Today is Jamie’s birthday & as a huge After Eight fan, he asked if I could turn his favourite chocolate into a cake. Mission accepted. This cake encompasses everything that is good about After Eights. With three rich dark chocolate layers of cake sandwiched with homemade mint cream and a super indulgent chocolate buttercream you won’t be disappointed!
This dark chocolate cake recipe would also be perfect for my Shaun The Sheep Black Forest Cake, as it has a richer, more adult taste (without the mint of course). The taste of this cake is out of this world, it’s so refreshingly minty and sharp. As I included the mint cream in this recipe, I decided not to flavour the chocolate buttercream mint because I didn’t want to overwhelm the cake, but feel free to add mint if you’re a huge mint fan!
I decided to decorate this cake with other minty chocolates, as it is rather difficult to decorate with just After Eights (there’s only so much you can do!). I found that using Matchmakers and Aero Bubbles gave the cake more character and it worked, because it was a huge success with my boyfriend Jamie; he was super pleased with his birthday cake.
Enjoy!
Carly x
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To make this for yourself you will need:
For the cake:
♡ 475ml boiling water
♡ 75g/2⅔oz/⅔ cup dark cocoa powder
♡ 350g/12¾oz/ 3 cups
♡ 2 tbsp. bicarbonate of soda
♡ ½ tsp. baking powder
♡ ½ tsp. salt
♡ 225g/8oz/1 cup unsalted butter
♡ 450g/15⅘oz/2⅔ cups caster sugar
♡ 4 medium eggs
For the chocolate buttercream:
♡ 300g/10½oz/1⅓ cups unsalted butter
♡ 600g/21oz/4⅔ cups icing sugar
♡ 150g/5⅓oz/⅔ cup dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
♡ 2 tsp. vanilla
For the mint cream:
♡ 260g/6oz/2 cups icing sugar
♡ 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
♡ 2-3 tbsp. water
For the decoration:
♡ Box of After Eights
♡ Matchmakers
♡ Aero Bubbles
Equipment you will need:
♡ Mixing bowls
♡ Spatula
♡ Jug
♡ Electric Mixer
♡ Piping bag & nozzle
♡ Mixing spoons
♡ 3 23cm sandwich tins
Method:
- Mixing together the cocoa powder and boiling water until smooth and set to one side to cool.
- In a separate bowl, mix together your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Again, set off to one side for later.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale.
- In a separate jug, mix together the eggs, vanilla and mint flavouring and then add the egg mixture to the butter and sugar bit by bit.
- Then slowly pour in the cocoa mixture adding a little flour with each addition.
- Divide the mixture into 3 sandwich tins and bake in a preheated oven at 160°C Fan/350°F for 25-30 minutes. Once baked, leave to cool on a wire rack.
- To make the chocolate buttercream, soften the butter and slowly add the sugar bit by bit until pale and fluffy. Then add the vanilla and chocolate. Finally add a little milk to loosen.
- To make the mint cream, mix together the sugar, oil and water to make a smooth but thick paste.
- Assemble the cake by sandwiching in between a layer of buttercream and then a layer of mint cream.
- Decorate with After Eights and other mint chocolates if you wish to make it look more interesting.
CarlyToffle 