Yes, I am quite a geek, I love my video games. Anyway, this was most certainly a triumph. I made this for a friend`s birthday party, it was more symbolic than anything but it was a damn tasty cake.

I got the recipe from here in case you`re wondering. I just tweaked it slightly.

Notes

You should cut it into into 16 slices, the cake is very rich, don`t try to eat an eighth or you will likely make yourself sick.

I found it hard to find coconut pecan frosting at a store, what I did for mine was take 1/3cup coconut and 1/3cup pecans, ground them up, toasted them and then mixed with a can of vanilla frosting. Seems to work rather well.

Also you should feel free to decorate the cake however you want, mine doesn't really look like the Portal cake, but the basics are there.

Anyway, on to the cake making!

Ingredients

* 1 (18 1/4 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
* 1 (12 ounce) can coconut pecan frosting
* 3/4 cup vegetable oil
* 7 egg whites
* 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
* 3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
* 2/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2/3 cup cocoa powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/3 cup water
* 2 (12 ounce) cans vanilla frosting
* 8 maraschino cherries

Directions

The night before, mix 2/3c cocoa powder with 1.5 cans of vanilla frosting. This makes for rather thick but overall rather tasty icing. Save the remaining half can of vanilla frosting for later.

Next day: remove mixed frosting and vanilla frosting from the fridge and set to the side. Also place the cherries and chocolate chips to the side. They will not be used until the cake is completely done.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Lightly butter two 9 inch cake pans.

In one bowl combine all remaining dry ingredients.

In larger bowl, combine all liquid ingredients and egg whites. Mix thoroughly.

Slowly sift dry ingredients into the large bowl of liquid ingredients. Mix thoroughly.

Pour half of the batter into one prepared cake pan, and the rest into the second cake pan.

Cook for about 25 minutes, until a knife can be removed cleanly from the cake. The recipe says 30 but mine got a bit singed at 27 minutes.

When done cooking, allow the cake to cool for at least one hour.

Remove top quarter inch from one cake round. Basically, let it have a completely flat top so that the second layer can rest smoothly on top. I suggest using a bread knife.

Use the coconut frosting as the inner layer.

Place second layer on top of first layer.

Frost with the cocoa powder mixed frosting. Warning: this stuff is stiff, so it takes a little work.

Coat entire cake with chocolate chips, press them lightly into the frosting to get them to stay. The recipe suggests one cup, but I went a bit nuts with mine :)

Using the remaining vanilla frosting and a tablespoon, dollop eight circles around the top of the cake.

Place the eight cherries on top of the eight vanilla frosting circles.