mint choc chip | Little Button Diaries

I decided to make my Dad this birthday cake a while back and wanted to decorate it with dinosaurs as a cheeky nod to his age (but it would also work equally well for dino-mad kids). The sponge recipe is from Lorraine Pascale’s Fast, Fresh and Easy Food book, and it’s topped with mint choc chip buttercream and prehistoric mint rubble.

To make this cake you will need:

For the sponge:

150g soft butter
250g caster sugar
150g self-raising flour
125g sour cream
4 medium eggs
50g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
couple drops of vanilla extract

For the buttercream:

175g butter
350g icing sugar
6 drops spearmint flavouring
Green food colouring (enough to colour it mint coloured)
1 packet plain chocolate chips
2 tbsp milk

For the decoration:

Mint creams
Mint leaves
Dark chocolate to coat leaves
Plastic dinosaurs!

1. Begin by preheating your oven to 180 degrees. This recipe is really great as it’s an all in one mix. Put all the sponge ingredients into a mixer and mix until well combined. Next, divide the mixture between 2 sandwich tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire cooling rack.

2. Whilst the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream. Beat the butter in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the sifted icing sugar, milk and spearmint flavouring and mix until well combined. Add enough green food colouring to turn the whole mixture a mint colour (do this by adding it in a drop at a time). Fold in the chocolate chips. Once the cakes are cooled add a layer of buttercream and sandwich them together. Then using a palette knife, cover the top and sides with the remaining buttercream.

3. To make the mint leaves, melt the dark chocolate. Using a teaspoon coat the leaves with a thin layer of the chocolate and put them in the fridge to set. Once they are firm, gently peel the mint leaf away from the chocolate. You will be left with the imprint of the leaves on the chocolate.

mint choc chip cake recipe

4. To decorate, roughly chop the mint creams and arrange in the centre of the cake. Then place the leaves between the mint creams to form a Jurassic Park-style landscape. Add your dinosaurs… and present to the dinosaur in your life!