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Learning Series 1 – Chequered Cake
Posted by Annita on October 16, 2006
The aim is to be familiar with the cutting and layering,by making a cake which has a chequered pattern inside.The design and the method is adapted from Janice Murfitt’s First Steps In Cake Decorating book.
Procedure:-
1. Make 2 round sponge cake in contrasting colors.I used a plain colored cream cake and a chocolate cake.
2. Using plain pastry cutters of different diameter cut out 2 small circles from the center of the cake.I didn’t have pastry cutters, so i just used saucers/bottle lids of different diameters to mark the circles on the top of the cake.Then carefully cut it with a sharp edged knife to get different circles.
3.Prepare Apricot glaze and keep it aside.
4.Brush each piece with apricot glaze before reassembling the cake.
5.Replace the cut-out pieces of cake,switching the middle ring of each cake with that of its contrasting color cake.
6.Sandwich the two cakes,one on top of the other.
7.Leave them to dry before icing the cake(may be in a refrigerator).
8.Finish the cake with plain and chocolate buttercream icing,piping it with contrasting stars.(Here i’ve used store brought Pillsbury Frosting)
When the cake is sliced ,a perfect chequered pattern can be revealed.
My Treasure...My Pleasure 
Archana said
Looks so good Annita, who needs a checker board cake pan when you have this simplly brilliant method. Thank you for letting us know about it.
haha..I didn’t even knew that there was something called checker board cake pan..Thanks for the info,dear..Let me google it and see how it look like.
Annita
mandira said
wow, this looks delicious annita. thanks for sharing :)
Thanks Mandira
Annita
RP said
Wow! Let those hidden talents see the light! Please keep us posted about all your adventures in cake decorating.
I wish I could click on the pictures and get the enlarged images. I like to look at the detais of a decorated cake closely. :)
Thanks RP.I guess wordpress doesn’t allow enlarging an image..Really sorry about it.
AnnitaÂ
Priya said
Wow…the cake looks beautiful Annita !! Wish I were there to taste it too :-)
How are your preps for Diwali going, is there going to be another sadya for Diwali :-) If you are interested in carnatic music,there is a Sudha Ragunathan concert in UC on Friday, (20th) at 6:45 pm.
You can always come over,Priya.. And many thanks for letting me know about the concert..Let me see whether i could attend it.. :)
AnnitaÂ
Jyothsna said
Oh this is brilliant! Thanks for teaching how to make this. I’ll surely try this sometime.
Thanks a lot,Jyothsna..I’m so happy that u’ve started ur own blog..Welcome to the blogosphere,friend..
AnnitaÂ
MenuToday said
Hi Annita,
Simply Superb!!!!
Thanks MenuToday
AnnitaÂ
Rg said
Looks good annita. I always wanted to decorate a cake…Archana’s cakes have inspired us all I guess. Now that you’ve shared some baking and decorating techniques here, I’ll try it out:)thanks for sharing.
You should definitely give a try,Rg..
AnnitaÂ
JJ said
I am also using wordpress.But I am able to enlarge the image. If u need any help in enlarging I can help you.
Your cake looks good. I also want to learn baking.
-JJ
Thanks JJ.now i’ve learned how to enlarge the image in wordpress.
And we’ll all learn baking together..:))
AnnitaÂ
radhika said
This looks great.Thanks for sharing it with us.
Hema said
Hi Deepa,
This is such a brilliant idea! I first saw such a cake on one of the food network programs(sugar rush i think). Love the icing on the cake too. Quite a lot of hard work went into it i guess. Thanks for posting this wonderful technique.
Thanks Hema..Your comments are my inspiration..
Annita
Hema said
sorry, i meant Annita not Deepa. ‘deepann.wordpress.com’ always gets me confused!
Its ok,So many people are getting confused by that name…:))
AnnitaÂ
Beena said
Annita, there’s another way of doing it. Not same as this. But I usually prepare something which I call ‘marble cake’.After you have prepared the batter, take half of it into another mixing bowl . Add 2 tbl spoon cocoa powder to it and mix. Now when you pour into the baking tin, first put a spoon of the white batter, then the choc batter. Repeat this . after you bake this out the cut out a piece , it will have layers of white and choco colours
Yeah,I’ve seen my amma doing it,Beena..Anyway thanks for the detailed instructions..Will try ur way sometime…Thanks again
Annita
Swathy said
Annita. just some doubts:
Did you face any issues while cutting the cake into circles?
Mine broke off as i was trying to lift and place it into the middle empty portion:-( maybe i had to wait till it was more cool ? i was just bursting to see the final product u know, :-)
and they were not sitting together so neatly as yours, i could see gaps between the circles :-(
and my icing too dint come out that good u know… i spread the white icing first and as I piped border designs with the chocolate icing on to the cake the colour started to spread.. the design became a bit smudgy here and there.
the end product did not come any way near your grand one above!! oh dear, i really have got a loooong way to go….
and, can you put one recipe for Pizza please.
Yeah…Swathy..you should have wait for some more time..I kept it in the refrigerator for a night before cutting it..That will help you to cut without breaking..
Me too had some tiny gaps in between..Thats because we are not cutting properly..Its a bit difficult to cut proper circle with a knife than with a cookie cutter.
And about the icing,which recipe did u use.?.You might have prepared it very thin..Again you should’ve wait for the frosting to set(may be around 20- 30 mts) before applying the final piping designs..
Don’t worry..You’ll surely get it correct next time…
And i’ll be posting a recipe for pizza soon..In btw,you can check these recipes from http://bakingsheet.blogspot.com/2006/06/perfect-pizza-crust.html or
http://myworksh0p.blogspot.com/2006/07/pizza-101.html
Annita
Swathy said
Hi Annita,
Thanks for your reply. I tried out the buttercream icing a bit thinned for the first coating and then one more layer of coating.
maybe it was too thinned,u know since it did not spread properly i added one more tbsp of milk:-) ..and i piped designs soon after the coating. and as you said,i used knife for cutting
i will try out again properly and see. and i started cutting as soon as it was cool, did not refrigerate it, so next time will try out with more patience:-)
was planning a second trial for this weekend ( we had a long weekend due to the muscat national holidays) but could not since my son was sick.
i liked your praline gateau presentation very much and will try that out, it will help me do the icing trials also!
Rgds,Swathy.
Try it out Swathy,and let me know how it turned out for u..Thanks
Annita
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shobha said
hello annita,
i am shobha.i am visiting ur site the very first tym.i am really impressed with ur presentation n pictures.i appreciate u to gv the reply and the answers of their questions……gud job annita, looking forward to see more new receipes……
tx a lot,
shobha
rockwell sonicrafter said
Thanks for sharing the info. I found the details very helpful.