Dauntless Cake

Okay, bookworms...science fiction fans...Tris and Four lovers -- this post's for you!

I recently finished the second book in Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy. My hubby got me hooked on the series when we saw Divergent in theaters. I've been obsessed keenly interested ever since! I literally have to give myself a break between books because of their intensity! I love their fast-paced action, the characters, and the love stories woven in between. It's totally my summer book obsession.

One evening while browsing Pinterest, I stumbled upon an actual recipe for Dauntless cake...you know, the chocolate kind Four can't live without?? Yes. Yes! That exists?? I thought. I seriously have to try this.



Here's the picture I found. Tonight was the perfect evening to give it a test run. Hubby went golfing and Bundle happened to be in a "Mommy's Helper" mood.

I was so excited, I didn't really read the recipe carefully before diving in. Bundle tossed flour into the mixing bowl in 1/4 cup amounts while I counted. Baking soda was measured. Vinegar was poured. Resulting fizzies were highly entertaining. Halfway through the recipe though, I realized that the instructions didn't quite line up with the ingredients. My batter looked like this!

Then I realized they left three of the ingredients entirely off the ingredient list! Maybe the paper had been folded and then copied. Who knows. We ended up guessing and eyeballing, but in the end, it tasted pretty good.

Here's our version!

Dauntless Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
5 Tbsp. baking cocoa
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
6 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Frosting:

2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup milk
dash of cinnamon

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cocoa) and mix well. Sift beforehand if you like.

Add the vinegar and vegetable oil. (This is the point I realized the last three ingredients were missing!)  Stir until well-combined. Mixture will be fairly dry and crumbly.

Add the water, vanilla and egg and stir with a spoon until just combined, or until no lump of dry ingredients exist.

Pour batter into a greased 8 x 8 in. baking pan and smooth evenly over the surface with a spatula.

Bake for thirty minutes. Cool for at least thirty minutes.

Here's where I had some fun....the very last part of the original recipe states, "Frost as desired."

Frost as desired? Duh! A huge, thick layer of decadent chocolate frosting! Then, being the shameless fan I am, I asked myself, How would Tris frost it? Something simple, unassuming, plain. The decadent chocolate sounded fantastic, but I wanted to stay true to Tris's character, for fandom's sake. I settled for a plain white powdered sugar icing, the kind my mom would help me make when I was a kid. But I couldn't resist adding a little bit more Dauntless spice into the mix. I *gasp* added a dash of cinnamon. I'd like to think I was representing Christina.. :)

Frosting Instructions:

Measure confectioner's sugar and milk into a bowl. Stir until a thick icing forms. Add the cinnamon and fold in with a spatula. As the original recipe says, frost as desired!

Needless to say, it was a successful experiment. It's a shame the cake was only an 8x8...I'll just have to make it again! (With a thick, Four-worthy chocolate frosting!)

Enjoy with the Divergent series. Or at least decent literature.


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