Chocolate Peppermint Mini Cakes

By: Diana Posted: 11/12/24

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These adorable and delicious Chocolate Peppermint Mini Cakes are made in a snowflake cakelet pan or mini bundt pan.

Moist chocolate cakes are infused with peppermint and vanilla and topped with my easy white chocolate buttercream frosting.

crushed peppermints and holiday sprinkles on top of chocolate mini cakes with white frosting. A hand is holding one up.

I picked up this adorable mini snowflake cakelet pan a while ago and I knew I had to create a fun holiday recipe to go with it! After playing around with a few different ideas, I came up with the perfect mini cake dessert.

This chocolate peppermint cake recipe is so simple and completely delicious. It has the miny flavor of candy canes paired with the richness of chocolate and the sweetness of white chocolate buttercream frosting.

I’ve adjusted the recipe so that it makes just the right amount of batter to fill a 6-cavity cakelet pan or mini bunt cake pan. It’s not always easy to find cake recipes to fit these specialty pans, so I hope this is helpful!

If you love the combination of chocolate and peppermint as much as I do, be sure to try my peppermint hot chocolate and chocolate peppermint cookies next.

a white plate of chocolate peppermint mini cakes. Powdered sugar is being sprinkled over them.

Chocolate Peppermint Mini Cakes Recipe Highlights

Fun and Festive Holiday Cakes– These little chocolate cakes are shaped like snowflakes, and decorated to match!
Delicious Flavors – I love the combination of rich chocolate and zingy peppermint together. The sweet white chocolate buttercream pulls everything together and creates a wonderfully balanced dessert.
Versatile Recipe – Use this chocolate peppermint cake recipe in any small mini cake or cakelets pan!

Key Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make these chocolate mini bundt cakes. They are all easy to find, common pantry ingredients!

The ingredients for chocolate peppermint mini cakes measured and arranged on a wooden table.

Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

Dry Ingredients: All-purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Eggs: 2 whole large eggs give these little cakes the perfect fluffy texture.
Oil and Milk: to give the batter moisture.
Baking Extracts: Use both pure vanilla extract and peppermint extract in this recipe.

How To Make Chocolate Peppermint Cakes

Start by preheating the oven to 325°F (160°C). Spray your baking pan generously with baking spray, being sure to get into all the creases. A pastry brush can be helpful with this step!

cocoa powder and sugar whisked together in a glass bowl set on a brown wooden surface. — 1. **Mix Dry Ingredients:** In a bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

eggs, oil, and sugar whisked together in a glass bowl. — 2. **Mix Wet Ingredients:** In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract.

dry ingredients added to wet ingredients to make chocolate cake batter. — 3. **Combine:** Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients.

chocolate peppermint cake batter in a glass mixing bowl, stirred with a wire whisk. — 4. **Stir:** Use your whisk to stir until the mixture is combined, but don’t overmix.

milk mixed into chocolate cake batter in a glass bowl. — 5. **Add Milk.**

chocolate peppermint cake batter in a glass mixing bowl with a whisk, set on a dark wooden surface. — 6. **Whisk:** Whisk again until the chocolate cake batter comes together.

chocolate cake batter poured into a holiday mini cake tin with star and snowflake shapes. — 7. **Bake:** Divide the batter among the spaces in the pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

baked chocolate peppermint mini cakes cooling on a wire rack. — 8. **Cool:** Let the cakes cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tip!

Try not to overfill the pan! To avoid overflowing cake, each space should be filled about ¾ full.

white chocolate buttercream in a glass mixing bowl on a wooden surface. — 9. **Make Frosting:** Prepare a small batch (¼ of a recipe) of white chocolate buttercream according to the instructions.

a piping bag of icing creating snowflake patterns on top of mini chocolate cakes. — 10. **Decorate:** Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe the frosting onto the completely cooled mini cakes, then sprinkle with crushed candy canes or sprinkles.

Recipe Tips

Peppermint Extract: When you’re shopping, you might see that mint baking extracts come in a few different styles. For this recipe, be sure that you’re picking up peppermint extract, and not mint extract. Peppermint extract is lighter and sweeter and a better option for baking recipes like this one.
Baking Time: The time listed in the recipe is pretty perfect for this specific mini cakes pan. If you’re using a mini bunt pan or a different-sized cake pan, you may need to adjust the baking time to suit. Test the cakes with a toothpick to be sure that they are done in the center. They’re ready when the toothpick comes out dry or with just a couple moist crumbs.
Let Them Cool Completely: Don’t try to add buttercream frosting to hot or warm cakes – it will just melt! Be patient, and let the cakes cool down all the way to room temperature on a wire rack.
Buttercream Frosting: You don’t need a whole batch of frosting to top these six little cakes. A quarter batch of my white chocolate buttercream is just enough.

a chocolate peppermint mini cake shaped like a snowflake is decorated with white chocolate buttercream and crushed candy canes. The cake is on a plate and a bite has been taken with a fork.

Storing Tips

If you’ve added frosting, you should store these cakelets in the fridge in an airtight container. They’ll stay fresh for up to 4 days this way.

Without the frosting, you can keep these at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

If you’re freezing cakes, it’s always a good idea to wrap each cake individually in two layers of plastic wrap, then place the wrapped cakes in a container or freezer bag. This helps to avoid freezer burn.

overhead view of a platter of peppermint chocolate snowflake cakelets.

Chocolate Peppermint Cake Variations

Instead of frosting, dust the cakes with powdered sugar. This will make them less sweet.
Alternate toppings: Try crushed candy canes, holiday sprinkles, shaved white chocolate, or mini chocolate chips.
Skip the peppermint: These cakes are delicious as just chocolate mini cakes! leave out the peppermint extract if you like.

Recipe FAQs

What type of frosting goes best with chocolate and peppermint?

I think that my white chocolate buttercream is perfect on top of these little cakes! You can also use chocolate frosting, a simple powdered sugar glaze, or try vanilla buttercream.

Can I use this recipe to make cupcakes?

I haven’t tested this recipe as cupcakes, but I think it would work fine! You may not be able to fill an entire 12-cup muffin pan with this amount of batter though. My chocolate cupcake recipe might be a better option. Add ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract to the chocolate batter to get the same delicious minty flavor.

Where can I find this snowflake mini cakelet pan?

This adorable snowflake cakelet pan is made by Nordicware, and can be found at Target or Williams Sonoma! The recipe will work in any of their other styles of mini cake pans as well.