Andes Mint Chocolate Cake

Last week my mom and dad stopped by for a night on their way up to Baltimore. So my little sister, Steph, and I had an idea to make an Andes Mint Chocolate Cake for them. We went on Pinterest, of course, in search for our recipe and found the perfect one. After going out to buy all the ingredients, we came back and got working. As my mom and dad were already traveling, we knew we didn't have long to finish our masterpiece. So we rushed things a bit. Starting with the greasing of the pan - instead of using butter and flour, we used an olive oil spray and flour... first mistake. 

The cakes smelled divine and we increasingly became more excited. Steph turned on some youtube music on our laptop and we started jamming out as we baked. Nora even got into it; swaying and bobbing her head to the beat. And then we pulled the cakes out of the oven and glanced at the clock. Mom and dad would be arriving in less than thirty minutes. So we decided not to wait for the cakes to cool. Instead, we flipped them over and knocked on the pans until we heard the cake pop out... second mistake. 

The top part of the cake was perfect and came out smoothly, but the bottom half stayed stuck in the pan. In a moment of genius, I decided that it was redeemable. If we very quickly used the icing, it would melt on the cake and fill in all the spots where the cake was missing. Turns out, I was right! The icing did melt, but instead of helping our cause, it seemed to make it worse as it continued to melt until the entire cake started to slide away.

I still thought it was redeemable as I prepared to cover it with the chocolate coating, thinking that would cover the imperfections. And, once again, it only made it worse.

My parents walked into the house, took one look, and asked, "What is that?!" 

You mean, you couldn't tell? It's a cake of course! 

We had hoped it would brighten their day and in the end, it did. Here's why: 

On the left, the cake it was meant to be. On the right, the cake it was destined to be, with Steph and I as bakers. 

This cake tasted fantastic - with homemade everything. Cake, icing and chocolate ganache. But, if you decide to make this cake yourself, definitely use butter to grease the pans. And definitely wait for the cakes to cool before flipping them out. You may already know this, in which case, you are already a step ahead of me.

Lessons learned.