I wanted to do a super quick post to show you how to make the Daisy Cake. I got sidetracked.
Big time.
See, I thought I would make the frosting slightly green so the daisy would show up better and then I thought I should make it peppermint if it was green and then I thought I should make a chocolate cake cause what goes better with peppermint then chocolate and then I found a recipe for a chocolate peppermint cake but I was missing a bunch of ingredients but then I decided to make it anyway.
Lets do that tutorial quick.
I used a 127D tip from Wilton.
Just hold it at about a 45 degree angle, then apply consistent pressure to your pastry bag and create your flower petal shape. Â Try not to change the angle of the tip.
Just start in the middle then move up (applying consistent pressure) to the edge of the cake then back to the middle.
Do this all the way around the cake to get your Daisy effect.
And try to ignore the terrible pictures.. I was trying to get the shot as I was piping and it got all wobbly. Â Whoops!
Using a large round tip (I used a 2A) go back in and add the yellow center. Â Viola!
And now for the greatest cake I have ever made.
EVER.
As I sit here I can even imagine the smell that engulfed my kitchen as I opened the oven for that first peak… its my new *happy place*.
I cannot express enough to you how scrumptious and delicious and perfect this cake tastes.
If you have ever enjoyed a thin mint you must try this. Â You must.
Like, I am making you.
Except I have no way of enforcing this demand so never mind.
And please… if you have any hang ups at all about using a box cake mix… just force yourself through it. Â If I can find a way to replicate this flavor from scratch believe me I will be sharing it.
THIN MINT CAKE
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup water
2 sticks butter (softened)
4 eggs
1/2 ripe banana
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. + 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Combine all ingredients in a mixer on low for thirty seconds, then increase speed to medium and mix until just combined.
Pour into prepared pans (I used two 8in pans) and bake for 30-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
The frosting is here. Â Just plain ole buttercream. Â A perfect compliment to this amazing cake.
Eat. Enjoy. Share.
Please share.
Especially if you live by me. Â I’d love another bite!
*****
Disclaimer: If you do not like banana or are allergic to banana or think bananas were created by the devil, then please feel free to leave it out. Â
If you want to have an extra level of texture and moisture in your cake then leave it in! Â
Here is what I have come to find out. Â If people do not know there is banana in it they cannot tell when they bite into it. Â If they find out prior and it weirds them out and then every bite is met with them searching for the illusive banana flavor.
I personally do not have the most refined palette so I could not detect even the slightest hint of banana.
In spite of all that I have changed the ingredients to HALF of one banana. Â I hope that helps!
you’re awesome. seriously, off the charts awesome. woobly pictures?! you’re kidding right?! loved them!
thanks for sharing!
I’ve been thinking about some kind of mint chocolate cake and I am sure this would absolutely do the trick! Pretty too.
Yum. I wanna try it, and I wanna try recreating it from scratch. The banana gets me. I’m intrigued.
Thanks for the recipe and tutorial. This looks fabulous and so so pretty.
What about the mint icing?
looks so pretty and I love think mint and all minty items for that matter.
Will have to go to that store again next trip!
When I was in N. Carolina recently I went into a hardware store that boasts if they don’t have it no one will, and I think they were right. I only made it to the first 5-6 aisles of baking items and found piping tips I’d never seen before, can’t wait to try them. Funny thing, my brother told me later that there was 2 floors to the store and I only went a few aisles in and had my hands full
I was so excited when you said it started with a boxed cake mix! That’s my kind of recipe!!
The banana concerns me though. Can you taste it at all? I really don’t like banana.
After moving from the states to Sweden I have learned that there are no box mixes as I know of them here. Shame. The cake sounds tasty too!
A banana?! Now there’s a secret ingredient I would never have guessed would be in a mint and chocolate flavored cake!
Absolutely gorgeous! And I would just love the flavor. One of my faves!
I wish I would’ve waited until after breakfast to check this out. Now I’m pining for thin mint chocolate cake with a daisy on top. Seriously, there’s a house 2 doors down for sale if you’re looking to move. I could be your kitchen helper.
