peppermint stick chocolate cake

once upon a time, about 2 weeks ago, i stumbled upon this blog post and new immediately that i needed to consume this peppermint stick cake. i decided to wait until i was in CO for xmas to make it. i pretty much followed the instructions on the original blog post.

my mom completely smashed to smithereens some mini candy canes while i made the cake. i used devils food chocolate cake mix, betty crocker style, cuz that was what was in the cupboard. i seriously contemplated using red velvet but decided to save that for another day. 

the cooling cake

as usual, i modified it a bit- following the cake recipe on the box exactly, i substituted the oil for applesauce, cuz that was what was in the cupboard, baby food plums would have been preferred. it was chunky applesauce, grimace, but turned out to not matter at all. i baked it in a 9x13 pan, cuz that was what was in the cupboard. anyone sensing a theme here?



while the cake was cooling (for hours) i whipped up the pint of whipping cream. i added a lid full of peppermint extract. i didnt do all that 'keep the bowl cold' bs while whipping. and i forgot how long and annoying it is to whip a pint of whipping cream. just like the directions on the original blog post said, once it started to get a lil firm i added the candy cane smithereens, they dissolved pretty quick and mixed in just fine. i used all the candy canes we had, it was about 1/2 cup but not quite.

the bottom layer

apparently 'hours' were not long enough for the cake to cool cuz it was still warm and sticky when i tried to cut it into layers. but appearance was not my desire, consumption was, so i didnt care about what it would look like. i cut it in half down the middle of the cake pan, and then cut those halves in half thru the middle to create 2 thinner 'layers'. really it ended up being more like chunks of cake due to the not cool enoughness. so now i had 4 layers to work with, i put the worst looking one on the bottom, slathered on the cream, then another, more cream and then the third layer and most attractive layer and then doused the entire thing in all the cream that was left. yes that means the 4th layer aka cake chunks, i had wasnt used.

getting creamed up

slathering all the surfaces

the cake was divine. the cream was not overly-sweet nor heavy nor thick nor rich like frosting ewww i hate frosting it was fresh, minty, light and perfectly complimented the warm extra moist thank you applesauce chocolate cake. i did not add any sugar to the cream, the candycanes were more than enough in the sweet dept.

i ate a bunch right then and put the rest in the fridge. i continued to eat it every day for breakfast and midnight snack. the third day was actually the best. the cake was ridiculously moist and all that wonderful mintyness had completely been absorbed by the cake. yummmmmeeeeee

i repeat, presentation was not of concern! 

definitely making this easy peasy delish cake again. except next time ill do a gluten free one, cuz thats whats in MY cupboard! ;-)

thank you cybele at candy blog for this fabfab idea!!