Chocolate Strawberry Mint Cake

The Art.

    One of the first plants I grew as a kid were little strawberries planted outside my bedroom window. My favorite thing about strawberries is how pretty the vines are, so I made a beautiful cake covered in strawberry vines and flowers. This is the first time I've used my gum paste flower set and I would highly recommend it. The small and medium flower cutters are the perfect size for strawberry blooms, and painting them ever so slightly pink with food color gives them dimension. Hiding under the buttercream and mint leaves are two layers of dark chocolate cake separated by more fresh strawberries. I have to admit, I usually I wouldn't combine so many flavors, but in this case they blend together perfectly for a fresh, spring cake!

The Science.

    One of the things that surprised me about this cake is that everyone assumed the icing was mint flavored. I had only intended to use the mint leaves as an edible decoration, and it didn't occur to me that they would have so much impact on the flavor. I think the real reason for this is that I accidentally extracted the essential oils of the mint into the icing. Most of you probably remember from high school chemistry that fats and oils are "hydrophobic," or water-hating. And also the rule that "like dissolves like," meaning that if you want to dissolve something hydrophobic, you use another hydrophobic solvent. These principles are what lead to the happy accident that is the faux mint buttercream. The fats in the butter and shortening in the icing dissolved the flavorful oils from the mint leaves, enhancing the flavor of the icing with a fresh, mint flavor. This has inspired me to try to incorporate fresh mint into my icing in the future, hopefully with the same wonderful results!

The Recipe.

    The recipes for chocolate cake and buttercream icing can be found here and here. This cake was made using two 6x3-inch pans. Spread buttercream on the bottom cake layer and arrange with fresh strawberries, then top with the second layer. 

    I dyed most of the remaining icing light blue using Wilton Icing Colors Teal, and a small amount with Kelly Green. After smoothing the cake with blue icing, use a small round decorating tip to pipe the vines. Adorn the cake with mint leaves, gum paste flowers, and halved strawberries. If your strawberries have nice leaves, you may keep them on. Mine did not, so I improvised and used some of the smaller mint leaves. Refrigerate cake until serving to prevent the mint leaves from wilting. The cake will look its best if served within one day.