Andes Mint Cake

I made this cake for my friend Steven's birthday--the last birthday everyone celebrated at college, and the last time we all got together to party. It was a great time. I spent most of the day making it (it was also somewhat for my boyfriend, whose birthday was after graduation) and it was really worth it. The party was a surprise party for Steven: I was planning it for a while and some of my friends said they'd help out, so we got a handful of people invited to a Facebook event, but of course Steven has tons of friends so there was well over just a handful of people there. It was a funny surprise story though: we convinced him to come over but it took way too long to actually come because he was watching YouTube videos. My apartment was overheated and everyone was dying. We thought Steven might have a feeling we were doing a surprise party, so we shoved 2/3 of the people into my roommates' rooms, and when he got there about 7 of us yelled "surprise" and told him we were playing Birthday Settlers (of Catan). We started the game and then I "had to go to the bathroom", and instead of me coming back, one of Steven's friends who wouldn't have been in my apartment came out instead, and tricked Steven into being blindfolded. While blindfolded the rest of the guests came into the room, and when Steven took off the blindfold, somehow we had been quiet enough that he was really surprised to see everyone! So it was really successful--pretty proud of that surprise working out!

This cake's frosting didn't work perfectly. It was too soupy even after I put it in the freezer for a couple of hours. I think it was just way too hot in my apartment. I really want my cakes to turn out perfectly like the pictures the original maker posts, but mine always look lopsided...I guess they look more homemade, though. Even though people only got tiny slices of this cake (there were tons of people at the party!), I got lots of compliments on this one!

Andes Mint Cake
Recipe from mommiecooks

For the Cake:
1 8 Oz. Bag Andes Mints
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
3 Oz. Dark Chocolate
1 Cup Boiling Water
11/2 Sticks Unsalted Butter (12 Tbsp or 3/4 pd)
11/2 Cups White Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Mayonnaise
3 Cups Flour
11/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt

For the Frosting:
6 Egg Whites
11/4 Cup White Sugar
3 Sticks Room Temperature Butter (24 Tbsp or 1.5 pounds)
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
1/4 Cup Cream

Toss about 3oz. of the andes candies into a bowl along with the cocoa powder and dark chocolate.

Pour the boiling water over the top and allow the chocolate to melt completely.

In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and the two sugars.

Mix in the eggs and vanilla.

Add in the mayonnaise.

In a separate bowl combine the flour baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Alternate adding the flour and then the liquid chocolate to the creamed mixture, mixing after each addition.

Pour batter into three prepared 9" cake rounds and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

For the frosting mix together the egg whites and the sugar.

Place into a double boiler and heat until the temperature reaches 160 degrees, whisking often.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and whisk on medium high until stiff, glistening and room temperature; about 5 minutes.

Cube up the butter and add it in a bit at a time while whisking on medium speed.

If your frosting separates, simply up the speed and give it a minute or two to come back together.

Add in the vanilla and almond extract.

Frost the cooled cake.

Reserving about 8 of the remaining mints, place the rest into a double boiler along with the cream.

Once melted, remove from heat and let rest about 5 minutes to cool down. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Chop the reserved mints and sprinkle over the top of the cake.