Buttermilk Chocolate Cake with Peppermint and Chocolate Mint Buttercream

The finished cake, with some mint and bergamot for garnish.

I love this cake. I don't make it much because it's pretty labor intensive. Plus my mint was kinda straggly this year. But it's always worth it when it's finished.

Cake Ingredients and Directions

2 1/2 cups of unbleached flour
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
10 TBS unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 extra large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup milk, steeped with 1 cup packed peppermint leaves (see directions below)
1 cup nonfat buttermilk
1/2 cup fresh chopped peppermint

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 nine inch cake pans. Line the bottoms with a circle of wax paper, and dust lightly with flour. Sift the flour with the cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, whip the butter with an electric mixer for a minute. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and chocolate and blend well.

Stir half of the peppermint milk into the buttermilk, reserving the remainder for the buttercream . Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in thirds alternately with the milk mixture. Fold in the chopped mint.

Place the batter in the prepared pans. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake starts to pull away slightly from the sides of the pan. Cool the pans on a rack for ten minutes. Turn the layers out of the pans and carefully peel away wax paper.

After assembling cake with the buttercream, I try to allow the cake to sit overnight, so that the mint permeates the cake.


Mint Milk


Put 1 cup of milk in sauce pan. Add 1 cup of mint. Use the back of a spoon to bruise the leaves against the side and bottom of the pot, while heating over medium heat. Do not allow milk to boil. As soon as the milk begins to bubble around the edges, remove from heat and allow the milk to cool to room temperature.

I leave the mint in the milk for at least 30 minutes.

Chocolate Mint Buttercream


8 TBS unsalted butter, softened
2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
reserved peppermint milk
1 pound confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl, whip the butter with an electric mixer for a minute. Add the chocolate and blend well. Add the confectioners' sugar, a cup at a time, alternating with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the peppermint milk, using only enough milk to make a spreadable icing, 4 to 6 tablespoons. Discard the rest of the milk or use for another purpose.

When the cake has cooled, assemble it with the buttercream, spreading it on the tops and sides of both layers.

Cleaning House; Recipe-wise that is

Last night, I spent about two hours going through my recipe "collection". I have one of those little binder book with transparent sleeve in which you can place recipes. I never, of course, put my recipes in those sleeves. I just shoved pages ripped from magazine, little recipe booklets, and recipes given to me by friends in it until it became a large unwieldy mess. It was next to impossible to find anything in it.

So I ripped it apart. I threw away all the recipes that I have never made and that I don't think I ever will make. I got rid of those that just didn't seem that special or different.

Now I want to type all of those that are left and have them on the computer so I can find them more readily. I want to try all those that I have tried and if they don't thrill me, they are gone too.

School started today and I'm not working. I plan on moving to Florida as soon as I get a job down there so I decided not to take a contracted position here, but I never realized how I would feel when school started. I'll do day to day subbing until I make the move, but I won't get any calls for a few days I'm sure. That will keep me busy and I'll have some money coming in.

I have so many other things I could be doing, like filling out applications, packing stuff, getting rid of stuff, and just talking care of odds and ends, but right now I feel so blah that I can't do any of it so I'll just waste time with my blogging and the internet and become even more behind and overwhelmed.

Ugh.

Tilapia Veracruz

I adapted this from a Red Snapper Veracruz recipe. I cannot get red snapper here. I've also made the sauce and used it over pierogies. I've never put it over pasta, but I'm sure that would work too.

1 1/2 pounds fresh or frozen skinless red snapper or other fish fillets
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 TBS cooking oil
2 large tomatoes, chopped, (2 cups)
1/4 cup sliced pimento-stuffed olives
1/4 dry white wine
2 TBS capers, drained
1 or 2 fresh jalapeno or serrano peppers, seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp sugar (I've used Splenda)
1 bay leaf

Thaw fish if frozen. Cut fish into 6 serving size portions. Rinse fish: pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

For sauce, cook onion and garlic in hot oil in a large skillet till onion is tender. Stir in tomatoes, olives, wine, capers, peppers, sugar and bay leaf. Bring to boiling. Add fillets to skillet; return to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 6 to 10 minutes or till fish flakes easily with fork.Use a slotted spoon to carefully transfer fish from skillet to a serving platter. Cover and keep warm.

Boil sauce in skillet for 5 to 6 minutes or till reduced to about 2 cups, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf. Spoon sauce over fish and serve.