Peppermint Chocolate Cake
This gluten free chocolate cake makes a welcome change from mincemeat and marzipan over the festive season.
A hint of mint in the chocolate buttercream makes it that little bit extra special. It looks so impressive but the recipe is actually wonderfully easy to make!
Suitable for: gluten free
Ingredients
280g Brown sugar
1400g Sorghum flour
140g Ground Almonds
50g Ground golden flaxseed
3 tsp Gluten free Baking powder
0.5 tsp Vanilla powder
340g butter (melted)
4 eggs
100g cocoa powder
175g butter, at room temperature
350g icing sugar
2 – 3 tbsp milk
4 tbsps fresh mint leaves (finely chopped) or 1 1/2 tsps peppermint extract
4 – 6 candy canes, for decoration
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas 4. Grease two 18cm cake tins with a little bit of melted butter and line with non-stick paper.
In one big bowl make up the dry cake ingredients with the butter and eggs and add 60g cocoa powder. Whisk to a smooth and airy batter.
Split the mix evenly between the two tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes until just cooked and the tops are springy. You can insert a skewer to check – if it comes out clean then they’re ready.
Once baked, leave to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.
To make the butter cream, pop the 175g butter into a bowl and beat with an electric whisk (or in a free standing mixer/food processor) until light and fluffy. Sieve the icing sugar and add half of it into the butter, whiz for 2 minutes and then add the rest of the icing sugar. Whiz this for another 2 minutes before adding in the cocoa and milk. Mix for an extra minute until light and fluffy – add more milk if the buttercream is too thick.
Finely chop the mint leaves and add to the buttercream (or add the peppermint extract, if using). Whisk to incorporate, then taste. If you feel it needs more peppermint then just pop more in.
Use about half of the buttercream to sandwich the cold sponges together. Top the cake with the remainder of the buttercream.
Whiz the candy canes briefly in a food processor to crush them. Scatter over the top of the cake any which way you like, then pop onto a pretty cake stand and serve!
If you like this delicious festive recipe, why not try our Very Jolly Christmas Cake?
