Grasshopper Swirl Bunt Cake

This Grasshopper Bundt Cake is rich, mint and a definite crowd pleaser. 

Who doesn’t love the combo of mint and chocolate! 

I love a good Bundt cake. This homemade Mint Chocolate Bundt Cake is unique in that it has these delicious green mint ribbons throughout it. And don’t get me started on the chocolate ganache drizzle! Trust me, this cake is not lacking in the flavor department! 

Ingredients
Filing

• 2 packages (3 oz each) cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• ½  tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• ⅛ teaspoon peppermint extract
• 3 drops green food color

Cake

• 2 boxes of Chocolate cake mix plus ingredients requested on the box

Chocolate and Cream Cheese Glaze

• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk
• ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract, optional 
• 1 or 2 drops green food color

Instructions

Heat oven to 325°F. Grease bundt pan. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer on high speed until smooth and fluffy. Beat in rest of ingredients until smooth; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the cake mix as directed on the box. 

Pour half the cake batter into the pan. Spoon cream cheese filling over batter, using a butter knife, swirl the filing throughout the cake batter. Pour the rest of the cake batter on top.

Bake 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Turn pan upside down onto cooling rack; remove pan. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

In a 1-quart saucepan, heat chocolate chips and butter over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted; set aside. 

For glaze, mix the ingredients in a medium size bowl. Make sure you sift the powdered sugar, or else you will have lumps. Add water if you need to thicken the glaze until it can be easily drizzled. Drizzle over cake. 

Immediately spoon melted chocolate over glaze in a 1/2-inch-wide ring. 

Refrigerate until serving time. Store loosely covered in the refrigerator.

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Honey Orange Mini Loaf Cakes

These mini loaf cakes are bursting with a combination of tangy citrus, brown butter, sweet honey and ginger! Drizzled with an orange glaze and dusted with powdered sugar, these Honey Orange mini Loaf cakes make a great breakfast treat or just an afternoon snack with tea. These are delicious served warmed with butter.

I love the flavor of brown butter! Seriously, imagine making butter taste better without adding anything to it. Browning butter is simple! Grab a stick of butter and a small saucepan. 

Slowly cook the butter over low heat until it foams, and the milky whiteness turns brown and sinks to the bottom of the pan. Two things are happening. First, the water in the butter is cooking out, concentrating the butter’s flavor. Second, the butter’s milk solids caramelize, flavoring the butter with their nutty richness and extending the life of the butter. Melting the butter will take about 5 minutes to brown, be careful it will go from perfect to burnt in a few short minutes.

Brown butter can be used anywhere you’d use butter, a batch of cookies l, sauce for pasta , or a sauce over your vegetables. 

Here are a few of my recipes where I used brown butter:

Rolo Snickerdoodles

Pear & Pecorino Ravioli with Pancetta and Walnuts

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons orange zest
• 8 tablespoon unsalted butter
• ¾ cup honey
• 2 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• ½ cup milk
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup sugar
• Powdered sugar, for dusting optional

Orange Glaze

• 1 ¾  cups confectioners sugar
• ¼  cup fresh orange juice
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1 teaspoon salted butter melted

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 F and grease four 6 inch mini loaf pans. 

In a medium bowl, hand whisk together sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger and orange zest.

Brown your butter by placing in a small skillet on medium heat. Stir until butter is melted. Continue to stir and heat until butter is foamy and brownish in color.

Pour brown butter into a bowl of stand mixer.

Add honey, orange juice, milk, sugar, and slightly beaten eggs.

Mix on medium with paddle attachment until smooth.

Slowly spoon in flour mixture on medium speed until a cake batter is formed. 

Divide batter amongst the pans.

Place pans on a cookie sheet and bake for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. (cover loaves with a sheet of aluminum foil halfway through baking.)

Place pans on the cooling rack to completely cool before removing.

Make the glaze

In a large microwave safe measuring cup, combine the sugar, orange juice and orange zest. Whisk until there are no lumps.

Add in the butter then whisk together again until smooth. If it is not pourable, you can microwave it for 30 seconds or so. 

Pour over each loaf and sprinkle with powdered sugar.