How to Make Milk Bar's Peppermint Bark Cake

This past weekend I hosted a secret Santa party at my house! For the dessert, I recreated Milk Bar's decadent three-layer peppermint bark cake and thought it would be fun to share step by step how I did it. The cake was a big hit and delicious!

To start I made sure to order three 6 inch cake pans for the base layers. I ordered them on Amazon and made sure, after ordering the wrong pans once, to get pans that did not have tapered sides so that I could layer them.

I bought two boxes of Trader Joe's chocolate peppermint cake mix. Then I combined both boxes of mix, two eggs, two sticks of butter, and two cups of water into a larger mixing bowl and combined the ingredients until smooth. After greasing each cake pan, I poured two cups of batter into each cake pan, using all of the batter, and put them all in the oven for around 45 min at 350 degrees.

While the cakes were baking, I prepared the peppermint cream cheese frosting to put between the layers. Since the cake is a naked cake, not much frosting is needed. For the frosting, you will need an 8oz package of cream cheese, four cups of powdered sugar, 2 tsp of milk, and 1 tsp of peppermint extract. Heat the cream cheese in the microwave for 30 seconds to make it soft, then add the powdered sugar, milk, and extract. Combine until smooth and place in the refrigerator. To simulate the cake truffles that Milk Bar places on the top layer of their cake, I bought a bar of dark chocolate with peppermint from Trader Joe's to break in pieces for the top layer.

Once you take the cakes out of the oven leave them covered with plastic wrap overnight, to ensure they are fully cooled before icing. The next day, take the icing out of the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for around 45 minutes before icing the cake to make sure that it becomes soft. For the first layer, take one cake and place it on a cake stand then ice from the edges to the center, making sure you drag the icing over the edges. This will ensure that the icing will be seen in between the layers. For the top layer make sure the icing is evenly spread, as it is the layer being presented. Once you have frosted each layer, take a small spatula, and spread icing on the outside of the cake between the layers. Then smooth the icing to seal the layers in. To top it off, break the peppermint dark chocolate into little squares and place 7-8 pieces around the perimeter of the top layer!

I hope you guys try this recipe! I served this cake at my secret Santa party that I hosted this past weekend. Additionally, I set up a hot cocoa bar for us to enjoy along with the cake. The cake was amazing and will be a crowd-pleaser at any holiday party. Happy Holidays!

- Gabrielle