No Ann, you cannot taste any bananaflavorat all. Only pure minty chocolate deliciousness!
Hmm, chocolate is the only cake I WON’T buy boxed, because my scratch recipe is amazing. But I may have to suck it up and try this. I am very intrigued by the banana and cinnamon in a mint cake.
I love the flavor of mint. What a pretty little cake!
Looks beautiful!
That looks yummy! Can ya send me a slice?
I can’t wait to make this! LOVE thin mints!
I am totally ok with box cake mixes:-) This cake looks so delicious!!!! Thank you for all the great recipes you post. I love reading your blog.
SO pretty!! And chocolate and mint are one of my all time favorites. I will definitely be trying this recipe!!
cannot wait to try
Okay – First, that cake is adorable! I love the look! Also, Thin Mints are near the top of my all time favorite cookies, so I was super excited to see this recipe.
You had me totally sold until I saw the word “banana”. Then I was devastated. I despise banana-flavored anything and I just cannot reconcile a banana and chocolate and mint in my mind. Can it really be good with a banana in it?
I PROMISE you that you cannot taste any banana flavor. If you would feel more comfortable, go ahead and decrease the amount used to 1/2 a banana. I just know you will love it!
daisies are my favorite thing so i just love the flower. and I LOVEEE thin mints. and i dont have any right now because its not girl scout cookie season. so i love that i can make a thin mint cake without them. and banana and cinnamon in the cake!?!? i’ve got to try this!
Anything Minty and I’m in – it’s the name of my little girl!
Lucy
x
Your cakes always amaze me and I haven’t even tasted one:)
Is the banana for texture??? Very pretty cake! Love Thin Mint anything!
This is a great idea – love thin mints! My favorite girl scout cookie is the peanut butter patties… I’d love your spin on that : )
http://jennysteffens.blogspot.com
As if this cake was not all ready amazing enough….the idea of thin mint puts it over the top. LOVE
I have a daughter that LOVES thin mints, so I’ll have to make this for her:) I’m sure I would also enjoy it:) I LOVE the giant daisy!
Thank you for sharing. My husband has been in the hospital and I can not wait for him to come home so I can make this, it sounds so good. Thanks for the great tutorial and recipe!
Mmmm!!! Thank you!
: )
Julie M.
I’ve probably missed this in some of your other posts, but what does the banana do to the cake? Just provide moisture?
This sounds like an amazing cake and always, is simply gorgeous!
Great tutorial! Now what I really need to do, is spend a day or two, or three, or four hanging out with you! You should start a cake decorating camp! I would be the first to sign up! x
can we be best friends?
You just KNOW I will be making this STAT.
It seems to be delicious!! Congratulations for your blog. Every cake you make it,s amazing and so beautiful!! Congratulations. I visit this place every day to see new cakes and recipes. Thank you to share.
)
Kisses from Spain (I hope you to understand my english!!
Looks beautiful and delicious, as always!
That is such a beautiful cake!
And the mint idea is great.
I will certainly make it.
Thanks for sharing.
Oh come to mama you big beautiful cake of minty deliciousness.
I just love looking at your tutorials!!!!!!!!!!!!! You make it look so easy!!
banana?? I’m floored? I trust you when you say you cannot taste it- I’m floored by what made you use a banana in it to begin with?? I will be trying this, my kids LOVE thin mints!
who would have thunk………banana in a mint cake!
You know I HAVE to try this Amanda! my mom’s birthday is friday……I bet she would flip if I made this for her
Wow this looks awesome! I think I may try and making it this weekend.
However I’m not sure the purpose of the banana. I am allergic to them so I have to leave it out. Do you have a suggestion on something to replace whatever it is the banana is doing?
