May 18, 2017
Mint Aero Drip Cake!
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A four-layer chocolate mint sponge, with mint buttercream frosting, chocolate drip, and Mint Aero… the perfect Mint Aero drip cake!
Mint Aero drip cake!
So I adore aero chocolates. Mint Aero, probably, a little more so than regular Aero, but that’s because I have eaten so much of the mint one recently that I can’t resist a little more. I must say though, this recipe would work wonderfully with the normal Aero, or even the orange Aero if you can be lucky enough to find it! *I never can!*
I decided to make this cake a showstopper of sorts and go all out. Therefore, yes, the recipe is quite a lot of stuff. Technically, it does use well over a kilo of sugar, but if you think about it, that is for a FOUR LAYER cake with buttercream inside, and outside, and on top. To get what I have achieved in the images, you do need all the ingredients.
However, if you wanted to make a smaller version, check out my notest section below on the recipe! I am lucky enough to have a bunch of lovely taste testers to eat all of my treats after I have taken my share, and this sort of cake always goes down well – definitely one of my favourites.
Sponge
For the cake itself, I decided to use a basic chocolate sponge and add peppermint extract to get increased chocolate and mint flavour – you can leave the cake as plain chocolate if you prefer though,. or even add in vanilla extract if that is what you prefer.
Tins
I tend to bake my larger cakes into two deep 8″ tins and baking in the oven for a longer time as it keeps the cake moist and much easier to manage. This is slightly different to the original recipe that was posted (a 400g mixture, baked into three tins – notes below!) but I just love this method of baking cakes.
Handy equipment!
Using a cake decorating turntable does also make things easier as you can turn it and smooth it at the same time, but that’s my personal choice! I’m all about making things easier for myself. Using a large metal scraper also makes things so much easier – so these two pieces of equipment will help you!
Buttercream
I adore a drip cake, and oh my days they always get a good reaction on social media and with my taste testers alike. I just love the look of them! For this cake, I used a mint buttercream frosting slathered in the middle of the cake sponges, as well as going all over the outside for a beautiful look.
Ganache drip
Because the buttercream is quite sweet, I use a dark and milk chocolate drip – first found in my Mini Egg drip cake. I much prefer the almost bitterness of dark chocolate though balanced with the sweetness of the milk chocolate as it cancels out some of the sweetness to my perfect level; almost how salt in caramel does.
I melt my ganache in the microwave in a jug on as little heat as possible, stirring really well every 15 seconds so it doesn’t overheat – using a small piping bag makes doing the drip much easier! Topping this with swirls of buttercream frosting using my favourite piping tip as always because it’s just beautiful.
Recipe updated April 2022
The original cake recipe was 400g stork, 400g light brown sugar, 340g self-raising flour, 60g cocoa powder, 8 medium eggs, 2 tsp baking powder and 2 tsp peppermint extract. This was beaten together and split between 3 8″ tins, baked for 30 minutes. I used the same buttercream recipe, and a dark chocolate drip made with 150g dark chocolate and 1-2tsps sunflower oil.
More Mint Aero recipes
If you want to try something else Mint Aero themed and delicious, why not try my no-bake Mint Aero cheesecake, and Mint Aero rocky road have ALWAYS been popular, but I know all you Mint Aero lovers will adore this recipe as well.
Mint Aero Drip Cake!
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 500 g unsalted butter (room temp)
- 500 g light brown soft sugar
- 9 medium eggs
- 400 g self-raising flour
- 100 g cocoa powder
- 2 tsp peppermint extract
Mint Buttercream Frosting
- 500 g unsalted butter (room temp)
- 1000 g icing sugar
- 1/2-1 tsp green food colouring
- 2 tsp peppermint extract
Decoration
- 75 g dark chocolate
- 75 g milk chocolate
- 150 ml double cream
- Mint Aero bubbles
Instructions
Cake
- Heat the oven to 180ºc/160ºfan and line two deep 8"/20cm cake tins with baking parchment – leave to the side.
