All That Glitters is…Green?

katefox3141

Green–the color of some my favorite things…my eyes, money, and all foods at St. Patrick’s Day. As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, it’s time to shamrock your taste buds with a cake that’s mint to be the life of the paddy. Introducing the Crème de Menthe cake—a dessert so good, it’ll have you Dublin over with delight. Packed with loads of minty, boozy goodness, this cake promises to lift your spirits higher than a leprechaun on a pogo stick. You can keep the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, I’m hoarding this cake like it’s my lucky charm.

Note: Please enjoy responsibly and keep out of reach of leprechauns...or children.

Ah, the road to the perfect Crème de Menthe cake was paved with good intentions…and a whole lot of kitchen chaos. My first attempt? A real sham—rocky disaster. I had this grand idea to coat the top in luscious green chocolate melts for a festive finish, but instead, I ended up with a lumpy, clumpy, leprechaun-cursed catastrophe that looked more like the Blarney Stone than a cake topping. It was a total meltdown—literally. But like any determined baker (or a particularly stubborn Irish grandma), I refused to let the cake luck run out. After a few tweaks, a dash of persistence, and maybe a dram of said Creme de Menthe for morale, I finally found the pot o’ gold—a smooth, dreamy finish that makes this cake worthy of a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Sláinte to sweet success!

Considering it was an unmitigated disaster and I was flying by the seat of my pants (turns out, those were definitely not my lucky pants), I didn’t film a tutorial for this one, but I did take photos. What you can’t see is the face of pure terror behind the camera, so there’s that. Let me help you strike gold from the get go. Here’s everything I used for this cake:

I honestly loved the way this looked and wish I had planned for a semi-naked cake, take notes…
After frosting cake, mix green luster dust with clear vanilla until it forms a thick enough paste to paint around the bottom and top of the cake.
Dye remaining frosting Emerald green by using one part forest green to three parts leaf green and load up a piping bag with a 1M tip.
I piped random mounds in 5 places around the cake, then came in and piped a shell border on the outside and rosettes on the inside of each mound, leaving the center open.
Then I dipped Maraschino cherries in a bowl with plain gold luster and placed on top. I finished by adding the green pearls in the center.
To finish, create a gold luster paint paste to go around the cake as well, and place pearl sprinkles where desired!

Recipe and Instructions

Gluten free Creme de Menthe cake with protein cream cheese frosting

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Beginner
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A cake fit for all St. Patrick's Day celebrations

If you want to omit the alcohol, add 2 tsp mint extract and use one cup of milk to cake; for frosting, use 1 tsp mint and replace alcohol with more milk. If not gluten free, use any kind of white or yellow cake mix. Monkfruit can also be replaced with regular powdered sugar for frosting. Protein powder can also be replaced with additional monkfruit or regular powdered sugar.

Ingredients

CAKE
*1 box of gluten free yellow cake mix (I used Pillsbury Funfetti)
*2.5 ounces Creme de Menthe
*6 ounces fat free or skim milk
*75g (1/3 cup) unsweetened applesauce
*3 eggs
*1/4 tsp mint extract

FROSTING
*226 g (1 cup) vanilla Greek yogurt, strained overnight
*8 ounces 1/3 the fat cream cheese at room temp
*12 ounces Lakanto powdered monkfruit
*4 ounces Quest vanilla milkshake protein powder (cuts the sweetness of the monkfruit and makes a nice, stiff, spreadable frosting; omit and use all monkfruit if desired)
*1 TBS clear vanilla
*1.5 oz Creme de Menthe
*3 TBS milk
*1/4 tsp citric acid if you like less sweet frosting

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease three 6-inch pans.
  2. Whisk cake ingredients together in a stand mixer on low for 60 seconds before switching to medium-high for two minutes.
  3. Pour batter evenly into pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean from the center.
  4. Allow cake to cool fully before frosting.
  5. To make frosting, whisk cream cheese and yogurt for 3 minutes before adding in half the powdered monkfruit, protein powder, extract, citric acid, Creme de Menthe, and milk.
  6. Add in remaining monkfruit mix fully.
  7. While your cakes cool, you can make your luster paint pastes in gold and green by mixing a few teaspoons of luster to a splash of clear vanilla extract or vodka. It should be thick enough to paint with but thin enough that it doesn’t tear the frosting. You might have to play with ratios.
  8. Once fully cooled, frost your cake…you shouldn’t need any dye to begin with since the Creme de Menthe makes a lovely light green.
  9. Start by painting the green on the top and bottom side of the cake and let freeze for 15-20 minutes before painting the gold border next to it so it won’t bleed.
  10. Dye your remaining frosting with 1:3 ratio forest green to leaf green and load into a piping bag with 1M tip.
  11. Create swirls, shells, rosettes, whatever you desire to decorate. I did a combo of all three before mixing my cherries in a bowl of DRY luster dust (they’re already wet, so no liquid needed), and placing on top.
  12. I did alternating large green pearls to small pearls all around the cake, and sprinkled a few more on top in the middle of the cake where there was no piping.
  13. Keep cake covered and in the fridge. It is best served at room temp, so remove from fridge 30 minutes before eating. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Macros
12 servings
249.8 cal/38.5 c/5 f/12.7 p per slice
I poured my heart and a whole lot of Creme de Menthe into this…
Irish you were here to help me eat all this… but then again, I’m Dublin down!

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Published by katefox3141

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