This Chocolate Mint Cake features rich chocolate layers filled with creamy mint cream cheese frosting and topped with a silky chocolate ganache. The mint flavor comes entirely from the frosting, giving each bite a refreshing finish that feels both classic and elegant.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• This cake is moist and rich with an intense chocolate flavor, which is perfect for a cool mint finish.
• Creamy, subtle mint flavor without the buttercream heaviness. Since this cake is frosted with a smooth mint cream cheese frosting, it’s more fresh and balanced.
• Perfect for spring or St. Patrick’s Day. The minty flavor and light green color makes this cake so fun for the holiday.

I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe to make this festive, but good for anytime, mint chocolate cake. There are three layers of chocolate cake filled and frosted with minty, sweet cream cheese frosting and topped with a smooth chocolate ganache.

I love to make this recipe for St. Paddy’s Day, but you could also serve it at Christmas time, tint the icing pink and decorate with crushed candy canes.

For the cake:

Ingredients

• vegetable shortening, for greasing the pans
• all-purpose flour
• cocoa
• baking soda
• baking powder
• salt
• sugar
• eggs
• milk
• vegetable oil
• vanilla extract
• boiling water

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350°F.

Step 2: Grease the bottom of three 8-inch round cake pans with shortening. (You can also use two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans.) Trace and cut two circles of parchment paper and press into the bottom of each pan. Grease the inside of both pans and the parchment with shortening.

Flour (or cocoa powder) each pan and set aside. (If you don’t have parchment, you can grease and flour without it. It just makes it way easier to get the cake out with it.)

Step 3: Add flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. Whisk ingredients together until combined.

Step 4: Add milk, eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients.

Step 5: Using your paddle attachment, beat on low for 30 seconds until dry ingredients are wet. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone/rubber spatula.

Step 6: Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. While the batter is mixing, start boiling your water. Scrape down the sides of your bowl.

Step 7: Pour boiling water into batter and mix on low, gradually going up to medium for 30 seconds until combined. The batter will be very thin.

Step 8: Pour batter into prepared cake pans evenly.

Step 9: Bake cakes for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached. (If using two 8 or 9-inch pans, bake for 30-35 minutes.)

Step 10: Remove cakes from oven and let cool on a wire grid for 10 minutes.

Step 11: Loosen the sides of the cakes from the pans with a small spatula and turn the cakes out onto wire rack. (Hint: I usually line my wire rack with paper towels and turn the cake out onto them. If the cake sticks, you can just peel the paper towels off.)

Step 12: Let cakes cool completely before frosting. (1 hour or more.)

For the frosting:

Ingredients

• butter, softened
• cream cheese, softened
• powdered sugar
• vanilla extract
• mint extract
• green gel food color (optional)

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Step 1: Add softened butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.

Step 2: Beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and creamy. Scrape down the bowl when needed.

Step 3: Gradually add powdered sugar, mixing after every addition. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

Step 4: Add vanilla and mint extracts. Mix until combined.

Hint: When trying to determine how much mint extract to add to your frosting, add a little at a time (1/8 tsp) and refrigerate for 30 minutes and taste before adding more. The taste tends to evolve over time.

Step 5: Using a toothpick, add small amounts of green gel food color at a time to the cream cheese frosting. Mix after every addition until you get the color that you like. (The color deepens with time, so don’t add too much.)

You can mix in the gel color with the paddle attachment on the mixer or do it by hand. I find it easiest to mix in the color with the mixer.

Frosting Yield: One batch makes about 6 cups of frosting, enough to fill and frost an 8-inch 3-layer cake with a smooth finish and no decorations. For the cake pictured, with rosettes piped around the sides and a border around the ganache, I recommend making 2 batches of frosting. You may have extra frosting left over either way, but it depends how heavily you frost and decorate.

Step 6: Fill each layer with mint cream cheese frosting. (If you’re not making the ganache or decorating with a piping bag, you can just frost your cake now.)

Step 7: Frost the cake with a crumb coat of the cream cheese frosting and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or the freezer for 15 minutes.

For the chocolate ganache:

Ingredients

• heaving whipping cream
• semi-sweet chocolate chips

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Step 1: Add chocolate chips to a medium mixing bowl. Add heavy whipping cream to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer on medium heat.

