MINT CAKE w/o Peppermint Extract

[Acelestialobject]

I would like to make a mint chocolate cake without peppermint extract. Has anyone tried with fresh mint instead? Or powdered polo mints? 

Any ideas and advices will be helpful :))

[Katie Meadow]

I make mint chocolate brownies by simply adding some  chunks of good quality mint chocolate bar to the melted chocolate.  How much you use in relation to how much regular dark chocolate you use is up to you; a little goes a long way.  I use Theo, but there are other bars out there, and their intensity of mint flavor varies. I'm not sure how to do it if you are only using cocoa.  Of course at the end of the day, with a mint chocolate bar, you may still be getting extract. If you want to use real mint leaves I suppose you could make an infusion in whatever liquid goes in the cake. 

[Alex]

I've never done this with mint, but I suspect it'd work. You can use whole leaves or cut them in half or thirds crosswise. Muddle them, then mix them with sugar. Stir or shake every day or two. I imagine it'd take about a week for the flavor to develop. Remove the mint before using.

 

What do you think, eG bakers?

[Jim D.]

Having made a bonbon with fresh mint (plus lemon)--it's a Peter Greweling recipe--I can attest that fresh mint is very muted (and that's putting it nicely).  And Greweling's recipe calls for leaving the chopped leaves in the ganache!  The result barely resembles what people think of when they think "mint chocolate."  It would take a lot of fresh mint to give adequate flavor.  Do you have the same objection to mint oil?  Both extract and oil come in "natural" form.