Okay I thought this was a perfect recipe! I completely enjoyed it. I only have one tip... I had no clue that the red batter would be so thick! The recipe says to just bake according to directions and being the novice cook that I am I was worried that I needed to add the oil water and etc. according to the box. But I didn't. I worried until the knife slid effortlessly through the cake. So for any beginning cooks out there--don't be alarmed by lumpy red batter! Merry Christmas!
My mom only made the peppermint frosting and put it on top of chocolate cupcakes. It was very very good. I'm NOT a big fan of peppermint but I didn't think it was too minty at all. You need to know that the recipe calls for peppermint EXTRACT not oil which isn't supposed to be used for cooking (although it is edible). Peppermint OIL is much stronger than extract which would explain the bitter taste. An all around great recipe for some delicious frosting.
This makes a really festive cake...one suggestion...one teaspoon of peppermint extract goes a long way. Taste it before you add the second.
This is a very good cake would be really nice to take to a Christmas party. I have to agree with the previous post 1 teaspoon of peppermint oil is more then enough! I used the 2 called for and it's so strong it's bitter. I made this for my mom's birthday she loves peppermint but even she agreed that it's to strong. I honestly don't know how you could eat it being that strong. It overpowers the whole cake. I'm hoping that in a day or so it will mellow out.
I got so many compliments on this cake when I served it at my Christmas party. I even had people asking me for the recipe. The only changes I made was that I used butter instead of margarine (I prefer eating real food not chemicals) and I used one teaspoon of peppermint extract. Two teaspoons would have been way too much. I will definately be making this every Christmas from now on. It is truely the best Christmas cake I have ever had.
This was good. I took the advice of others and used only 1/2 the yellow cake mix and 1 1/2 tsp. of peppermint extract. It was still too much peppermint. I will use 1/2 tsp. next time. Also I crushed candy canes to put on top which looked great but got yucky and soggy after the first day. So if you're going to do that I'd recommend making sure the whole thing gets eaten immediately!
A number of reviews mentioned it was sort of dry so I added an extra T. of oil to the white cake recipe. It takes a little longer to bake but was nice and moist. Also make sure you have fresh quality peppermint extract to avoid that bitter taste.
I made this a few nights ago and the whole family LOVED it. I didn't have peppermint flavoring. So I took a bag of peppermint individuals put them in the blender and crushed them as fine as sugar and stired into the icing. It was very good. We stored ours in the fridge.
Really great recipe especially for someone who is just learning to cook beyond the microwave!! My only problem is that the cake split across the top after I put the icing on. Also making the icing was extremely labor intensive but well worth it. I used 2 tsp. of Peppermint Flavor instead of extract (couldn't find it at the store). Not sure if it was the same thing but it didn't turn out bitter or too strong. It was perfect!
Frosting was excellent cake was blah. I will make this frosting again for other cakes. I will never make the cake recipe again. The box by it's self would have been better. The frosting would be delish on a devils food cake.
