Divergent: Dauntless Chocolate Cake
At the end of the hallway she turns and says, “Have a piece of cake for me, all right? The chocolate. It’s delicious.” She smiles a strange, twisted smile, and adds, “I love you, you know.”
DIVERGENT
Happy Friday! I’m so excited for the weekend and I’m so happy to share this recipe with you guys! Today’s recipe is the Dauntless chocolate cake from the Divergent series. In the book and movie, Natalie Prior, Tris’ mother, sneaks in to see her daughter to see how well she is adjusting to her new life. She briefly mentions that the chocolate cake was her favorite and that’s when Tris finally realizes that her mother was actually a Dauntless.
This really has to be the most popular recipe recreated from this series and it’s easy to see why. The chocolate cake is decadent and rich. The addition of instant coffee really enhances the chocolate. You can adjust this recipe to create more than three layers if you want. Please enjoy and have a great weekend!
Divergent: Dauntless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- | CHOCOLATE CAKE |
- 3/4 cup / 180g / 6.3oz - unsalted butter soft
- 3/4 cup / 135g / 4.75oz - granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup / 105g / 3/5oz - brown sugar
- 3 - eggs large
- 1 tsp - vanilla extract
- 75 g / 2.5oz - cocoa powder sifted
- 3/4 cup / 165g / 6oz - hot water
- 1 tsp - instant coffee
- 2 3/4 cup / 336g / 12oz - all purpose flour sifted
- 1 tbsp - baking soda
- 2 tsp - salt
- 3/4 cup / 180g / 6oz - buttermilk
- | BUTTERCREAM |
- 1 1/2 cup / 345g / 12oz - unsalted butter soft
- 6 cups / 600g / 21oz - powdered sugar sifted
- 1 tsp - vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup - cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp - milk or more as needed
- chocolate shavings as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease three 6" springform pans and set aside.
- Mix together the hot water, instant coffee, and cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together the softened butter, granulates sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and eggs one at a time.
- Add the cool cocoa powder and water mixture and mix just until combined.
- Combine the sifted dries and add it to the mixer in three additions while alternating with the buttermilk. Give the batter a good scrape and divide it into the three prepared pans; If you do not have three pans, simply repeat the process and one cake bakes.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the cake it firm to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Set aside to cool.
- To prepare the buttercream, mix the butter and powdered sugar in a stand mixer until combined. Add the cocoa powder and vanilla extract.
- Add the milk. The mixture should be nice and smooth.
- Level out the cakes with a serrated knife if any of your cakes baked with a dome. Fill half a pipping bag with the buttercream and pipe along the edge of the cake round. Fill the center with the buttercream and top it off with another cake round. Repeat the steps and top the cake with the rest of the buttercream. Smooth out the edges with a bench scraper or a small offset spatula. Top of with chocolate shavings and serve!