- In a large bowl, beat together the room temperature unsalted butter and light brown soft sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in the self-raising flour, cocoa powder, eggs and mint extract and beat again briefly until combined.
- Divide the mixture between the two tins and smooth it over – bake for 50-55 minutes until the cakes spring back when pressed and a skewer should also come out clean.
- Once baked, leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then remove and leave to cool fully on a wire rack.
Buttercream
- In a stand mixer, beat the unsalted butter with an electric mixer with the paddle attachment until it is smooth and loose and then beat in the icing sugar 1/3 at a time until its fully combined.
- Add in the green food colouring a little at a time till you get your desired colour, and the mint extract.
- Beat the buttercream for 4-5 minutes on a medium speed so it starts to get fluffier and lighter. – if its a bit stiff, add in 1tbsp of boiling water at a time until you get a smooth consistency, if required.
Assembly
- Once the cakes are cooled, split each cake into two layers.
- Put the first layer on the serving plate spread some of the buttercream onto the top of the first layer, add the second cake on top, repeat, and then top again with some of buttercream and then add the final sponge layer.
- Cover the sides of the cake with a thin layer of buttercream for a crumb coat. Chill for 30 minutes.
- Once chilled, add another layer of butercream around the top and sides of the cake, and smooth around witht a large metal scraper. Chill again for 30 minutes.
- Add the dark chocolate and milk chocolate to a jug, and pour over the double cream. Melt on a low heat, stirring often, until smooth.
- Gently pour/pipe the ganache around the edge of the cake to cause the drips, and pour the rest onto the top and spread evenly and leave to set briefly.
- Once the chocolate has set, with any leftover frosting, pipe some little rosettes onto the top and COVER IN MINT AERO BUBBLES! Enjoy!
Notes
- For this recipe I recommend:
- All of the decorations are completely optional – but I love this style of cake! To make a smaller version of the cake, use:
- Half of the cake mixture, baked into one tin, and split.
- Also, use 1/2 of the decoration recipe!
- This cake will last for 3 days at room temperature.
ENJOY!
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J x
© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Thinking of making a version of this for my dad’s 60th birthday. How would I change the amount of ingredients and the baking time for two ‘60’ shaped cake tins?
Made this for my husbands birthday and WOW! I decorated it slightly differently but this is an amazing recipe!
Hi Jane
Could you make the smaller cake in 2 x 8in tins ? I do not have deep tins.
You’ve said to halve the cake mixture and decoration, I presume you halve the buttercream too ?
Many thanks xx
Hiya! Yes you can split the mix into 2 tins, though baking time will change! And yes, halve the buttercream too! Hope this helps, enjoy! x
Made this for my mint mad daughter in law for her Birthday- huge success- as there wasn’t many people I did half the cake recipe for a 1x 8 inch cake and split it into 2 .Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes.
Made this cake and it tastes amazing! I’ve done a few of your recipes now and all my friends love them. Definitely the most show-stopping one I’ve tried to date but worth the effort
I’m really confused because it talks about making a 3 layer cake, but last time I checked cutting 2 cakes in half would make 4 layers. Or are you throwing away the 4th ?
Can I make this in a 9inch tin?
Can I split the mix between 3 tins and skip the step of cutting each cake in half ?
Hi Jane can you use stork instead of butter for the cake
Yes absolutely! Hope this helps! x
Hi, the recipe is a little too big for me, how much of each would I need for a smaller cake – approx 8 portions? Some of the amounts I wouldn’t be able to half i.e. eggs.
Hi Jane
I have made this cake so many times, using your previous recipe.(it is such a beautiful moist cake) Going to give it ago with your new recipe but wanted to make a 10inc cake, how much do I need to increase the ingredients by?
Thank you for sharing such awesome recipes.
