Minty Christmas Cake for My Colleagues

HALLELUJAH! I have come to the end of a very rough, very long semester. There were definitely points where I wasn't sure I was going to make it. Oh, I still have some more data entry to do to finish up grades, but it's pretty much all over but the shouting. And tonight, the Faculty Association ate, drank, danced, and shouted! It has been a few years since we've had a full-on holiday party, but the lovely wife of our new union president insisted it be reinstated, as she said she missed the dancing! (I did, too.)

We met at the local Elks' Club for a buffet dinner, but we were asked to provide a variety of homemade desserts. I was willing to contribute, of course, but I was just too wrung out and exhausted from finals to make anything elaborate. So this recipe is a bit of a cheater, as it starts with a boxed cake mix. And as usual, I managed to produce the ugliest cake in Christendom, so I hid a multitude of sins with some mini M&Ms and filled the hole in the middle of the bundt cake with fresh vanilla bean whipped cream. The people at the party had it half-devoured before I could even finish my dinner and get across the room to snap a messy, blurry picture. So I guess they liked it, regardless of its lack of visual appeal. ;-)

Mint Chocolate Cake
(Source: The Hungry Housewife)

1 box Devil's Food Cake
1 3.4 oz box cook and serve chocolate pudding mix (not instant!)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup coffee
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 1/2 cup Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips*

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cake mix and pudding mix. Add the eggs, oil coffee, sour cream, vanilla and peppermint extract. With and electric mixer, mix on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Stir in the Andes mints. 

Pour into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Invert onto a cooling rack and allow to completely cool.

Mint Fudge Icing

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup Andes Creme De Menthe Baking Chips**
1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Put the Andes mints and the chocolate chips in a medium bowl.
In a small sauce pan over medium low heat, add the sweetened condensed. Bring the mixture to just under a boil. Remove from heat and add extracts. Pour the hot sweetened condensed milk over the mint and chocolate chips. Allow to sit for just a few minutes. Stir until the chocolate chips are completely melted. Pour over the cake.

*Cake- If you can not find Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips, you can use 54 regular Andes Creme De Menthe mints. Just unwrap and chop. You would need TWO 6 oz packages. Use all 36 in the first package and 18 of the second package.

**Mint Fudge Icing- if you can not find Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips, use the remaining 18 mints. Unwrap and chop.