Monday, August 20, 2012

Checkerboard Cake #1

My purchase of that checkerboard cake pan set last week meant I had to try baking this cake over the weekend, and I have to say I was pleased with my inaugural attempt!

I won't be sharing this recipe until I tweak it a little, but the flavors I chose were jasmine tea for the yellow part and matcha for the green. I got ready to bake and found I didn't have enough milk, so I substituted some Greek yogurt, which I absolutely adore. The end result was a cake that tasted good but a little too much like a nice poundcake, and I'm aiming for lighter, fluffier layers.

Also, next time I will use the tip recommended by the ever-thoughtful Mary Jane and pipe the batter into the pans using a pastry bag, but I happened to be out of bags and was too impatient to wait until I could go get some. (Anyone else that way?) So I spooned the batter into the rings of the pan (shown here in last week's post), and it was like magic to me that the colored batters do not run together. (I noticed my squares on the cake didn't line up perfectly, so I will be working on that, too.)

Since the cake wasn't super sweet to start with, I decided to splurge a bit with buttercream frosting, which pretty much makes anything taste great. So while it's not perfect, yet, I was pretty happy with my first checkerboard cake and can't wait to try it again. Stay tuned!

17 comments:

  1. Looks so yummy! I love the flavors you decided to make. Great first try and it looks so pretty with the green and yellow.
    Can't wait to see your next creation.

    You could also but the batters in the large zip lock bags if you do not have a piping bag and snip off the corner.

    Have a great day, Angela.

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  2. why didn't you just substitute a ziploc? I never pay the price for pastry bags. Snip corner and put in (from inside bag) pastry tip or just pipe without tip for this type of project
    The flavors sound wonderful. Pretty cake

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  3. Angela, the cake turned out very well! Yes, I'm often impatient too and take shortcuts or improvise.
    Judith

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  4. Looks great and I love the color!

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  5. Good morning Angela.
    Cake looks great!
    Lady B and I are doing a giveaway so we hope you will come and visit and see if you can be the winner!
    Ruthie from:http://www.ladybstimefortea.blogspot.com

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  6. Looks so cute! I thought about the ziploc trick, too. But the spoon method worked!

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  7. Oh what fun!

    For an extra light fluffy cake be sure to use CAKE FLOUR, not regular flour- and also sift it twice...............and before adding your eggs really beat them till they are frothy - always makes a super light cake for me.

    I love that pan, what a whimsy!

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  8. Fantastic! Love the tea flavors you selected for your cake... wishing I could sample a piece right now! I have the pans necessary to make a checkerboard cake... perhaps you have inspired me!

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  9. I think it is a spectacular first try. Good job! I am impressed.

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  10. Wow, it turned out great. I love that you used jasmine and matcha tea for flavoring.

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  11. Lady B here, I make that cake for my grand kids. Andrew likes devils food and red velvet, Claire likes pink and yellow. It's so much fun when you slice into it. Thanks for the tip of using a pastry bag!

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  12. Beautiful cake! Love the colors and the thought of the jasmine flavor! I'm a fan of pound cake, so would like it the way it is.

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  13. I adore my checkerboard cake pan -- it's one of the few funky baking things that I did NOT give up when we made the move to the RV! I love to make a Neapolitan checkerboard cake every once in a while. Enjoy yours!! :)

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  14. This looks great. I'm excited to see the final recipe.

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  15. What a fun cake! I've seen these pans, but have never purchased one. I think I should put one on my list!

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