Looking to make this for my partner’s 25th. When I asked what he wanted he said a mint aero cake, this looks perfect.
In the notes, you listed ingredients for a smaller cake. Is this ideal for the same size tins but just 2 instead of three layers, as three is a little too much for me to do, along with not many people to eat it.
Hi I want to make this bigger want it to be 4 layers how much more would I need to add thank you!
If I only wanted to do a single layer would I just half the cake ingredients??
Really want to make this cake how much butter cream do I use to decorate the side of the cake also if I want to use will chocolate for the drip could I just use chocolate with out the oil so it doesn’t make it too thin
Hiya! The cake already has buttercream around the side. Do you mean white chocolate? if so, you can do but it sets extremely hard so therefore it is quite hard to cut xx
Hi I’ve seen the recipe you put on for a smaller version of the mint aero cake woukd this go in 3 6 inch cake tins
Hi, I made this for my birthday and it was fantastic. I can’t wait to make it again! My only problem was with the colour of the buttercream. I used a bog standard Tesco green, and my cream came out a sort yellow colour, whereas in hindsight I should have ordered a specific mint green colouring. What brand of green did you use please? Thank you!
That would definitely be the Tesco colouring – I recommend sugar flair, progel, colour splash or wilton! None available in supermarkets x
Would it be ok to split the ingredients between 2 8inch tins and make into 4 layer cake or would you up the ingredients a little for the 4 layers
Thanks
I normally use a 500g mix for four layers (worth looking at my 28th birthday cake recipes for timings etc!) and the tins you use would need to be deep ones! x
I made this for my mint aero loving husband. Cakes came out a treat. Propper show stopper of a cake. I was inspired by your oreo drip cake with oreos in the buttercream and added blitzed up aero bar in the buttercream. It gives a great mint choc chip effect to the buttercream. Still had to add some food colouring to get the green effect. Yum yum. Thanks for your amazing blog.
Wonderful.
Hi
I know it says 8inch round tin but what kind was it that you used please? I have 8inch tins but they are not loose bottomed, would this be an issue.?
I have a blog post about all cake tins I use – but any 8″ works really!
Hi, I am making this for my Birthday. How many bags of Aero balls did you use please Jane? Thank you.
Ahh yay! Honestly I am not 100% sure, but I would say about 300g x
Mint mad hubby loved it
Amazing recipe so easy to do and went down a treat.
I made this for my sister’s birthday (she loves mint chocolate) and this cake was an absolute showstopper. Over the years trying different recipes for her birthday, this is the first one that turned out perfect. The cake was lovely and moist and the buttercream was so fluffy and light! I accidentally miscounted and put 7 eggs but luckily it turned out fine (I had mixed size eggs so I probably put a large egg in at some point). I followed your ganache suggestion for the drip instead of sunflower oil and it turned out great!
Hi Jane, please can you tell me which brand of peppermint extract you use? Don’t want to risk getting one that has a weak flavour! Thanks 🙂
I use Nielsen Massey, but any work well! x
Hi Jane,
I was a little confused by ‘I tend to refrigerate my cake after step 6 to make this easier as the cake is so moist but this is optional’ as step 6 is making the buttercream. At what point would you advise putting the cake layers in the fridge? Once they have cooled?
Many Thanks!
It’s an option to put the cakes in the fridge, to make stages of decorating easier. So after putting buttercream between layers, or on the outside, or after the drip, just to firm it up slightly (which is why it’s optional) x
I made this cake yesterday for my birthday. It was AMAZING, just like all of your recipes ☺️ I’m pretty much OBSESSED with your blog!! Now I’ve got the hard decision of what to make next!
This recipe is my favourite!!
Yay!! x
Hi Jane.
I want to make this cake as a 3 tier 6 in tin cake.
Do I use the following.
