Candy Cane Chocolate Cake

Is there such a thing as too many peppermint desserts this time of year? If you said yes, show yourself to the door. Peace out. For the rest of us, let’s get this red and white party started! Fresh on the heels of Monday’s Chocolate Truffle Peppermint Crunch Cookies, I bring you the reddest, whitest, stripiest, Christmassy-est cake I could make. Santa, eat your heart out.

This cheerful cake is made from deep, dark devil’s food cake and filled with peppermint candy cane frosting. Because I’m a super literal thinker, I had to decorate it with red fondant stripes like a giant candy cane. (I also like to judge books by their covers.) To top it all off, it’s finished with a big pile of crushed candy canes and these super cute candy cane lollipops from Hammond’s Candy. (I found mine at Target).

I tried something a little different this time, and only partially covered the cake in fondant. The red stripes are fondant (I like to buy my red fondant pre-made, because it’s hard to get a true red at home without using gallons of food coloring), but the white is actually just buttercream. It’s an interesting effect, and it was nice to have the graphic red white pattern without having to peel off a thick double layer of fondant from every cake slice.

The frosting actually has a double dose of mint flavor: the whole batch is flavored with peppermint extract, and then the inner layers have crushed candy canes added to the mix. The candy canes soften as they are exposed to the frosting, so rather than adding a crunch they provide little pockets of extra-minty freshness, plus cute specks of pink and red color throughout.

This is the perfect cake for all the chocolate mint lovers in your life, of which there are probably many. And if it turns out you’re surrounded by losers who don’t appreciate this classic flavor combo, call me and I’ll come over and help you eat any extras.

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