Chess cake with icing

Votes: 1

Time: 2 hours.
Complexity: easily
Servings: 10 - 12

Baking a beautiful cake doesn't require elaborate decorative accents with icing. This cake is a perfect example. It's assembled from chocolate and vanilla layers in a specific order to create a striking checkerboard pattern on the cross-section. The icing, on the other hand, will be a simple cream color. It shouldn't distract from the main pattern, yet it will taste fantastic, pairing perfectly with both the chocolate and vanilla layers. Frost the layers and the top layer, leaving the sides clear to highlight the contrasting striped pattern around the cake.

The recipes use measuring containers with the following volumes:
1 glass (st.) - 250 ml.
3/4 cup (st.) - 180 ml.
2/3 cup (st.) - 160 ml.
1/2 cup (st.) - 125 ml.
1/3 cup (st.) - 80 ml.
1/4 cup (st.) - 60 ml.
1 tablespoon (tbsp) - 15 ml.
1 teaspoon (tsp) - 5 ml.
1/5 teaspoon (tsp) - 1 ml.

Ingredients for the recipe:

Vanilla and chocolate cakes

3 cups premium flour, plus extra for dusting the pans
2 cups granulated sugar
220 g softened butter
5 large eggs
2 tbsp baking powder
2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 cups whole milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
0.5 cup cocoa powder
0.5 cups of hot water
Special equipment: round cookie cutter with a diameter of 14 cm, round cookie cutter with a diameter of 6 cm.

Vanilla glaze

2.5 cups powdered sugar
220 g softened butter
2 tbsp. heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, cut in half, seeds scraped out

Ingredient Substitution Suggestions

We recommend

Recipes with similar ingredients: premium flour, powdered sugar, eggs, milk, cocoa

Cooking the dish according to the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Prepare four 9-inch (22 cm) cake pans by spraying them with cooking spray and dusting them with flour.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the granulated sugar and butter and beat for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add the baking powder, salt, and 1 cup of flour and continue beating.

Then pour in the milk and the remaining 2 cups of flour, alternating the two. Add the vanilla extract and beat for another minute. Pour half the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans, reserving the other half for the chocolate cakes.
To make chocolate doughAdd cocoa and hot water to a small bowl and mix to form a paste. Add the chocolate paste to the remaining batter and mix until smooth. Pour the chocolate batter into the remaining 2 cake pans.
Place all 4 pans in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool the cakes on a wire rack for 30 minutes.
To make vanilla glazeIn the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the powdered sugar and butter and beat on low speed for 1 minute. Then increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes more. Add the heavy cream and vanilla seeds and continue beating for another 1 minute.
Assemble a chess cake, cutting a 14 cm diameter ring from each cake using a cookie cutter. Place a 6 cm diameter cookie cutter in the center of the 14 cm circle and cut out another circle. Repeat with the other 3 cake layers (you'll end up with 2 rings and 1 circle per cake layer).
For the first layerPlace the largest yellow ring on a cake stand. Place the second largest chocolate ring inside it. Place a small yellow circle inside the chocolate ring. Spread an even layer of vanilla frosting on top.
For the second layerPlace the largest chocolate ring on top of the first frosted cake layer. Place the second largest yellow ring inside the chocolate ring, then place the smaller chocolate circle inside the yellow ring. Top with an even layer of vanilla frosting.
Assemble the third and fourth layers in the same way., like the first and second, respectively. Spread an even layer of icing over the cake.

We recommend preparing it for tea Carrot cake.