300g Stork and Brown sugar
255g S R Flour
45g Cocoa powder
6 Eggs
1.5 tps Baking podwer
1.5 tsp peppermint
Thank you
That should be okay – it would be quite tall! x
I am hoping make this cake as flavours sound amazing. However I want to cover with fondant for child’s birthday cake. Would you suggest Using the butter cream From recipe or a milk chocolate ganache under the fondant?
AHh yay! So personally I prefer using ganache under fondant as I find it a better surface to work from, but either work well! x
Just made this for my brother-in-law’s birthday. It’s absolutely delicious, and looks really striking. I went for a ganache, which was too thick and didn’t drip, so I scraped some of it around the sides In patches to make it look intentional!! Perfect ratio of icing to cake, and very easy to follow instructions as always. Thank you!
Do you think After Eights would be OK on this cake. Thank you. X
I personally wouldn’t add them to the cakes themselves when baking, but they’re great for decor!
Hi Jane, I’m just wondering what the cake tastes like. Does the peppermint come off very strong or it is mainly chocolate with undertones of chocolate? Thank you 🙂
**I meant to say undertones of mint
I think it’s chocolatey with undertones of mint – but that can depend on the flavouring you use! If you don’t want it as minty, you could reduce the amount! x
Hi Jane,
My nephew has requested a mint chocolate chip cake for his birthday. Would it be possible to adapt the recipe to include chocolate chips to? I’ve used many of your recipes before so hoping to use this one. Looking to use 7 inch tins too.
Hey! Yes you could add chocolate chips to the sponge if you wanted! A 7″ tin is slightly smaller so you can reduce the recipe by about 1/5, or use it as it is and it be taller! x
Hi Jane!
Can you use vegetable oil for the dark chocolate drip or is it not as effective as sunflower oil ? (I’ve got a lot of vegetable oil at home that’s why I’m asking but if sunflower is better I have no problem buying some). Thank you!
Hey! Yes you can do – add 1/2 a tsp at a time and mix in fully and it should be okay! x
Hi jane how do i get the icing smoothenlike that? It never works when i try? Xxx
It’s definitely worth a practice, and to make sure you have a scraper! X
I’m making this for my husband on Father Day And wanted to know how can I make the drip with milk chocolate without it being too thin as allergic to dark chocolate x
What’s light brown sugar? I have Demera or caster what should I use ?
Does it matter if it’s vegetable or sunflower oil?
Light brown sugar is a soft sugar that’s sold in supermarkets – if you don’t have it, I would use caster sugar! And you can use either, just make sure not to add too much!!
Hello Jane! I’ve just come across your recipe – my son has requested a mint chocolate “how to train your dragon” cake for his birthday so I am going to attempt to turn it into that!
If I use the small version recipe at the bottom, what size cake tins do I need?
Thanks!
Ahh how cute!! And two 8″ tins! x
Hi
What size box would I need to transport this and do you have any tips I’m safely transporting a cake of this size?
Thank you x
I usually buy a 10″ cake box and put it on a 10″ board – and most cake boxes are about 6″ tall x
How do you get the taste of mint in the cake? Is the extract to weak? Thanks!!
Sorry I don’t understand.. the recipe has mint extract in the cake?
I made this for my mum’s birthday and it was AMAZING! The whole family was so impressed and they want me to make it for them again! Thanks for the fab recipe 😍
That’s amazing!!
Hi Jane,
I’m making this for my husbands 40th birthday tomorrow as he loves mint chocolate. If I made the cake today, and just iced and assembled it tomorrow would the cake still be ok, and if so how would you recommend storing the cake so it doesn’t go stale. I’m a slow icer and very new to baking so want to be able to take my time icing it tomorrow. The crunchie cheesecake is in the fridge as we speak! Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks xx
The best place is definitely at room temp, avoid the fridge! And ideally you could wrap the sponges well in clingfilm individually!
I made this cake for my sons 18th. It is the first cake i have ever made like this and everyone said it was brilliant. Thank you
Ah yay! I’m so glad you liked the recipe!
