Chessboard Cake: A Creative Dessert For Special Occasions

You don't have to be a fan of strategy games to enjoy this type of chess — our magnificent cake will certainly have you coming back for another slice of the action. While the chocolate ganache coating looks impressive enough on its own, a quick peak inside our delicious dessert reveals why it's known as the Chessboard Cake.

You'll need:

For the light batter:

  • 3⅕ cups flour
  • 14 oz soft butter
  • 1⅓ cups sugar
  • 8 eggs
  • 2 pinches baking powder
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch salt

For the dark batter:

  • 2⅖ cups flour
  • 14 oz soft butter
  • 1⅓ cups sugar
  • 8 eggs
  • 2 pinches baking powder
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch salt
  • ⅘ cup cocoa powder

For the milk chocolate ganache:

  • 35.3 oz milk chocolate couverture
  • 11.2 fl oz warm cream

Hardware:

Here's how:

  1. First, get to preparing the two types of cake batter, starting with the light one. To do so, mix the flour, butter, sugar, eggs, baking powder, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir the ingredients to form the dough. The dark dough is created the same way except that you stir in some cocoa powder at the end.
  2. Fill the light and dark cake mix into two separate greased springform pans that are covered in baking parchment and bake them for approximately 60 minutes at 320°F in a convection oven.
  3. Remove both cakes from their pans and cut them in half horizontally using a breadknife. You should now have four separate slices of cake on your worktop. Also cut the "top" away from both cakes so that they have a nice flat surface.
  4. It's now time to get out the cookie cutters. Stick both cutters into each of the four slices of cake one after the other. Replace the rings you've made with those that are a different color. In the end, you should have four complete black-and-white slices of cake in front of you.
  5. Before building your cake, you need to make the ganache first. To do so, grate the chocolate into a large bowl. Next, heat up the cream, but avoid boiling it. Pour the warm cream on top of the chocolate and let it melt for 2-3 minutes. Now carefully stir the mixture with a whisk until the cream and chocolate bind, i.e. the mix is creamy. The consistency should be like Nutella. Now you'll need a little patience as the ganache needs to be left for at least five hours. It's best to leave it in a cool, but not cold, place.
  6. Spread a thin even layer of the ganache onto the first slice. As well as providing decoration, the ganache holds the slices of cake together. Place the next slice on the one covered with ganache and spread more chocolate cream on this one. Once your cake is built, spread the rest of the ganache all around it. Refrigerate your masterpiece for one hour.

Sure, it'll take a bit of time to make this cake, but the finger-licking results will be worth it. Of course, the biggest surprise for your guests will be seeing the smart chessboard design after cutting through the ganache — wow!

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