Where does February bring to mind for you? Mae Jemison, Shirley Chisholm and Josephine Baker? Hearts, candy and flowers? Snow, ice, and cold? In our family it's Samoas, Trefoils, and Thin Mints. Yes, February is Black History Month, and it has Valentine's Day right in the middle, and it is (at least where we live) the coldest month of the year, but it is also Girl Scout Cookie month, and my daughter is a girl scout who actively participates with her troop in selling cookies.
So of course I had to try out this month's choice of a Thin Mint-inspired cake, the Thicc Mint Cookie Cake. It's a layer of chocolate cake, topped with mint buttercream, and covered in ganache. It did not disappoint.
This cake had a great mixture of flavors and textures that is indeed reminiscent of the cookie. It was easy to prepare and sliced up neatly. I'm especially a fan of the buttercream mixture. It starts with 1 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of shortening to which 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, a little bit of milk and 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract. The recipe calls for adding chopped up fresh mint, but I did not do that. Some members of my family felt that the mint flavor was too strong, but I thought it generally worked well with the cake. What I liked most about the buttercream, was its thickness. Often with uncooked buttercream, I find I have to add a tremendous amount of powdered sugar to get it to keep it's shape. That was not the case here. I was concerned that the addition of shortening would give it a strange taste or mouth-feel, but that also was not the case. It tasted and felt the way I hoped while having a stability that I've never seen in buttercream.
The chocolate cake did dip significantly in the middle. I do not know if that's an intentional or unintentional effect of the recipe. It did mean that for the first bite or two of each wedge, the mint to chocolate ratio was a bit off. Another small issue with this recipe and a least a few others I've tried from this cookbook is that it did not provide instructions on how to know when the cake is finished. Chocolate cake, especially can be a little tricky, and mine was a little overbaked. The ganache recipe has you cook it on the stove, but I did mine in the microwave, and it was perfect.
A couple of my family members said the buttercream was too minty, so you might want to try with less than is called for, and add small amounts until you get the flavor you like. It is a very strong mint taste, but I thought, when take as a whole bite, it worked perfectly with all of the chocolate.
So give this cake a try, and if you get a chance, buy a box or ten of Girl Scout cookies. I could right a small book on all my daughter and her troop mates have gained both in selling cookies and in participating in the activities the cookie sales fund.
Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is
The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving by
Rebecca Firth. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!
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Ginger Lime Tea CakeThicc Mint Cookie Cake
I cannot resist those girl scout cookie tables outside the grocery store. My freezer always ends up well stocked. The shortbread are my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised my husband didn't say there was too much mint (I used the minced mint in the filling, too)! Yours look beautiful. We were amazed at the flavors.
ReplyDeleteI love your girl scout photos! How timely, right? We always get the thin mints. P.S. Your cake looks amazing.
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