Hi, loving the cake! I want to do a choc orange drip cake so was thinking of swapping the mint for orange flavouring and mint choc bubbles for orange chocolate and then swap green colour for orange colour. Would this work?
It should do!
This looks amazing – I can smell the minty goodness through the screen. I want to give this a go but would you recommend using a 1/3 of this recipe and splitting into 2 7 inch tins. If not I can stick to the 8inch…more cake!
Thank you! When I am making this into 7″ (but still three layers) I use 4/5 of the recipe – but if you only want two layers, I think half might work?! I’m not 100% sure, but I think 1/3 would probably be too little! x
Is it possible to make the aero mint chocolate in advance and freeze for 2 weeks before use
Hiya! Do you mean the cake part?
Is there a way of making this dairy free?
Technically yes. As long as you use a dairy free baking spread in the sponges, it should be fine. Most cocoa powders are dairy free but you would have to check that. The only thing is dairy free baking spread isn’t the best for stiff buttercream, so it might be too sloppy to put on the sides of the cake, but its worth a try.
I am making a gluten free version of this for my twins 8th birthday. My daughter has coeliac disease. Fingers crossed it tastes ok. It certainly smells nice!
I’d like to make this for my son’s space themed birthday party. Any ideas on modifying the decoration to make it look like an Alien? All I can come up with is putting white marshmallows on sticks with a dab of chocolate to make googley eyes! Help!
Hiya! How alien like do you want it to be? You could try decorations on top, or try using rice Krispy cake mixtures to make aliens and covering them in chocolate for example? It’s worth having a google to find better stuff as my ideas are lacking haha!
How can I convert this recipe into a two layer cake ?
Details in the tips and ideas section on the post x
Hi, can you just confirm that it is 8 eggs in this cake? It seems a lot of eggs, that’s all 😉
It’s not for the amount of cake you’re making 👍 you do definitely need 8 medium eggs.
Made this cake for a family celebration, it looked and tasted amazing everyone loved it. Thank you.
Can I use milk chocolate and sunflower oil for the drip? Or is there a specific reason why is dark chocolate?
Milk chocolate is a lot thinner and won’t have the same affect. Ratios for ganache with cream or oil change with different chocolates like milk and white. I’d recommend using dark, or use half the amount of oil (but it might still be thinner)
I stupidly misread your ingredients for the sponges for how much peppermint to use. Instead of 2 tsps I read 2 tbsp 🙁
Don’t know 100% what it tastes like yet as I have only had cake cut offs. Fingers crossed it doesn’t taste like toothpaste tomorrow for the Macmillan Coffee Morning. Looks inviting still though…..so hopefully people will still buy some 🙂
I WON! Your cake / recipe went down a storm at work. I have won an afternoon tea for two whilst raising funds for Macmillan. Thank you xx
That’s amazing! Well done!! x
Hi Jane,
So excited to try this cake for my partners birthday as he is a mint aero addict! Just wanted to check with the smaller version how many sponges would that make or is it 3 still but smaller tins?
Thanks
I’d use two 8″ tins rather than three x
I’m making this cake right now, the cake is cooling, quick question. What does the sunflower oil do to the dark chocolate?
It thins it out to make it drip easier – and keeps it softer so when cutting it doesn’t break.
Hi Jane,
I’m making this for my sisters birthday. Do you think I could take the lazy option and buy a cake mix like Betty Crocker Devils Food Cake and just add mint extract to it? And then make your mint buttercream frosting? Thanks
I’ve never tried it but I don’t see why not!
I am making this right now. It’s in the fridge after a crumb coat. The cake mix tasted lovely and the buttercream is out of this world. I can’t wait to finish it, just so I can eat it! It’s going to be amazing. Thanks for the recipe xx
Oh my god, I swear I can smell how lovely and chocolatey and minty this is!
Hi I dont have 20cm cake tins I only have 22cm cake tins will this still be ok to make the cake