Peppermint Fudge Cake

Yes, this cake tastes as good as it looks!  Because I have a cooking business now, I wanted to find a special cake to have available for the holiday season.  When I saw this recipe on Pinterest I knew I had to try it.  I ended up making and selling about 10 in December, so it was a busy month!  Although it takes some time to make (I got it down to about 2 1/2 hours), it turns out beautiful and delicious.  I told everyone to keep it refrigerated until about 30 minutes prior to serving, per recommendations from original post, but I found that this made the cake taste dry and crumble when cutting.  The trick is to not over bake the cakes to dry them out, but not under bake them because they will crumble when inverting them out of the pan to layer them.  Also, because of the dark cake and white icing, it takes effort to not get cake crumbles mixed into the icing while smoothing the icing around.  Freezing the cake layers helps with this.  To crush the peppermint, I place unwrapped peppermints in a ziplock bag and hammer gently.  The fudge cake is so good I plan to use it for fudge cakes or cupcakes in the future.  The buttercream icing has peppermint extract for just the right amount of peppermint taste. And the chocolate ganache is easy, delicious, and impressive.

Ingredients:
Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup dark cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate bar, broken in to pieces
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled

Icing:
2 cups unsalted butter, softened (yes, that's 4 sticks!)
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
6 to 8 cups confectioner's sugar
crushed candy canes (about 12)

Chocolate Ganache:
4 oz semisweet chocolate bar, broken in to pieces
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp light corn syrup


Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees,
2.  Grease 3 round pans with Crisco and dust with flour.
3.  Melt the unsweetened chocolate in bowl in microwave and allow to cool.
4.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, dark cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Stir with whisk.
5.  Beat the butter and sugar on slow-med speed until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
6.  Beat in the vanilla.
7.  Beat in the melted chocolate.
8.  Beat in half of the flour mixture.
9.  Beat in the buttermilk and coffee.
10.  Beat in the rest of the flour mixture.
11.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
12.  Remove pans from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
13.  Invert one cake onto serving surface and place in freezer for 10 minutes.
14.  For the icing, beat the butter and peppermint extract in bowl until creamy.
15.  Beat in the confectioner's sugar 1 cup at a time for 5 minutes.  You must beat the whole 5 minutes for desired consistency.
16.  Remove bottom cake layer from freezer and spread icing over the top of it.
17.  Invert the second cake on top of first layer of icing and place in freezer for 10 minutes.
18.  After 10 minutes, remove unfinished cake from freezer and spread a layer of icing on top of the second layer of cake.
19.  Invert the third layer of cake on top of the second layer of icing and place in freezer for 10 minutes.
20.  After 10 minutes, remove unfinished cake and spread icing on top and sides until smooth.
21.  Press crushed candy canes halfway up all around the cake.
22.  Clean off excess icing and candy canes on serving dish.  (I use a wet paper towels for this.)
23.  For Ganache, melt semisweet chocolate, butter, and light corn syrup in microwave and allow to cool some where it's not hot, but still runny.
24.  Using a spoon, scoop chocolate mixture all over top of cake and allow to drizzle down sides.

I like mine best heated in the microwave.