Thanks and this is awesome!
looks too good to be true…Im so tryin’ it. can I blame you for the extra lbs? I am still wanting to make the peppermint patties….since I’m a mint chocolate freak! Have the ingredients and dont know what Im waiting for:)
I am in love with doctoring cake mixes. I recently posted one with pudding mix and instant coffee added to the water (it was chocolate)- then added a splash of Kahlua to the buttercream. I will be trying your recipe because it sounds divine – its such a guilty pleasure to use a box – Mu ha ha!
Lisa
theenchantedoven.blogspot.com
That cake just makes me *happy*…
What a beautiful cake. I don’t usually use mies, but I might make an exception for this one.
Thin mints are my favorite… LOVE this cake! Yum
Thank you for this! My daughter’s daisy troop has an event this weekend and I was asked to bring a cake. I knew your blog would give me some sort of an idea as to what to make. This cake is perfect. Thank you!
Is there some sub. for the banana completely? I am allergic and even though this looks and sounds AMAZING I’m not sure its good enough to risk anaphylactic shock for.
Made this in cupcake form, turned out really well. I frosted with a vanilla frosting. Can’t really taste the banana or cinnamon, they must mostly cancel each other out. Just a nice minty flavor. Yum and they should really like them at work.
You had me at thin mint…it’s like my favorite cookie ever! Add in that pretty daisy and this is cake perfection.
Oh yum! Hey you’re within driving distance, I’m headed up there!
Love that last shot.
The banana in the recipe is interesting to me….would have never thunk it ; )
chocolate and mint. chocolate goes with lots of things, but in my mind, mint is its perfect mate.
I made this!! Everyone at work LOVED it! i had a lot of fun making it too. Turned out great thank you so much!!
If you say I must make it, I will. I won’t look NEARLY as cute, but I will suffer through eating it.
I just love thin mint cookies, this cake would be wonderful. And it’s beautiful!
I’d like to invite you to share this recipe on my weekly link-up, Sweet Tooth Friday. I hope to see you there. http://alli-n-son.com/2011/06/09/key-lime-strawberry-shortcake/
Wow this looks so, so good!
I wrote down this recipe as soon as I saw it because it sounded so good. It called for one tablespoon of butter flavoring. Now, a few days later I’m looking at the recipe again and that ingredient is missing. What’s going on here???
Amanda, another gorgeous cake!
Adding this one to my summer ‘to do’ list; thanks for sharing!
Sounds super yummy but i dont usually do cakes…just cupcakes! I will use this recipe and see how they turn out! Thanks.
Out of curiosity, does it matter which chocolate cake mix you use? I’ve never found one that is just chocolate – it’s always butter recipe chocolate or milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate fudge and German chocolate. I’m dying to try this recipe because thin mint cookies are pretty much the greatest thing ever put on earth to eat so I want to make sure I don’t mess it up by buying a cake mix that will change the flavor profile. Thanks!! This looks AMAZING!
I tried this recipe and while the cake was super moist, I could totally taste the banana. And it wasn’t just me, the group I had sampling picked it out without me telling them it was in there. So I had this yucky banana-mint cake. Don’t know how you hid the banana flavor in this recipe.
How do you get your icing so smooth? Mine always has ridges and i end up overworking it and getting a shiny mess.
I would score HUGE points with Hubby if I could make a Thin Mint cake so I’m definitely trying this one out! Shazam! I’m surprised there is a BANANA in it! But I’ll roll with it!
Can’t wait!
I’m making this as cupcakes, and I didn’t have mint extract, but I had these Betty Crocker flavor gel tubes that I thought would work. It turns out they aren’t strong enough, and my cupcakes taste like really yummy banana bread with a fresh after taste. The texture is absolutely perfect.
Well, I tried this cake tonight and had a few bumps in the road! I accidentally grabbed PURE PEPPERMINT at the grocery store instead of extract! I panicked when I got home and called a bakers’ hotline (so neat!) and she talked me through just putting about a teaspoon in… I ended up putting in probably closer to a tablespoon. I reluctantly put in the banana as well after previous poor experiences with said fruit. The result was a VERY moist delicious mint-y… banana cake! Just as I thought. Oh well, it still tasted very good with buttercream frosting, I just still believe bananas overpower any batter! I hope to try this again sometime soon the right key ingredient.
