Calling all mint lovers! The mint + chocolate combination is always a winner, and especially so in this Mint Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake! Featuring rich chocolate and minty flavors, the glossy mint fudge frosting might just be the very best part!

I’m admitted not a big chocolate fan, but one of the few places I’ll make an exception is for mint chocolate chip ice cream. It’s always been my favorite flavor – the mint and chocolate combination is just so perfect!

If you’re also a fan, you’ll love this mint chocolate chip bundt cake! The cake is just as beautiful as it is delicious, too – especially if you use a decorative bundt cake mold with grooves to hold the mint fudge frosting swirl!

This cake uses one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes. To pump up the mint flavor, we’ll use a little mint extract – along with chopped Andes mints for the ultimate chocolate-mint combination. Then we’ll make my favorite cooked fudge frosting, with a minty twist. (And since I feel very strongly that mint chocolate chip should always be green – don’t forget a few drops of green food coloring, too!)

Ingredients and Substitutions

To make the cake and the fudge frosting, we’ll need the following:

• Butter: Both the cake and the frosting call for unsalted butter. No need to set out early and bring to room temperature beforehand.
• Milk: Whole milk works best and creates the best texture. You will want this to sit out for a little first to be at room temperature so it doesn’t chill the melted butter.
• Dutch Process Cocoa Powder: Dutch process cocoa has been treated with an alkalizing agent to reduce the acidity of the cocoa – this results in a darker color and a smoother taste.
• Sugar: Granulated, not powdered.
• Baking Powder: Because we’re using Dutch process cocoa, we’ll use baking powder as a leavening agent, rather than baking soda.
• Salt: Either table salt or Morton’s kosher salt can be used.
• All-Purpose Flour: For the best cake texture, I recommend weighing your flour rather than using a measuring cup.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract helps chocolate taste more chocolatey!
• Mint Extract: For mint flavor like mint chocolate chip, use mint extract, which is a combination of mint varieties including peppermint and spearmint. For mint flavor like a candy cane, use peppermint extract. Mint extract is MUCH stronger than vanilla extract, so don’t use too much!
• Eggs: Room-temperature eggs will incorporate into the batter much better than cold eggs. For egg-free baking, the equivalent of two flax seed eggs can be used instead.
• Sour Cream: Sour cream provides extra fat and coats the flour, preventing gluten development (resulting in a softer, more tender cake). Full-fat sour cream works best, but if you need to swap, full-fat plain yogurt or even mayonnaise (1:1 direct substitution) will work as well.
• Andes mints: For extra mint flavor, I love to chop Andes mints and mix them into the batter. If you can’t find any, use regular-size chocolate chips instead.
• Food Coloring: While technically optional, I always think mint-flavored desserts should be green! I like gel food coloring because it’s more vibrant and doesn’t add extra liquid to the batter.

Chocolate Mint Cake

First, let’s talk cake! The chocolate mint cake base is a fudgy chocolate cake filled with chopped Andes mints or chocolate chips. This is a super easy cake to mix by hand with no mixer since it uses melted butter! This way, there is no need to cream the butter and sugar together.

This mint chocolate bundt cake features minty flavors in every component of the cake. To get that distinct cooling minty flavor, we’re going to add mint extract, which is made from the essential oils of mint leaves. Mint extract combines varieties of mint, including peppermint and spearmint, and is the “classic” mint chocolate chip flavor. Peppermint extract, on the other hand, has more of a candy cane mint flavor (which is also delicious!). I just recommend avoiding spearmint extract, which tastes more like toothpaste!

This recipe is designed for baking in a 10-cup metal bundt pan, but it can also be baked in a 12-cup metal bundt pan. Most of the “fancy” bundt pans are 10-cup in size, and I love ones with interesting patterns and grooves for the frosting to fill! If you use a classic 12-cup bundt pan, the cake will be a little bit shorter in height.

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Mint Fudge Frosting

I think the fudge frosting might be my very favorite part! I’ve used different flavor variations in my Chocolate Chip Cherry Pound Cake and Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake – and this time, we’re making a mint version!

The frosting gets a chewy, almost fudgy-like texture from cooking it and then beating by hand with a wooden spoon until thickened! This is a cooked flour frosting, which is similar to ermine frosting. The flour is cooked with milk and sugar until it comes to a boil. Then, you add the butter and vanilla extract (and a few drops of green food coloring!) while it is hot in order to melt the butter. Allow the frosting to cool and then beat with a wooden spoon until it is nice and thick!

I know it might seem a little bit odd to have to boil this frosting, but stick with me! It all comes down to my favorite subject… kitchen chemistry!

Kitchen Chemistry

For super smooth frosting, make sure the ingredients come to a rolling boil. This is a super-concentrated sugar solution and the frosting will set when the sugar (dissolved in the milk) comes back out of the liquid solution and forms a crystal lattice. 

This frosting will have a chewy, fudge-like consistency if you follow this process. Make sure that the mixture is completely cooled to room temperature before beating it with the wooden spoon – otherwise, you’ll be beating and beating and it won’t thicken. (If you’d like more of a whipped consistency, feel free to use a mixer – I like mine still pourable rather than piping consistency.)

As the frosting sits, it will start to set, so give it a stir every 5ish minutes while it’s cooling. Once it’s thick and the color has lightened, pour it immediately on your cooled cake and add some additional chocolate chips (or chopped Andes mints) to decorate!

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Recommended Tools to Make Mint Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Before you start making this recipe, it’s important to make sure you have all the right tools and ingredients on hand!

• Mixing Bowl: My favorite set of mixing bowls – dishwasher, microwave, and oven-safe, too!
• Mint Extract: Mint extract contains a mix of both peppermint and spearmint.
• Dutch Process Cocoa Powder: High-quality cocoa powder makes a big difference in baking.
• Bundt Cake Pan: The 10-cup bundt cake pan used in these photos with a perfect swirl.
• Green Food Coloring: A few drops is all you need for the perfect mint green frosting!

Tips and Tricks for the Best Mint Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

1. Measure out your mint extract! If you pour by eyeball when it comes to vanilla extract (like me, when I’m baking for fun!), you’ll want to actually measure the mint extract – it has a MUCH stronger flavor than vanilla and it’s easy to go way overboard.
2. If you don’t have a bundt pan, you can bake this recipe in two 8.5 x 4.5-inch loaf pans. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out with a moist crumb.
3. Let the frosting cool to room temperature before beating. If it’s still warm, the frosting won’t set, no matter how much air you try to beat into it! Just give it a stir every few minutes while it cools. To speed the process, you can set it in the refrigerator, but check frequently – once the butter solidifies it will be too hard to beat and pour on the cake!
4. Use Dutch-process cocoa powder, rather than natural unsweetened. This results in a smoother flavor and darker color, but most importantly, the leavening agent used in this recipe works best with Dutch process cocoa.
5. Looking to perfect your bundt cake baking sills?  Definitely give this post on ESSENTIAL BUNDT CAKE TIPS a quick read — it covers everything from how to make sure your bundt cake doesn’t stick to how to prevent the bottom of the cake from doming! 

More Mint Chocolate Recipes

• Mint Chocolate Chip Cake
• Mint Chocolate Cheesecake
• Baked Peppermint Mocha Donuts
• No Bake Mint Chocolate Chip Pie
• Chewy Chocolate Mint Cookies
• Mint Irish Cream Brownies
• Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream