As it was cake week on the Great British Bake Off I felt like I had to attempt making a bit of a showstopper cake! So here is my recipe for a checkerboard cake, made with a plain and chocolate sponge, sandwiched with chocolate buttercream, covered in chocolate ganache and finished with a chocolate-cream-frosting situation! It was gooooooood – although I say so myself! 😉
What are the Key Elements in this Checkerboard Cake?
There are a few elements to this checkerboard cake, the most apparent obviously being the sponge. The sponge is made using the creaming method, meaning that you first cream together the butter and the sugar, then gradually add the eggs (trying not to curdle the mix!) and then carefully fold in the flour. The cake batter is then divided into two portions, and cocoa powder is added to one half to make the mix for the chocolate sponge. The mix is then baked as four separate cakes: two plain and two chocolate.
To sandwich the cakes together and create a crumb coat, I used the same chocolate buttercream I pipe on top of my Chocolate Cupcakes. For more tips on making buttercream, you should check out my baking basics post here.
For decorating the checkerboard cake, I then smothered it in a thick, rich chocolate ganache, made by melting two parts dark chocolate with one part double cream. To top the cake, I reserved some of the chocolate ganache which I then whipped (you can also add any leftover buttercream to this – waste not, want not!) and then folded in some whipped cream. Finally, I added some chocolate curls on top and grated some white chocolate over the cake!
How do you get the Checkerboard Cake pattern?
Achieving a Checkerboard Pattern without any special baking tins or equipment is actually a lot easier than you might think! Once the cakes have cooled, you cut each into three rings and then reassemble them so that the plain and chocolate sponge are alternating. I have included some pictures below to show you what I mean and you can print off the file attached below this section to cut out the stencils you might need to cut the cakes into the right shape.
Don´t worry about being 100% accurate – a millimetre here and there won´t make a huge difference to the end result! You just don´t want to be too far off, otherwise the cakes won´t align nicely to create a clean checkerboard effect.
Grease and line your tins before baking. 
Cakes before baking. 
Baked cakes levelled and cut into rings. 
How to create the checkerboard design. 
Assembling the checkerboard cake. 
Buttercream crumb coat.
Assembling the Cake
Once you have cut the cake and reassembled each layer to have alternating colours of sponge, you are ready to assemble the cake! Start by making sure the cakes are all level, you may need to use a sharp knife to trim the tops of the cakes and make sure they are the same thickness (hmmm, yummy offcuts!).
The individual layers are sandwiched together with a thin layer of chocolate buttercream and you may want to fill any small gaps between the different rings of sponge (if there are any) to make sure they hold together once the cake is sliced. The buttercream is also used to create a “crumb coat”, i.e. a thin layer of buttercream around the sides and on top of the cakes to trap any crumbs and ensure the ganache can be applied in a smooth layer.
Once the checkerboard cake has been covered in ganache, the leftovers are used to create a chocolate cream “frosting” (I don´t really know what to call it) to pipe along the top edge of the cake. Finally, you can scatter over some chocolate curls or grate some chocolate on top.
More Cake Recipes
For more yummy cake recipes, check out some of the other recipes on my blog! The ones I have listed below are some of the most popular posts on my blog!
- Lemon Yoghurt Cake
- The BEST Chocolate and Pecan Nut Brownies
- Black Forest Gâteau (Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte)
- Lemon and Poppy Seed Bundt Cake
- Swiss Roll Cake with Strawberries and Cream
- Spiced Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing
- “Russischer Zupfkuchen” | German Baked Chocolate Cheesecake
- Biscoff and Apple Traybake
- German “Bee Sting” Cake
- Best-ever Carrot Cake Traybake
Checkerboard Cake with Chocolate Ganache
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE CAKE:
- 450g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 450g caster sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 8 medium eggs, beaten, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 450g self-raising flour
- 65g cocoa powder
- 2-3 tbsp milk
FOR THE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM:
- 150g butter, at room temperature
- 300g icing sugar
- 30g cocoa powder
- 3 tbsp boiling water
- A little milk (if necessary)
FOR THE DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE:
- 150g double cream
- 300g dark chocolate, finely chopped
FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM/GANACHE ICING:
- 150g double cream, well chilled
- Any leftover chocolate ganache (firm) and buttercream
TO FINISH:
- Chocolate curls or grated chocolate, to decorate
YOU WILL ALSO NEED:
- 4x 20cm round sandwich tins
- Prepared stencils for cutting the cake (see printable stencil above)
- Sharp knife
- Electric hand-held or free-standing mixer
- Palette knife
- Piping bag with star nozzle
- Grater (optional)
Method:
- Start by greasing four round 20cm sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- In a large mixing bowl (weigh the empty bowl first to help divide the mixture later), beat the room-temperature butter for 4-5 minutes until creamy and pale in colour. Mix the caster sugar and the salt and add them gradually to the butter, a few tablespoons at a time.
