Frango Mint Cake
Cake Ingredients:
6 Frango Mint Dark Chocolates, chopped Fine
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
½ cup boiling water
2 ½ cups sifted cake flour
¼ cup unsweetened non alkalized cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
Directions:
1.Place the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350f. Generously butter three 9-inch round layer cake pans. Line the bottom of each with a circle of waxed paper. Lightly butter the paper.
2. Put the Frango Mints and unsweetened chocolate in a small bowl. Add the boiling water and stir until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.
3. Sift together the cake flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set Aside.
4. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter until smooth. gradually add the sugar and increase to high speed. Continue beating about 2 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and chocolate mixture. Alternately add the buttermilk and dry ingredients, adding about one-third at a time, beginning with buttermilk.
5. Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 15 minutes. Rearrange the pans in the oven from front to back so they bake evenly.6. Continue baking 15 to 20 minutes longer, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Loosen from the pans and invert onto a wire rack. Peel off the waxed paper and cool completely.
Frosting Ingredients:
30 Frango Mint Dark Chocolates. chopped fine
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine2
¼ cups (4 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar sifted
Directions:1. For the frosting, melt the Frango Mints and Chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth. Set aside to cool.2. With an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Gradually add the cooled chocolate. Add the confectioners sugar and beat until smooth.3. Invert one layer onto a cake plate. Smooth about 1 cup frosting over it. Top with another layer and frost. Add top layer, upside down. Evenly frost the top and sides of the cake with the remained frosting. Sprinkle the cake with additional chopped Frango Mints.
This is one of my favorite cakes – or at least the recipe for it. When Fredrick & Nelsons was still open in Seattle (before becoming Macys) they had a cafe that sold these cakes. It was one of the most decadent chocolate mint cakes ever, topped with thin slab wedges of Frango chocolate fanned around the top (vs the chopped ones in this recipe). Traditionally in my family it was the cake of choice for my aunt, cousin, and I who shared September birthdays. I’ll try to make it sometime soon to see how it compares to what I remember, but we all know how nostalgia makes things sweeter with time.
This recipe was put out but Fredrick & Nelsons cookbook cards. I’d link to the site I finally found it on but it’s a hot mess of bad links at this point thus my copy/pasting.
House Of Crows 