It's been a while since I've baked any cakes. Since I was in a baking mood, and needed recipients for my cakes, I decided to take one cake to work, and give the other to a work client.
I came across an idea on Pinterest for a cake that mixed white cake with a bit of red food coloring and Andes peppermint chips and chocolate cake all in the same round pan. I was inspired by this recipe and made it my own.
Despite looking at several stores, I was unable to find the Andes white peppermint baking chips, so instead I used the mints that are individually wrapped. Once unwrapped and chopped, they worked well.
I mixed up my favorite chocolate cake recipe and my favorite white cake recipe.
I scooped two cups of the white cake batter into a separate bowl and added a bit of Americolor red gel and 1.5 cups of the chopped mints.
In a 9x13 pan and an angel food cake pan, I randomly dolloped the three different batters.
Baked at 350 degrees until it tested done. About 40 minutes for the round, 50 minutes for the rectangle. Cooled 10 minutes then removed from the pan to finish cooling.
I whipped up my buttercream recipe, put about 2-3 cups in a separate bowl, and added 8 more chopped mints. I didn't color it though.
Once my cakes were cooled, I trimmed the outside edges off the rectangle cake, then leveled and torted each cake. I measured the width of the round cake so I could cut the "leg" of the candy cane to the same width.
I placed a smear of buttercream on my decorative cake board to adhere the cake to it, and laid the arch down, then the leg down. Then I spooned on the mint filling before covering it with the top layer of cake.
Crumb-coated then a final layer of frosting before smoothing it out with a Viva paper towel.
Meanwhile I made some marshmallow fondant using Kraft peppermint marshmallows. I made the fondant in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, this was the first time for me doing it this way. My old KA Classic did well! First I sifted the powdered sugar into my mixer bowl.
Then I placed the marshmallows in a greased bowl, added the water and flavorings, then microwaved for 1 minute 20 seconds.
Once the time was up, I stirred it until no lumps remained.
I didn't get pictures of the fondant in the mixer, but the KA kneaded the fondant really well. Once done, I wrapped it well in plastic wrap to rest over night, then rolled it out on a mat.
I sprinkled cornstarch all over my cake board to keep the fondant from sticking to it.
Covered the cake with the fondant, smoothed it out, then cut off the excess.
After cleaning up the board and removing the excess cornstarch, I then colored a bit of the fondant a darker shade of pink (not quite red), and made stripes using my clay gun. Attached the stripes to the the cake, and dusted lightly with pearl dust.
Added the Merry Christmas message to each. They are ready for delivery!
