After Eight Cake
Chocolate and mint cake decorated with After Eights
Ingredients
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200g Dark Chocolate
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200g Unsalted Butter
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4 Eggs
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1 tsp Mint Extract
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325g Caster Sugar
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175g Self Raising Flour
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1/2 tsp Baking Powder
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1 pinch Salt
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Buttercream
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300g Icing Sugar
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150g Unsalted Butter
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75g Dark Chocolate
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1/2 tsp Mint Extract
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Green Gel Food Colouring
Directions
One of the first posts I ever did was a recipe for a Jaffa Cake-Cake for my boyfriend’s birthday. Well it’s that time of year again so I decided to bake one of Billy’s favourites, an After Eight Cake. It has chocolate sponge, mint green icing between the layers and coated in dark chocolate icing.
Unfortunately, someone forgot to put baking powder in so I don’t know if it’s supposed to turn out like this. It had a crispy top but when I took it out after 30 minutes to check if it was cooked, it was still gooey inside. Keep checking it and when you can stick a knife or skewer in the centre and it comes out clean, it’s ready.
As I was adapting a plain chocolate cake recipe I was unsure how much mint extract to put in. I don’t actually like mint so I didn’t know if I had put enough in. The general consensus was that there was just the right amount of mint.
Heat the oven to 180ºc. Melt the butter and chocolate in a bain marie. Once melted, remove and leave to cool. Whisk the eggs and mint extract in a bowl until frothy.
Add the sugar and whisk until thick and mousse like. Whilst whisking, add the melted butter and chocolate.
Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold with a wooden spoon or plastic spatula. As you can see in the photo, this creates quite a thick mixture. Divide between 2 greased tins and bake for 30-35 minutes then leave to cool.
Buttercream
Melt the chocolate for the icing and leave to cool slightly. Mix together half of the icing sugar and half the butter in a bowl and add the mint extract and enough food colouring to make a minty colour. Sandwich the two layers together with the green mint icing.
You can now make the chocolate icing by mixing together the remaining butter and icing and then adding the chocolate mix. When making this chocolate icing don’t mix the chocolate with the butter icing until you are ready to use it or else it cools too quickly and sets.
Spread a thin coating of the icing over the cake to trap crumbs. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes before spreading the remaining icing over the cake to finish. Decorate the cake with after eight mints. I made a circle around the edge and a smaller one in the middle but you can do any design you want.
Ingredients
| 200g Dark Chocolate | |
| 200g Unsalted Butter | |
| 4 Eggs | |
| 1 tsp Mint Extract | |
| 325g Caster Sugar | |
| 175g Self Raising Flour | |
| 1/2 tsp Baking Powder | |
| 1 pinch Salt | |
Buttercream |
|
| 300g Icing Sugar | |
| 150g Unsalted Butter | |
| 75g Dark Chocolate | |
| 1/2 tsp Mint Extract | |
| Green Gel Food Colouring | |
