Chocolate Fudge Peppermint Cake

This layer cake is the perfect balance of rich chocolate and refreshing peppermint. The cake is super moist and chocolatey and the fluffy peppermint buttercream and crushed candy canes add a wonderful holiday flavor. For extra decadence, I decorated the outside of the cake with Trader Joe's famous Candy Cane Joe's Joe's! This was one delicious cake!

Too Much Chocolate CakeSource: allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips and they were perfect)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan (I used two 9-inch round cake pans to make layer cake).
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes (I started checking on my two cakes around 35 minutes for doneness), or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate.

Peppermint Marshmallow Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 small container marshmallow fluff

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

1/3 cup crushed candy canes

Beat butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in peppermint extract. Fold in marshmallow fluff. Taste frosting and stir in more powdered sugar if needed.

If you want to fill the cake as pictured above, remove 1/2 cup of the frosting and stir in 1-2 tablespoons of crushed peppermint candies. Reserve remaining frosting for outside and top of cake.

To Assemble

Place one cake layer, top side down, on a cake stand. Frost with 1/2 cup candy cane frosting. Place second cake, top side down, on frosted cake layer. Using remaining plain peppermint buttercream, frost cake. Sprinkle top of cake with reserved crushed candy cane pieces.