Mini Peppermint Hot Cocoa Bundt Cakes That Taste Like A Winter Wonderland

In December, it’s like there’s a “holiday” for every single treat we love to indulge in. There was National Brownie Day, which inspired some peppermint brownies, and National Gingerbread Day, which evolved into a gingerbread monkey bread we made with our gingerbread house leftovers. And fortunately, though this month is coming to an end, there are still holidays to be had. The 26th is National Candy Cane Day — what better timing than after Christmas? All of those candy cane Christmas tree decorations can be put to good use once you start taking your tree down. I mean, even if you don’t have a tree, it’s practically impossible to resist these peppermint hot cocoa bundt cakes. 

Everyone makes holiday cookies (myself included) — it’s a thing. But the fun part about baking once the holidays are over is that there’s less pressure to make tried and true recipes. It’s the perfect time to get a little more daring. With all of those leftover candy canes, I branched out and away from cookies, and attempted these seriously sweet bundt cakes.

They’re literally the cake form of hot chocolate, which is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

These are much less daunting when you use cake mix for the base. Very few people have the time or patience to make homemade cake batter, so a boxed chocolate cake mix is seriously the way to go. My main concerns were getting the cakes out of the pan cleanly and decorating them nicely.

Greasing the mini bundt pan was serious business, and my excessiveness paid off, since the cakes came out with minimal damage to the sides. After they cooled, I had to face my second worry: decorating. Again, I wasn’t really down to make a homemade glaze, so I melted some vanilla frosting (if it’s too thick to be a glaze, adding a little bit of warm water will help get the best consistency).

Getting outside of your comfort zone (especially with baking) is scary, yes. But it’s so rewarding when it all works out, even if you thought the recipe wasn’t as difficult as other things you’ve seen done before. If you’re looking to branch out from your typical holiday bakes, indulge in some rich chocolatey goodness, or end the year with a bang, then these mini peppermint hot cocoa bundt cakes are key. Cheers!

The ingredients, illustrated:

The instructions:

1. Prepare the chocolate cake mix according to the box’s directions (I added 3 eggs, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, and 1 cup of water for my mix). Add 1 tsp of peppermint extract to the batter.
2. Grease the mini bundt cake pan super well, either with butter or cooking spray. Then, pour the cake batter into the molds, filling each section about 3/4 full.
3. Bake them for about 15 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean when you poke through the cake.
4. Let them cool completely in the pan.
5. While the cakes cool, melt 1 tub of vanilla frosting in the microwave for about 30 seconds.
6. To make a glaze, add a little bit of hot water until the frosting is slightly runny, but still somewhat thick. For extra pepperminty cakes, you can add 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract to the frosting, too.
7. Carefully remove the cakes from the pan once they’re done cooling, and drizzle the glaze over the cakes any way you like.
8. Top each cake with crushed candy canes, and enjoy!