Peppermint chocolate cake to make your holiday delicious

This peppermint chocolate cake is a rich chocolate cake with chocolate peppermint icing, decorated with candy canes.  It makes the perfect winter dessert!

This post may contain affiliate links.  Please read my disclosure for more info. 

I’m going heavy on the recipe posts right now because December means people are baking in their kitchens the most out of any other time of year!  I hope you like this peppermint chocolate cake recipe.

I work part-time out of the home and have a very flexible job where I work independently.  I don’t go into an office so even though I have coworkers, we rarely see each other in person and mainly have phone meetings.  But each year before Christmas we get together for a holiday lunch, and I love catching up with these ladies.

Since I love baking, I use our annual holiday lunch as an excuse to try out different Christmas baking recipes!

Peppermint chocolate cake

This year I made a peppermint chocolate cake with chocolate peppermint icing and candy canes.  I cut the big layer cake into 48 pieces and gave each person 6 slices on a red plate.  I love the background of the red plates to highlight the candy canes – yum!

This peppermint chocolate cake is great for a festive Christmas dessert or to share on holiday dessert platters.  It’s also great for making on a random day in December and then just eating it with your family.  The whole of December feels festive to me, so why not?!

Related content:

• Meyer lemon shortbread cookies
• Shortbread with chocolate ganache
• Gingerbread scones

I use peppermint extract in the frosting, not the cake.  Peppermint extract is strong so a little goes a long way!  I love the way the cake tastes pure and chocolatey and the creamy chocolate peppermint icing is where you taste the mint with each bite.

This peppermint chocolate cake comes together so quickly!  Let’s bake!

Yield: 48 squares

Peppermint Chocolate Cake

Print

This peppermint chocolate cake is a rich chocolate cake with chocolate peppermint icing, decorated with candy canes.  It makes the perfect winter dessert!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake:

• 2 1/4 cups white flour
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup oil, any liquid oil - I used melted coconut oil
• 1 t sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• optional: 4 candy canes, crushed, for decorating

Chocolate Peppermint Icing:

• 2 1/2 tbsp vegan butter or butter
• 2 tbsp hot water + ~1 more tbsp
• 2 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix flour, cocoa powder, sugar, sea salt, and baking soda together in a large bowl.  Measure water and oil into a measuring cup, pour into dry ingredients and stir.
3. Pour into a 9x13 rectangle pan that has been sprayed with oil and bake for 22-26 minutes at 350 F. Let the chocolate cake cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Peppermint Icing

1. Mix the icing sugar, vegan butter or butter, peppermint extract, cocoa powder, and 2 tbsp hot water in a mixer on medium speed for about a minute until blended and creamy.  At this point you might want to add the additional 1 tbsp of water and blend it in.
2. Frost the cooled chocolate cake, top with crushed candy canes (press them into the chocolate peppermint icing slightly) and cut into 48 squares for small portions/dessert platters, or 12 large squares.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

48

Serving Size:

1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g

—–> Pin this post to save it for later!

Do you like peppermint and chocolate together?  Have you ever made a peppermint chocolate cake?