Gravity defying Cake | Layered Chocolate Cake

This is probably the first time I am posting a cake on my blog. I have posted tea cakes and regular naked cakes before. But this is the first time I am posting a layered cake with frosting. And guess what, it is a Gravity defying cake! I am too scared of baking cakes because I am always sure they will sink and not turn out well. So I bake bread and more breads but cakes I avoid. The only time I bake a cake with frosting is for my husband’s birthday who simply loves them.

There are three reasons for posting this cake here – one, it is the best cake I have ever made and I never thought I could bake a gravity defying cake in my life. Two, the husband does not remember the cakes I have baked for his birthday in the past years and I am having a hard time proving it to him. What better than a blog post for that? Third, it is Valli’s 10th Blog Anniversary party and when you have a party, you definitely need cake. So, for Valli, the rockstar of the Blogging Marathon, here is wishing her for completing 10 years of blogging and for many more to come.

I cannot bake eggless cakes or to put it more plainly, I am too scared to try one. So, to be on the safer side, I decided to go with a regular cake with egg and it was loved by everyone who ate it. I don’t have a picture of the cake slice because we were all too excited to eat it and in that wave of excitement and enthusiasm, I completely forgot to click one.

For more cakes and baked treats, check out Eggless Chocolate Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Fudge Brownies, Donuts and other Baked Treats

Recipe from here

WHAT WE NEED

For the cake

150 ml Canola / Rice bran oil, plus for greasing

200 gms All purpose flour

48 gms Cocoa powder

280 gms Brown sugar

200 ml Milk

100 ml Strong black coffee

2 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Baking soda

1 tsp Vinegar

2 eggs

2 tsp Vanilla essence

1 tsp Salt

For the Frosting

100 gms Milk chocolate

200 gms Salted butter, softened

400 gms Icing sugar, sifted

24 gms Cocoa powder, sifted

2 tbsp Milk

For Assembly

50-75 M&Ms / Cadburys Gems

8-10 Kitkat chocolate bars

2-3 tbsp Melted chocolate

1 Bendy straw

1-2 Skewers

1 Empty Gems / M&Ms packet, small

Sticky tape / Cellophane tape

WHAT TO DO

For the cake

Preheat the oven to 180C
Grease 2 round cake tins of 20cms each and line them with parchment
Mix the milk and vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes
In a large bowl, add the all purpose flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt
Mix well with a whisk to ensure there are no lumps
Mix the milk, coffee, oil and vanilla in another bowl
Add the eggs and whisk until smooth
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well to ensure there is no dry flour left
Pour the batter equally in the two cake tins
Bake for 25-30 minutes till a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes clean
Cool in the cake tin for 10 minutes and then unmould and cool completely on the wire rack
These can be made a day or two in advance and cling wrapped and refrigerated

For the frosting

Melt the chocolate using the double boiler method and set aside to cool
Double boiler method – Heat some water in a vessel. Put chocolates in another vessel and keep it on top of the boiling water vessel. The chocolate will start melting. Stir occasionally and remove it once the chocolate has almost melted into a sauce. Stir and set aside
Mix the icing sugar and butter in a large bowl with a spatula. This ensures that the sugar does not spread out while whisking
Whisk the butter and sugar with a hand mixer / whisk until smooth
Add the melted chocolate and cocoa powder and mix well till smooth

For the Assembly

Keep one of the sponge cakes on a cake stand or board
Spread a generous amount of frosting on it and smooth it over with a palette knife
Place the other sponge cake on top and spread a generous amount of frosting on it
Spread the frosting on the sides of the cakes and smooth it over with a palette knife
Stick the Kitkat bars on the side of the cake to cover the entire periphery
Ensure the skewer and the straight portion of the bendy straw are of similar length or the skewer is slightly smaller
Use a sticky tape to tape an empty chocolate wrapper at the bent end of the straw
If the straw is too long, then cut out a small portion from the bottom
Place the skewers in the middle of the cake or slightly off and push it all the way through the cake
Place the bendy straw over the skewers to fully cover them. The skewers will give the straw some stability so as to not be overwhelmed by the weight of the Gems / M&Ms to be stuck on it
Stick the Gems or M&Ms from the straw to one end of the cake to form a triangle. The triangle can be as big as you want depending on the number of M&Ms / Gems you have
Using the melted chocolate, stick the Gems/M&Ms on the straw, starting from the part nearest the cake carefully to ensure that no portion of the straw is visible
You would need to wait for the first level of Gems to set in before sticking the next level
If the melted chocolate starts setting, heat it slightly in a microwave to melt it again
Stir it every 5 minutes to ensure it does not set
It is ideal to refrigerate the cake once it is ready
Enjoy your Gravity defying cake & pat yourself on the back for the accomplishment

NOTES

If you do not want to add the Kitkats and Gems, etc. you can make it as a simple layered chocolate cake and it tastes absolutely divine even then
The cake tastes good even without the frosting. The chocolate and coffee flavours come through beautifully in the sponge and make for a lovely accompaniment to tea
My cake pan is 19cms and it does not have any impact on the cake
If you have a small oven or only one cake pan, I suggest you half the recipe for the sponge cake and mix it one by one before baking. Keeping the batter all mixed and ready for nearly an hour before baking will diminish the taste results
To get a flat top sponge, tie a wet cloth around the cake tin just before putting it in the oven. It works like a charm

This is for Srivalli’s Anniversary Party under Kids’ Delight – Party foods