I have made the Fantasy Checkerboard Cake after purchasing the correct tin.
The 3 layers have come out only about 1 inch in height and I was wondering if that is the expected height.
The picture shown in TCB looks so much higher…am I doing something wrong?

It did take me a bit of time to fill the 3 tins with the alternate mixtures so I thought maybe I’ve lost some height there.

Any help would be appreciated.
Regards
Karen

Okay I went ahead and stacked the cake filling it with a thin layer of chocolate ganache.

I cut a slice and found the checkerboard pattern didn’t look bad at all.
However, the cake is very crumbly and not easy to cut cleanly.

As this is going to be part of a ‘show and tell’ segment in my cake decorating class I would love to perfect it before I have to demonstrate it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Karen

Karen,

  It’s been a while since I’ve made this cake (I’ve made it twice), but I remember my layers being about an inch thick as well, so this sounds about right to me. I also found my cake a bit crumbly, but I think that’s okay. In fact, I also remember that within any given layer, once baked the rings did not fuse together and if I wasn’t careful it could easily fall apart when handling the individual layers (luckily that didn’t happen). I think it’s a good thing if your cake is somewhat crumbly. As long as it’s not too dry or too moist, then crumbly means you have a good cake crumb because if it’s too dry then it tastes funny and if it’s too moist then it’s too dense and either way it doesn’t taste all that great. I don’t know if you level your cakes before stacking the layers, but if you do (which it’s NOT necessary), then you can taste the top that has been removed and you’ll know if it tastes good or not which is why I like to level my layers (plus, it makes them easier to stack for assembling). Good luck with your show and tell and I hope it all works out for you.

-MP

Thanks for the quick reply MP…

By your description my cake sounds just about right then…I do normally level my cakes but all the layers were even not needing levelling, all the layers ‘fused’ together, not too dry or too moist.

I will make it again tomorrow for my Show and Tell on Tuesday….

Your help is very much appreciated…:O))

No problem, Karen. I’m happy to help. It’s worth noting, however, that when I say that my rings weren’t fused together that only occurred in certain sections, but in others the yellow and brown rings were fused together after it was baked. Anyway, good luck and I’m sure your cake will be a hit!

-MP

I understand about the rings being fused ...I was worried that mine might not be fused in places but they seem to find their own level.

We will see what the ladies think of my cake on Tuesday…LOL….thanks again for your help…:O))

This is all that’s left of the checkerboard cake. I took it as my ‘show and tell’ item in cake decorating class this morning.

Your cake looks spectacular, Karen! Nicely done. I’m glad it turned out so well for you. I’m guessing everyone was very impressed with your work. I know I am.

Thanks so much :O))
Yes everyone was enthralled with the idea. I presented the tin and method of filling the tin first then cut the cake to many ooooh’s and aaaaah’s. My teacher was very impressed.

That sounds about right. This cake always seems to get lots of oooohs and aaaahs. I, however, like to do it in reverse of what you did. I like to cut the cake first and see all the looks of bewilderment and absolute curiosity of how it was made. I always get a kick out of the various guesses people make in trying to figure out how it was made. Anyway, I’m really happy it worked out so well for you. Congratulations!

I did consider doing the presentation the opposite way.  We can’t buy the tin in Australia so I knew nobody would have seen it before and wouldn’t know what the end result would be.

I’m going to have to come up with something rather unique for my next Show and Tell to top this one…hahaha.
Thanks for all your lovely comments…:O))

Looks great, and sounds like you had fun with it!

Thanks…..I will try different flavours/colours next time…:O))