Leftover candy canes?  No problem! This delicious Peppermint Chocolate Cake is just perfect for using them up!  A lovely 4 layer cake with peppermint-marshmallow filling and rich chocolate ganache in every layer.  Absolutely delicious! And perfect for one of our many winter birthdays. Enjoy!  Would you believe that I wrote out the instructions and my 8 year old and 11 year old made up the chocolate cake layers all by themselves while I went on a birthday walk?!  Extra special birthday treat! 

Beautiful and delicious slice of GF peppermint chocolate cake!

Yum! Freshly assembled with delicious flowing ganache filling and topping.

Peppermint Chocolate Cake!

Chocolate Sponge Cakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Butter the edges and line 2 quarter sheet baking pans with parchment paper (quarter sheet baking pans are approx 8x12 inner dimension or 9x13outer dimension metal cookie sheets - I LOVE this size.  Perfect for the toaster oven, and perfect when you have multiple things you want to roast separately in the regular oven, and of course, opera-style cakes!)

Melt together, then set aside:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

In a small measuring cup, combine to make a "buttermilk": 

2 Tbsp white vinegar

milk to equal 1 cup (lactose-free or milk substitutes work)

In a large bowl, whisk together: 

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup white rice flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Add and whisk in until smooth: 

1 cup buttermilk, from above

melted butter & dark chocolate, from above

1/4 cup oil

6 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

Batter whisked and ready to put into the prepared pans.

Divide between the two parchment-lined pans.  Bake at 350 F for approximately 15-18 minutes.  These are nice and thin, so they cook quickly.  They should look nicely dried, but not burned or too dark on the edges. They should look no longer wet in the center.  Depending on your oven, they may need an extra minute or two.

Batter divided and ready for baking.

Out of the oven.  You can see how it's nicely dried out. Chocolate cake always smells so good. 

Remove from oven.  Let rest 5 minutes before flipping onto cooling racks to cool.  Once cool, carefully slice each cake in half so you'll have four even layers for your cake. 

Peppermint Marshmallow Frosting:

Once cakes have cooled, you can prepare your frosting, as it's time to assemble! 

Beat together in a mixer until light and fluffy - 2-3 minutes: 

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup marshmallow fluff

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp (or more if needed) cream or milk

When your frosting is nice and fluffy, gently mix in: 

~1/4 cup crushed candy cane (I find 2 large candy canes is about the right amount, but I like to crush 3 large candy canes so there is extra to sprinkle on top of the cake!)

Chocolate Ganache:

Once cakes are set to cool, prepare your chocolate ganache.  It will need a little time (5-10 minutes) to cool a bit on the counter before assembling the cakes, so timing-wise, I found this worked well.  

In a saucepan over medium heat combine and heat until bubbling gently: 

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup whole cream/whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

Remove from heat and stir in until smooth (this takes a bit of patience, usually a few minutes): 

8 oz high quality semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate

Once the ganache is nice and smooth, you can spoon it into a large freezer ziploc and set aside for assembling.  Just before assembling, snip a small corner of the bag for piping your ganache.  

Assembling your cake:

To assemble cakes: 

1. Layer of cake. 

2. Spread 1/4 of peppermint frosting on the layer. 

3. Drizzle a zigzag of chocolate ganache on top of the frosting.  

4. Repeat with 2nd cake layer, frosting, ganache drizzle.

5. Repeat with 3rd cake layer, frosting, ganache drizzle.

6. Top with 4th cake layer, and add frosting.  

7.  Gently spread the remaining ganache drizzle on top of the cake. 

8.  Top with fresh crushed candy cane. 

Chocolate cake with frosting and ganache drizzle

About to add the chocolate drizzle to this layer.

Complete! The smell is amazing.

Slice and serve!  If you want clean layers, let your cake chill for 2 or more hours in the refrigerator to firm up the frosting and ganache.  Using a large knife to cut will give you lovely, crisp slices.  Enjoy!!! 

Sliced fresh before it had a chance to cool - it'll look a little messy, but the taste is the best!  Chilled, you'll be able to get nice clean slices like the first picture.

Peppermint Chocolate Cake Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!