Cellular Peptide Cake with Mint Frosting

From the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series  

Some of you might assume the Geeky Chef has mad cake decorating skillz. Not so. I have horrible, sloppy cake decorating skills with an "s" instead of a "z."  However, I am quite proud of how this cake turned out. Even if your own cake decorating skill(s/z) are not so great, I guarantee you can pull this cake off. Now, I am a huge vulcan-saluting, prime-directive-abiding, starfleet-loving trekkie. The Next Generation is my favorite Star Trek series, and Phantasms is one of my very favorite episodes in the series. In the episode the android Data has a program installed in his positronic brain so he can dream like a human. Apparently, androids do not dream of electric sheep, they dream of Deanna Troi cakes and brain slurpees.  The cake is described by an uncharacteristically excited Worf as a "cellular peptide cake with mint frosting." The dream sequence is a delve into surrealism, jarringly unusual for the series, and it is absolutely hilarious. Here's a clip of what in my opinion is the best two and half minutes of Star Trek history. Cellular peptide isn't actually a thing, but it is described in the episode as a chain of molecules found in living things. The recipe I made is for a yummy moist white cake with some very blue mint flavored frosting. I used yogurt as a moistener for the cake itself because yogurt contains living bacteria. You can also go the lazy route and just buy pre-made white cake and pre-made frosting and add some mint extract to the frosting; The point is really to make the cake look like Deanna's starfleet uniform. Whether you make it from scratch or buy it pre-made, the cake will be mmmm... delicious.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 3/4 cups flour

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup softened unsalted butter

4 eggs whites

1 egg

1 cup vanilla yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract


For the frosting:

1 1/2 c. confectioners sugar

2 tbsp. milk

1 tbsp. shortening

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. mint or peppermint extract or to taste

blue food coloring

black food coloring or use one of these methods to make black frosting


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix all of the dry ingredients. Add the softened butter and mix until crumbly. Add the egg whites, then the whole egg. Beat well. In a separate bowl whisk the yogurt with the two extracts. Add this mixture to the batter. Beat until fluffy. Pour the batter into a small square baking pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean when done. Let the cake cool and set. While it sets, you should prepare the frosting. Mix all the frosting ingredients in the order listed in small bowl. Beat until you reach a creamy consistency. Add more sugar if the frosting is too thin. Split the frosting into two bowls. In one bowl, add the blue food coloring. You will need a lot to get a deep blue. In the other bowl, mix in the black food coloring. Cut off part of the sides to make a T or torso shape. Emulate this picture when frosting.