Peppermint Hot Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes

This versatile cake recipe is easy to bake either as a large cake or into these festive mini bundt cakes that individually wrapped make a festive gift for friends and loved ones. The best part? The supreme moistness and chocolate flavor. Throw in some peppermint extract (or vodka!) to step it up another notch! Or leave the flavor out for your basic hot chocolate cake!

Tip: Spray your pan WELL and use a large cookie scooper to fill your mini bundt cake wells!

Be careful not to overfill like I did here or they will bake over your wells. If you do, see what you can do to save them!

As you can see here, this is what happens if you overfill. These are my cakes, cooled and flipped on the wire rack.

Use a butter knife and trim around the bottoms of the cake.

All set to chill before icing! I stored my cakes in an air tight container and popped them in the refrigerator overnight.

For decorating, let me give you a couple tips:

• Make your icing a little runny if you want clean piping lines and more of a 'drip' look. I made mine thicker, adding an extra cup of powdered sugar. They don't have to be perfect, each one of mine is slightly different.

• Don't use too much peppermint extract, it will have a bad aftertaste. I prefer to use candy dust from smashing the peppermint candies.

I didn't use food coloring here, the pretty pink is from the candy dust mixing with the heavy cream. If you want white icing, leave out the candy dust.

Have fun and be creative. There are lots of ways to change this recipe or decorations for any occasion. Here are some photos showing how I wrapped them in mini loaf boxes to give away. I just tied a candy cane and a tag on each one with Christmas ribbon. Keep it simple!

Ingredients:

Cake

• 1 box Devil's food cake mix (15.25 oz)

• 1 box instant chocolate pudding mix (2.9 oz)

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1/2 cup whole milk

• 4 large eggs

Frosting

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar

• 5 to 6 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extra

• Crushed peppermint candies

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 mini Bundt pans (6-well medium or 12-well small) with baking spray that includes flour. Or grease and flour each well.

2. In a large bowl, beat all the cake ingredients with a mixer at medium speed until well combined and a little thicker than most cake mixes, scrape sides of the bowl as needed.

3. Divide batter among prepared wells, filling halfway full (see tips if you fill too full and bake over).

4. Bake until a wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean, about 15-17 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Gently use a knife to loosen the cake from the wells, if needed. Invert onto a wire rack, and let it cool completely. I put my cakes in the refrigerator overnight to chill before icing.

5. Crush peppermint candies in a bag with a meat tenderizer or rolling pin. Use a sifter to strain out the bigger pieces and save them to use for decorating if you want. Add the candy dust in a small mixing bowl.

6. Use a mixer to whisk together the candy dust, confectioners' sugar and cream until thick and smooth. Spoon or pipe icing on the cooled cakes. Garnish or decorate with sprinkles or marshmallows. Let stand until the icing is set, about 30 minutes. Store in air tight container.

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