Dholak (Drum) Cake

 A cake that looks like a "dholak" a double-sided barrel drum played at weddings in South Asia; similar to the larger “Dhol” played in Punjab.

 Dholaks can be found in varying shapes and sizes and made with different woods and materials (fiberglass, steel, plastic). The drum consists of a wooden barrel with animal hide or synthetic skin stretched over its open ends, covering them completely. These skins can be stretched or loosened with a tightening mechanism made up of either interwoven ropes, or nuts and bolts. Tightening or loosening the skins subtly alters the pitch of the drum sound. The stretched skin on one of the ends is thicker and produces a deep, low frequency (higher bass) sound and the other thinner one produces a higher frequency sound. 

I made this for a friend's wedding a few weeks ago. Half of it was chocolate cake with Chocolate mousse filling and half was orange cake with orange mousse filling. The cake was very soft so I left it upright rather than turning it on the side as is the traditional way of playing it. It was quite a hit at the party; it was fun to see everyone march to the beat of a cake drum.