The Kitchn: May your days be merry and mocha
If I could bake just one thing during the holiday season, it would be this coffee-spiked chocolate cake topped with a sea of crushed peppermint candies. It's a humble cake that couldn't be easier to whip up on a weeknight. It has a balanced richness and a pillowy-soft texture, and it's right at home everywhere from holiday parties to book club.
Bloom cocoa powder for a bigger chocolate flavor
Blooming cocoa powder is a technique used twice in this recipe: once in the cake and again when making the frosting. For the deepest, richest chocolate flavor possible, cocoa powder is bloomed with hot coffee when preparing the cake batter. Coffee is excellent at enhancing chocolate's flavor.
What it means to bloom cocoa powder
When cocoa powder is "bloomed" it's mixed with a hot liquid, stirred well to break up any lumps, and then left to sit for a minute or two. The cocoa powder dissolves, which thickens the liquid and releases flavor particles within the powder. This technique brings out the best in cocoa powder and unleashes its ultra-chocolatey potential.
Peppermint Mocha Snack Cake
Makes 1 (9-inch-by-13-inch) cake
Serves 12 to 15
For the cake:
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