DIY Party Mom: Dauntless Cake AKA Chocolate Cherry Truffle Cake

I've been thinking about this Dauntless cake ever since reading about it in the Divergent book.

What do you think it tastes like? Is it so yummy because they don't have many sweet things in their life? Is it a pure chocolate cake? Why does cake batter taste so good before it's cooked? (Okay, maybe I'm getting off tangent here...)

I thought I would share the Dauntless cake version I am making for my Divergent party.

This cake is a chocolate cake with a hint of cherry in the batter, to give it an unexpected wow flavor. The other ingredients help the cake to be extra moist and yummy!

Which is good since it is a fancy, dressed up box mixed. (You know I'm all for semi-homemade cooking!)

I started with a Devil's Food box mix, 1 cup half-and-half, 3 room temperature eggs, and 2 tsp cherry extract.

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into two greased 9 inch circle cake pans. The batter will be really thick, so you will need to even it out with a spatula. The more flat and even you get it, the easier it will be to stack the cake later.

Go ahead and bake the cake according to the box directions. For mine, it was 350 degrees for 27 minutes.

When it's done, leave it to cool on the counter for 20 minutes, and then pop it into the refrigerator for another 30 minutes. This will make it easier to frost.

While you're waiting, you can either fluff up a can of purchased Chocolate Buttercream frosting. (I like to throw it into my mixer for a few minutes to make it a little more fluffly.) Or you can make your own frosting.

I used 2 sticks of butter, at room temperature, 7 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup cocoa, 1/3 cup milk, and 4 Tablespoons of vanilla extract. Beat that into a creamy frosting (carefully, or your sugar and cocoal will go everywhere!)