I adore this cake. I almost went the easier route and made cupcakes, but I really wanted to try my hand at ombre frosting. Plus, it’s hard to resist layers of deep dark chocolate cake surrounded by peppermint ganache and a perfect peppermint buttercream.

The other thing about this cake – maybe it seems really fancy, but it’s pretty simple to make. Really! The chocolate cake is fairly standard, except for the addition of a bit of black cocoa powder (totally worth it). My layers turned out perfect – moist, no doming, tender.

Sure, there’s a ganache and a buttercream to make, too. But the ganache is no more than just heating up some cream and pouring it over chopped chocolate. The buttercream… it’s a classic Baked buttercream. It’s really light, not too rich, and stable. It always turns out perfectly for me.

The buttercream can be colored or not – I decided to go with three colors to try the ombre technique. I think I did an adequate job, but I need practice (it’s more sombré than ombré). There’s a bit of a time requirement when assembling the cake, since it needs to be chilled between adding ganache and buttercream to the layers, and after applying the crumb coat.

I brought the cake to work, plus Larry delivered a slice to friends. Rave reviews. There was a cake rumor going around the office, apparently, because I had more than one random person ask me where the cake was.

If you decide to tackle this cake, I recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh ingredients rather than measure by volume. Results from other bakers were more mixed (still good, but with some experiencing slightly fallen middles). This is the first Baked book with weights, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Weighing ingredients will result in consistent results. Volumes can be all over the place (particularly with flour and cocoa powder).

For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

• Wintermint Cake (Baked Occasions, p. 244)