Naked Christmas Chocolate Cake with Peppermint Bark and Mascarpone Buttercream
This Easy Naked Christmas Chocolate Cake is made using a devil's food cake mix and extra ingredients for a rich and flavourful cake. Topped with a creamy mascarpone buttercream and peppermint bark, it's perfect for the holiday season!
Servings 12 servings
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 1 package Dark Devil's Food Cake Mix See notes.
- 1 3 ounce package instant chocolate pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1/2 cup warm water (or milk)
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup mint chocolate chips
Mascarpone Buttercream:
- 8 oz Mascarpone cheese
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar (more if needed)
- 1 - 2 tbsp heavy cream (just enough to make a soft icing that's easy to spread)
Topping:
- peppermint bark crushed and in chunks
- chocolate mint cookies
Instructions
Making the cakes:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Using a stand mixer combine all of the cake ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Mix until smooth, about 4 minutes.1 package Dark Devil's Food Cake Mix, 1 3 ounce package instant chocolate pudding mix, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil, 1/2 cup warm water, 4 large eggs
- Fold in the chocolate chips.1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup mint chocolate chips
- Prepare 2 round 8-inch baking pans by spraying them with a flour/oil cooking spray, or greasing with butter and lightly dusting with flour.
- Pour the cake batter into the two prepared pans (evenly spreading the batter between the 2 pans).
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for about 15 minutes.
Making the frosting:
- While the cakes are baking or cooling you can make the frosting. Use a stand mixer and combine the frosting ingredients, mixing until fluffy and smooth.8 oz Mascarpone cheese, 2 tbsp Butter, 1 1/2 cups icing sugar, 1 - 2 tbsp heavy cream
Putting it all together:
- Place one cake layer on to a cake plate, then spread on some of the frosting and sprinkle with crushed peppermint bark (see picture above).
- Place the second layer on top of the bottom layer. Try to lightly brush away as many cake crumbs from the outside of the stacked cake as you can. It doesn't have to be perfect.
- Now finish icing cake, making sure that the layers show through (that's the whole point of a naked cake!).
- Add broken pieces of peppermint bark along the bottom, sprinkle with crushed peppermint, and top with cookies.peppermint bark, chocolate mint cookies