Mint Chocolate Aero Cake

Easy two layer chocolate and mint cake with two toned chocolate and mint buttercream, decorate with Aero chocolates

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Cake

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 35

Total Time 1 5

Servings

Calories 766kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Ingredients

For the cake

350 g Butter or baking spread softened, unsalted
350 g Caster sugar
6 Eggs large
2 tbsp Milk
2 tsp Peppermint extract
300 g Self raising flour
50 g Cocoa powder
½ tsp Baking powder
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda

For the mint green buttercream

125 g Butter softened, unsalted
250 g Icing sugar
1 tsp Peppermint extract
1-2 tbsp Milk
Green food colouring

For the chocolate buttercream

125 g Butter softened, unsalted
215 g Icing sugar
35 g Cocoa powder
2-3 tbsp Milk

For decoration

Aero bubbles
Aero chocolate bar

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, and grease and line two 8" cake tins (that are at least 2" deep)
Make the sponge by mixing the butter and caster sugar together in a mixing bowl until fluffy (around 3 minutes), ideally using an electric mixer
Add the eggs, peppermint extract and milk, and whisk until fully incorporated
Add the self raising flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder and whisk in gently, just until you can't see any flour anymore
Divide the mixture between the tins, use scales for accuracy if you like
Bake them for 35-40 minutes or until a thin skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave them to fully cool either in the tins or remove from the tin and place on cooling racks
Make the green mint buttercream by mixing together the softened butter, peppermint extract, milk and icing sugar until smooth. You can do this by hand, but an electric whisk or stand mixer with paddle attachment will provide the best results. If the buttercream is too stiff, you can add a little more milk
Then add a small amount of green food colouring and mix until a pastel green shade is reached. You can add more food colouring if needed
Make the chocolate buttercream by mixing together the softened butter, cocoa powder, milk and icing sugar, and mix until smooth. You can do this by hand, but an electric whisk or stand mixer with paddle attachment will provide the best results. If the buttercream is too stiff, you can add a little more milk
Fill a piping bag fitted with your chosen nozzle, with the gren mint buttercream on one side and the chocolate buttercream on the other side
Put one of the sponges on your plate or cake stand and pipe or spread some of the buttercream onto it
Add the other sponge on top and pipe or spread the remaining buttercream on top
Decorate with the Aero Bubbles and chunks of Aero Bar
Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in a cool place for 3 days

Notes

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the butter and eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
I used a baking spread for the cake and unsalted butter for the buttercream.
I recommend using a good quality peppermint extract for the perfect minty flavour. And you don't need a lot of it to get the right balance of mint versus chocolate. Remember that with peppermint, a little goes a long way!
You can decorate this cake with any mint chocolate sweet, I chose Aero but other yummy options include After Eights, Mint Matchmakers or Bendicks.
The two toned buttercream is also optional. If you want all chocolate or all mint buttercream, just double the ingredients for your buttercream of choice.
For the green buttercream I used a professional grade food colouring. These types of food colouring not only provide excellent colour results, but they are gel based so they do not make the buttercream sloppy. They are also easily available for purchase online. My favourite brands are Pro Gel and Sugarflair. Other good quality brands are Colour Mill and Americolor.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

Nutrition