Making Kendall Mint Cake

Thursday, 13 November 2008 18:01

A simple illustrated guide to making Kendal Mint Cake

Kendall Mint Cake is a very high energy food consisting mostly of sugar. It has become a popular food amongst outdoorsmen, hikers, climbers & campers etc. it gives a high energy boost and takes up little weight and space. When looked after Kendall mint cake will preserve well. Its easy to make and has just three ingredients, although be careful when mixing the boiling sugar mixture.

Ingredients

- Sugar -    (1lb of sugar white or brown)
- Milk    - (1/4 pint of milk)
- Peppermint    - (1 teaspoon peppermint essence or a few drops of real peppermint oil)

1. Put the sugar and milk in a large pan over a low heat and stir for a short while until dissolved.

2. Then bring to the boil until temperature reaches 114C measuring with sugar thermometer, or a digital-multimeter in my case!...or if you haven't got these you can drop a bit of the mixture into ice water, it should form a soft ball when rolled between thumb and forefinger.

3. Remove from the heat and beat vigorously for 2 minutes.

4. Return to the heat and raise temperature to 119C for a very brief time, not too long or it will return to being crumbly sugar again!

5. Remove from heat and add peppermint flavour, stirring quick then....

6. Pour into an oiled shallow tin, mark into squares and leave to set. When cooled you can cut or break the squares.

Enjoy!

If you had a go please leave a comment below and let us know how it went.

Comments (12)

Hi, I'm going to make my own soon but just wondered if the mint cake contains milk wouldn't this mean you shouldn't eat out of date cakes? Or does the sugar preserve the milk? I guess pasteurised would keep better.

Wigwam_Clive: What you're looking for is Peppermint Oil. You can find it at any health food store or bulk foods store or a billion places online. You can pay a lot or a little, buy organic or not, but either way it's not expensive per se as you only use a few drops (get a bottle that has a built-in dropper for easy dosing).

Looking forward to making Mint Cake but am confused about the milk. The ingredients list on Kendal Mint Cake doesn't include milk??

Still, I will gladly make this recipe. Do you know if soy milk could be substituted??

Thanks :)

I made Kendal mint cake for my Dad on Father's Day. came out great. I posted a video recipe: http://markhillonline.blogspot.ca/2014/06/kendal-mint-cake-video.html

I tried this and got the right texture, however, I used American Peppermint Extract and it tasted like mouthwash, therefore you almost feel like you shouldn't swallow it. I seem to only be able to find American Peppermint Extract in the supermarkets, anyone know exactly what I need please?

It's basically a peppermint version of tablet, my Mum still makes me it around Halloween. It's a bit of a local tradition here.

Tried this a couple of times first time it was perfect.But since then when i have made it,it wont harden even in the fridge it stays soft.What am i doing wrong.

If dark plain cooking chocolate is added at the end-melted in, it's also great and nutritious too.

hello tried to make this kendal mint cake but didnt read the recipe properly and used 1 pint instead of 1/4 of a pint of milk!!! obviously it didnt turn out great. I tried freezing it and making mint ice cream instead and it was actually ok!

Looks great but reminds me of the time I tried to make tablet and finished up with a pot fused with something that resembled hardened cement. The GF was not too impressed about her precious kitchenwares.

Phillip, Thanks for getting back to us and letting us know! =)
Im really glad you & your F&F enjoyed this article and you like the site. If you would like to show your support please merely let your friends and family know of our website :) All the best, Ashley Cawley.

made your Kendall mint cake before Xmas as well as some fudge (similar recipe just substitute condensed milk for pasteurised, gave bags of each as Xmas pressies to F&F, everyone loved both and have asked for more.
Also try vanilla essence instead of peppermint, works really well
Thanks for the inspiration and the site!