Desiderata

For years I’ve made a Thin Mint cake I affectionately call a Girl Scout Seasonal. It’s a perennial favorite amongst my friends and when I ask “Hey, what cake do you want for X occassion?” it is almost invariably the answer I recieve. Thus, every year I buy 6+ boxes of Thin Mints and hide them from my family in the back of the freezer. I don’t eat them myself, you see. I actually hate Thin Mints (Tagalongs are where it’s at, people), but I seem to be the only person in the great U-S-of-A that does.

The old recipe was great. It was simple. It started from a box mix and could substitue mint Oreos for Thin Mints. It had chocolate chips and lots of mintiness and was generally a very good creation. This, my friends, is better. This recipe is the culmination of years of toying with proportions and ingredients. It is light and moist, but it doesn’t crumble and break. The mintiness is there, but it’s been mellowed by the addition of vanilla. After five years, the Seasonal is all grown up and ready for the big times

Cake Ingredients:
1/2 lb. butter, room temperature
2 3/4 c. cake flour, sifted
1 c. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. mint extract
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 lg. eggs

Directions, Part I:
Let’s talk about the baking part first, for once. I traditionally use a pan for the middle tier of a wedding cake. It is 10-inches by 2-inches and works wonderfully well. I then split it in half to make two layers. To do this, I preheat my oven to 300F and cook the batter for about an hour. Most people would call this crazy, but it’s what I do for this particular cake. If you woul like to follow along a more sane route, heat your oven to 350F and spread the batter out between three greased and floured 9-inch round pans. You’ll probably cook them for give or take 15 minutes. I’ve never done it that way, so I’m not sure. Keep an eye on them after about 12 minutes and always test with a toothpick in the middle before removing them from the oven. Now, on to the batter.

Cream the butter and the sugar until creamy yet fluffy. Add in the vanilla, the mint, and the eggs. If you wish, also add in food coloring to make the cake a minty green. I think a ratio of 1 drop yellow to 2 drops blue is correct, but I’m not overly certain — I just eyeball it.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Alternatingly, add about 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter mix, followed by 1/3 of the milk. Continue until completely incorporated, but be sure not to over beat. Pour evenly into your pan(s) of choice. Have a hard surface handy and beat the pans once or twice to release any major air pockets. Smooth the tops out as best you can with a spatula and bake for the above mentioned time for which ever method you chose.

Topping Ingredients:
1 box Thin Mints, frozen
9 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/8 c. dark cocoa powder
1/2 c. milk

Directions, Part II:
Cream butter and vanilla. Sift together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter. Slowly add the milk until frosting reaches your desired consistency, then beat another 5 minutes creamy.

Place the Thin Mints in a gallon freezer bag and roll over them with a rolling pin until nice and crushed. Allow the cake to cool and, if you just made one layer, slice it in half. Put a thin layer of icing between the layers and top with crushed cookies. Assemble your cake and repeat if you have more than two layers. Thickly frost the rest of the cake. Top with any remaining cookie crumbs.