Step 2: Pour simmering cream into the mixing bowl with the chocolate chips. Let sit for 2-5 minutes.

Step 3: Mix cream and chocolate chips together until you have a glossy ganache with no lumps.

Cool your ganache at room temperature for 15–20 minutes until it is just slightly warm to the touch and has a thick, honey-like consistency, rather than a thin liquid state. A chilled cake will cause the ganache to set quickly.

Or, you can use the microwave: Microwave on high for 1 minute, then let it sit for 2–3 minutes to melt. Stir gently until smooth and glossy; if needed, reheat in 5-15 second intervals. 

Step 4: Gradually spoon ganache onto the top of the cake. Don’t add too much or it will start to drip down the sides. We want the ganache layer to stop at 1/2 inch from the edge of the cake.

Step 5: Using a small offset spatula, smooth the ganache onto the cake until it has a generous amount that stops at 1/2 inch from the edge of the cake.

Chill in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes before frosting.

Note: I decorated this cake using a piping tip and finished the top with chocolate ganache, but the cake can also be frosted simply and with or without the ganache.

Step 6: Frost the cake with the mint cream cheese frosting.

I used a large piping bag fitted with a large coupler and a 1M piping tip to make rosettes onto the side of the cake first. Then I used the same tip to make the vertical ruffle border around the ganache on the top of the cake.

Enjoy!

Hint: I recommend letting the cake sit at room temperature before serving. Letting the mint cream cheese frosting soften lets the chocolate flavor really pop.

Variations

• Add Mint to the Cake Layers: If you would like mint flavor throughout the cake, add 1/4 teaspoon of mint extract to the cake batter along with the vanilla extract. This gives the chocolate cake a subtle mint flavor to complement the mint cream cheese frosting. My family prefers very subtle mint in just the cream cheese frosting.
• Skip the Ganache: For a lighter finish, frost the cake with only the mint cream cheese frosting and serve without the chocolate ganache. It also makes it a more simple cake to make.
• Mint Chocolate Chip Cake: For a mint chocolate chip version, fold 3/4 to 1 cup of mini chocolate chips into the cake batter before baking. The chips add little bursts of chocolate throughout the cake and pair nicely with the mint cream cheese frosting.

Equipment

• stand or hand mixer
• large mixing bowl if using a hand mixer (If you don’t have a mixer, you can mix by hand with a whisk.)
• medium mixing bowl
• large spoon
• small saucepan
• whisk
• measuring cups and spoons
• glass measuring cup
• rubber/silicone spatula
• three 6-inch round cake pans or two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans
• cake turntable (optional)
• Cooling grid
• small, offset icing spatula (for loosening the cakes from the pans and frosting your cakes)
• toothpicks
• paper towels for cooling your cakes on the cooling grid
• 1M piping tip, large coupler and large piping bag (optional)

Storage

Refrigerator (Recommended)

• Store the cake in the refrigerator in an airtight cake dome or loosely covered with plastic wrap for 5-7 days.
• If your cake is decorated, to keep the heavy rosettes from falling off, chill the cake for 1-2 hours before fully wrapping to ensure the ganache and piping are solid.

Freezing Instructions

• Flash Freeze: Place the entire cake (uncovered) in the freezer for 1-2 hours until the icing and ganache are solid.
• Wrap and Protect: Once the cake is frozen, wrap tightly in plastic wrap (two layers) followed by a layer of aluminum foil.
• Storage Time: Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• Thawing: Thaw the cake in the refrigerator overnight, then bring to room temperature for 1-2 hours before serving.

Top Tips

• Make sure cake has completely cooled before frosting. You don’t want your frosting melting off the cake.
• When trying to determine how much mint extract to add to your frosting, add a little at a time (1/8 tsp) and refrigerate for 30 minutes and taste before adding more. The taste tends to evolve over time.

Related

For my delicious original chocolate cake recipe with fudgy chocolate frosting, see this post!

I’m not usually a mint dessert lover, but the mint in this cake is very subtle and I thought it was delicious. If you are a mint lover, you can add more mint as you like. The taste kind of reminds me of Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints.

I would love to hear if you made my cake. Let me know in the comments if you do!

Sweet regards,

Michele

For more delicious cake recipes, visit my cake page.