- Next, beat the eggs and vanilla extract in a separate bowl. Make sure the eggs are at room temperature to help them emulsify with the butter and prevent the mixture from curdling. Add the eggs slowly (about 1 egg at a time), beating well between each addition. With the last few additions of egg, you can add a heaped tablespoon of the flour which will also help prevent the mix from curdling.
- Use a large metal spoon or spatula to carefully fold the self-raising flour into the mix. Then you want to divide the cake batter between two bowls. If you weighed your empty mixing bowl, re-weigh the bowl now and deduct its empty weight from that value. Then work out what half of the mixture weighs (my mixed weighed roughly 1700g, so 850g was half of that) and transfer that to a separate bowl.
- Carefully fold the cocoa powder into one half of the mix with about 2-3 tablespoons of milk until the cocoa powder is well combined and the mixture is no longer streaky.
- Evenly divide the plain cake mix between two tins and the chocolate mix between the other two and level the surface.
- Bake the cakes in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until the start to shrink away from the sides of the tin and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for a few minutes, then turn them out and leave on a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cakes are cooling, you can prepare the chocolate buttercream. Put the butter into the mixing bowl and beat for 3-4 minutes until pale and fluffy. Mix in about half the icing sugar until combined, then add in the second half (this will stop the icing sugar from going everywhere). Mix the cocoa powder with 3 tbsp of boiling water to form a thick paste, then add it to the bowl and beat it into the buttercream. If the buttercream is too thick, add a little milk, about a tablespoon at a time, until it reaches a spreadable consistency (more tips for making buttercream here).
- Once the cakes have cooled completely, use the stencil (see above) to cut the cakes into rings and reassemble them so that each cake is made up of alternating colours of sponge (follow the picture guide above for this step). Then use a sharp knife to level the surface of the cakes so that they are straight and all four layers have roughly the same thickness.
- Use the buttercream to fill any gaps there may be in between your rings of cake. Place one of the cakes with an outer plain sponge onto your serving platter or a cake board and spread over a thin layer of buttercream. Next, take a layer of cake with an outer ring of chocolate sponge and place it on top, pressing down gently. Spread over the buttercream and repeat these first two steps, making sure to alternate between outer cake ring colour.
- Once all four layers have been sandwiched together make sure the top of the cake is even (you may need to level the surface again). Cover the top and sides of the cake in a thin layer of buttercream, trying to trap all the crumbs and achieve a smooth, clean-cut layer of buttercream around the cake. Chill the cake and any leftover buttercream in the fridge whilst you make the ganache.
- To make the chocolate ganache, finely chop the dark chocolate and put it into a glass (or other heat-proof) bowl. Pour the double cream into a small saucepan and heat gently until it is just starting to come to the boil. Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave to sit for 3-5 minutes to allow the heat of the cream to melt the chocolate.
- Next, remove the plate and use a wooden spoon to stir the mix until the chocolate and cream are fully combined into a smooth ganache (if there are still a few pieces of unmelted chocolate left in the bowl, microwave in short 10 second blasts, stirring well in between, until melted). Leave the chocolate ganache to cool at room temperature for about 30-45 minutes until of a thick, spreadable consistency but not completely set.
- Remove the cake from the fridge and spoon some of the ganache on top of the cake. Remember to reserve about 3-4 tablespoons of ganache for the decoration. Use a palette knife to gently push it over the edges of the cake and allow it start running down the sides. Use the palette knife to evenly spread the ganache all around the sides and top of the cake until the cake is completely covered in a smooth layer of chocolate ganache. Leave to set completely at room temperature (this may already happen whilst you are icing the cake as the underlying buttercream is cold) and then chill in the fridge. Leave the reserved ganache to set.
- To decorate the cake, whisk 150ml of cold double cream until still. In a separate bowl, beat the reserved ganache until fluffy and slightly lighter in colour. If you have any leftover chocolate buttercream you can whisk it in, too. Finally, gently fold in the whipped cream until the two mixtures are fully combined.
- Fill the chocolate cream frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe little rosettes of the cream along the edges of the cake. To finish, scatter over some chocolate curls or grate some white or milk chocolate over the top of the cake.
