree, plenty of tea drinking and today ended with making a seasonally flavoured chocolate cake!
Cutting down a Christmas tree is fun. Like, everyone should do it and parking lot Christmas trees should be a thing of the past. We got on a trailer being towed by a tractor, sat on bails of hay and were dragged out to a field of perfect little Christmas trees. Despite the fact we were all frozen beyond comprehension by the time the little excursion was over, it was so much fun!
There are so many different things to make around this time of year, so why not make it just because. I know a lot of mouths who will willingly eat the food so heck, I'm going to make it! I made a Peppermint Chocolate Cake two years ago and it was incredible, so when I saw this recipe on Pinterest yesterday, I put aside my gingerbread house plans (that will be next weekend!) and went full steam ahead onto another round of cake!
This cake is originally a malted chocolate cake recipe and they added some crushed candy canes to the top to make it peppermint, but I added peppermint extract into the cake batter to give it the minty punch it needed! So far the verdict is that it's delicious. I'm eating a piece right now with some homemade whipped cream and I wish I could share!
It's so light and moist inside but the outside edge is firm in traditional cake fashion. I will say though, if anyone has any suggestions for crushing candy canes - I'm all ears! I put them in a baggy and took a rubber mallet to them but there's no happy medium, it's either candy cane dust or candy cane chunks. It's something I'm aiming to perfect this season!
It seems that uploading my photos to blogspot has changed the colouring which is unfortunate because I can't figure out how to make them look like they do on my computer! Way to go, blogspot!
Now, how about a recipe?
Peppermint Chocolate Bundt Cake adapted from Bakers Royale
- 3/4 cup butter
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup malted milk powder (I used Ovaltine)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- dash of vanilla
- dash of peppermint extract
- 1 1/4 cups water
1. Let butter and eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. In the meantime, grease your bundt pan and coat with 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder. In a medium bowl, mix flour, malted milk powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
2. In a microwave safe bowl or with a double boiler, melt the chocolate. I used a microwave and did it in 30 second intervals, totalling 90 seconds to get it all to melt.
3. Preheat the oven to 325*F. With an electric or stand mixer, beat the butter for 30-45 seconds. Add granulated and brown sugar and beat until combined, then add the eggs one at a time. Add melted chocolate, vanilla and peppermint. Alternately add flour mixture and 1 1/4 cup of water into what is now your chocolate mix!
4. Pour batter into the greased pan and spread evenly. Bake for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove from pan and cool completely. Once cool, glaze and enjoy!
5. To make the glaze: in a saucepan on the stovetop, mix 1 tablespoon of malted milk powder and water until all dissolved. Add 5 tablespoons of butter, 8 oz. of semisweet chocolate and 1 tablespoon of corn syrup. Keep on the stovetop until melted and smooth, then transfer to fridge to cool for 30 minutes. Once the cake has cooled, drizzle over!
That's it for now. At work we're doing 10 days of treats so I've signed up for Wednesday and have got something up my sleeve, so watch for that later this week! In the meantime, happy making!
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