Chocolate Mint Mochi Cake

My husband loves dark chocolate and mint.

I decided to I'd do something nice for him since he's been driving me the last few weekends to craft shows--so I made him a Chocolate Mint Mochi Cake.

I got the idea of adding the mint from Laurie at Simply Scratch.

I saw her delicious-looking Dark Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies and thought to add some mint leaves to the sugar in my mochi cake.

Chocolate Mint Mochi Cake

Adapted from Favorite Island Cookery, Book III 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

4 eggs

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 cups loosely packed mint leaves

1/4 cup cocoa powder

6 oz. dark chocolate

2 cups mochiko

2 cups all purpose flour

1-12 oz. can coconut milk--add a little water to make 2 cups

1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Process 1-1/2 cups sugar with 2 cups loosely packed mint leaves until evenly combined, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.

Add butter and process until creamed together.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave and add to the processor, pulse until evenly combined.

Add eggs, one at a time.

Transfer to a large bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Pour into greased and sugared (or floured) baking pans.

I used two smaller pans, but it will make one 9 x 13 inch pan.

Bake at 350ºF for one hour.

The center of the cake will fall a little as it cools.

I really like using 1/2 mochiko flour and 1/2 all-purpose flour.

It gives the mochi cake a little lighter chewiness.

It's still dense like mochi, but not as sticky.

Big thanks to Laura Miyake for coming over and giving me food styling tips and helping with photography!

Itadakimasu!

***

This is my husband Gary and our dog Dixie.

Whenever we take long drives--on vacations or traveling to craft shows, we've been listening to podcasts while he does all the driving, I sit and knit, and Dixie snoozes.

Gary likes cars, so I found Adam Carolla's CarCast--the first one we listened to was his interview with Jay Leno about his car collection--I actually enjoyed it.

I think it's funny how some guys love listening to the sound of a hot rod motor starting up, and smile big when they hear the sound of an engine revving.

Gary's a builder, so we also listened to Ace on the House, another podcast by Adam Carolla, who worked in construction for awhile.

That one was hit-or-miss, some of them were funny, but Gary could relate to the construction talk and said overall it was okay.

We've also been listening to NPR's Intelligence Squared podcast.

That's the one that's like a debate, there's a question asked and two people from both sides debate their responses--which we really like because both sides are represented.

I think the iPod is one of the greatest inventions--I can also put practically my whole music collection on it and play DJ while traveling--which makes for some interesting conversations and helps the driving time pass quickly.

If you're traveling with a dog, Kimpton Hotels are great--there are no extra fees which sometimes makes them about the same price as less-expensive hotels--and the rooms are super-nice!

***

Chocolate Mint Mochi Cake

Adapted from Favorite Island Cookery, Book III 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

4 eggs

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 cups loosely packed mint leaves

1/4 cup cocoa powder

6 oz. dark chocolate

2 cups mochiko

2 cups all purpose flour

1-12 oz. can coconut milk--add a little water to make 2 cups

1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Process 1-1/2 cups sugar with 2 cups loosely packed mint leaves until evenly combined, scraping sides as necessary. Add butter and pulse until creamed together.

Melt the 6 oz. dark chocolate in the microwave and add to the processor with cocoa powder, pulse until evenly combined. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each. Transfer to large bowl.

Add 2 cups mochiko flour, 2 cups all-purpose flour, coconut milk, evaporated milk and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Pour into greased and sugared (or floured) 9 x 13 baking dish and bake for 1 hour at 350ºF.

When cake has cooled, garnish with powdered sugar and shaved chocolate.