I am going to try this this week!!! Thanks for sharing!!!!
I did the half-banana version of this recipe and the cake tasted delicious and made the house smell wonderful, but it was too hard to assemble. The cake was so crumbly that the crumb coat was almost entirely crumbs; even after chilling the layers overnight. And the icing recipe linked to the post did not make enough to do both a crumb coat and a top coat. I’d recommend doing 1 1/2 batches of that icing recipe (or double it if you’re adding decorations).
Fantastic tips Karyl! Thank you for offering up your advice. I am sure that will help others.
Blessings!
Amanda
Is there a reasonable from-scratch recipe to use instead of boxed? I’m scared that the mix I got is the wrong kind and wrong amount, too. I’m in Sweden, and the mix is about 12 oz, just add water…
I tried this yesterday, except in cupcake form (my cakes always turn out less than pretty, and who doesn’t love a cupcake?!). Anywhos, I absolutely love this! I cannot wait to play around with a few variants that popped into mind while I was mixing then decorating! Thanks a ton!!!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150227054282010&set=a.36048627009.43779.705372009&type=1&theater
(Please forgive my awful photo; it was taken with my non-flashing camera phone because my really nice camera has -gasp- completely stopped working. In real life, the icing is heavenly white and the chocolate is deep and lush.)
You had me at Banana!
Um, yum!!! I totally have a banana just begging to be made into a delectable chocolate cake! Thanks for sharing!
I used this recipe for homemade cake box mix, and hopefully they’ll turn out nicely – I got my layers baking at the moment!
http://www.tammysrecipes.com/homemade_deluxe_chocolate_cake_mix
Because yes, turns out Swedish box mixes are indeed much smaller and with different ingredients.
I can now report that the cake turned out great!! Really awesome – thanks so much for posting this, it’ll definitely be something to make again!
Condivido pienamente il suo punto di vista. Penso che questo sia una buona idea.
I recently made this cake and L-O-V-E’d it. Although I did think the peppermint was a tad too powerful; if I make it again I’ll try with a little less extract.
Hi Amanda,
So while, I didn’t like it with the cinnamon in it, my husband liked this cake. Of course, I don’t like cinnamon. I think I’d love this cake sans cinnamon! Thanks, again for the recipe!
I made your Think Mint Cake with the buttercream frosting for Father’s Day (Dad loves mint!) and it came out perfectly! I left out the banana because Dad hates fruit and it didn’t take away from the cake at all. Everyone loved it, absolutely delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
En esto algo es y es la idea buena. Le mantengo.
So PLEASE tell me how you got your buttercream icing so smooth!!!
You had me until I saw banana. I CANNOT eat a banana or anything w/a banana in it. Can I leave it out!
Note to self, read entire post. Bananas were created by the devil and will NEVER enter my mouth.
That is exactly why I put the disclaimer in the post… I just feel awful that people react so strongly to banana! I often add it to lots of recipes for the moisture and texture it ads.
Again, please feel free to leave it out!
woooow meravigliosa !!!!
I’ve got a Creme de Menthe Double Dutch Chocolate cake that is from scratch that I think you’d like to try. In fact, I’d love to see what you do with it.
The recipe is here:
http://cookinginthefloridaheat.blogspot.com/2011/05/creme-de-menthe-double-dutch-chocolate.html
I apologize in advance if posting it here is the wrong thing to do.
Ok I know I commented on this cake before, but I saw it on fb and I think I’m going to make this for our anniversary on tuesday! Wish me luck!!
xoxo
Hey! I just wanted to say I just baked this cake for my boyfriend’s mom for Mother’s Day and it smells divine! Of course I had to make myself a cupcake as a taste tester and it was AMAZING! His mom loves mint chocolate and I’m sure I’ll get future requests for this! Thanks for the awesome recipe!