Chocolate Honeycomb Cake - for the coveted triumph

We were a family of cricket fanatics at home except Amma. We would be glued to the television sets during cricket matches played by India. My Annamma (grandma) was a self proclaimed cricket freak! Sindhu (my sis) and I accompanied Annamma while watching the late night matches. After marriage, I stopped watching matches coz they reminded me of those days. And I didn’t like cricket with the absence of Annamma and Sindhu by my side to cheer and frown. Sindhu would occasionally even put me out of the drawing room and make me sit in some other room when Indian wickets fell coz she believed it was because of me… This time however I couldn’t stop myself from getting hooked to the sport ever since India reached quarter finals. I closely followed all three matches against Australia, Pakistan and Srilanka… Yes, I remembered Annamma and Sindhu all the while. So all I did was imagine how they would have rejoiced at opponent’s wicket fall or boundaries and sixers hit by Indians.

Kudos to the Indian team for bagging the World Cup this time. It sure was a lifetime experience to watch this victory coz I wasn’t even born during the previous Indian World Cup victory… FB and Twitter have been infectious in spreading the Cricket virus. One question by Ria in FB ‘How should we celebrate it?’ had lots of people making something sweet in unison towards a single cause. I too couldn’t resist joining in. So here goes Chocolate Honeycomb Cake for the Indian Cricket Team who worked hard like honeybees with unity towards an undeterred aim and came out with flying colours…

With IPL round the corner, my loyalty is all with Bangalore Royal Challengers. Well, I will be left alone with the rest at home supporting Kolkata Knight Riders. Never mind! Let’s wait and watch… Who are you supporting this IPL season?

Cake recipe source:

It's the 'Perfectly Chocolate' Chocolate Cake by Hershey's

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa (I used weikfield)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

For assembling:

Whipped cream – 11/2 to 2 cups (I used whipped cream powder, since it had sugar in it, I didn’t have to add any)

Pepsi / Coke – 1 cup

Chocolate curls – for decorating

For the honeycomb pattern:

Semi sweet chocolate – 10 oz

Bubble wrap

Method:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. 
3.  Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

For assembling:

1. Once both the cakes are cool, cut them horizontally into 2 layers each.
2. Place the first layer on the serving plate. Drizzle pepsi / coke all over it. Cover with whipped cream. Repeat the same for next three layers.
3. Cover the top and sides with whipped cream. Stick chocolate curls all over the sides of the cake.

For the bubble wrap:

1. Cut a template out of bubble wrap of the size and shape of the top of your cake.
2. Melt chocolate in microwave for a minute. Stir well. Pour the melted chocolate evenly all over the bubble wrap.
3. Once the chocolate is half set, carefully invert it over the top of the cake and slightly press it.
4. Refrigerate for 15 mins and then carefully peel off the bubble wrap.

This was undoubtedly the best cake I have baked so far. It was super moist and perhaps addition of Pepsi on all layers made it even moister. I just couldn’t stop myself staring at the honeycomb pattern. It was hard to believe that it was so simple to get yet looked so elegant. All thanks to Ria, I got this idea from her!

This goes out to Bookmarked Recipes every Tuesday event hosted by Aipi.

And also to Treat To Eyes Series-2 hosted by Rumana