ryan's checkerboard birthday cake

for ryan's seashore themed birthday party over the weekend, we made a checkerboard cake.

in order to make the checkerboard cake, we made four layers of cake: two chocolate and two peanut butter.  once the cakes baked and cooled, we cut two circles into each layer of cake.  (we used the rim of a small plate and the rim of a small juice glass in order to make the cuts uniform.)

we carefully separated the three circles from each layer of cake, and then we put them back together alternating the chocolate and the peanut butter.  the cut-out circles fit together perfectly.

we stacked the layers on top of each other, alternating colors.  then, we put a thin layer of peanut butter frosting between each layer and covered the entire cake with the peanut butter frosting.

the peanut butter frosting was perfect for this cake because it looked like the color of sand.  we decorated the top of the cake with seashells that ryan made out of fondant to go with the theme of his birthday party.

after we cut into the cake and reveled that it was a checkerboard cake, my mom told us that she has a checkerboard cake pan set at home.  (now you tell us!)  we look forward to trying my mom's cake pan set to see how it works.

this was our first attempt making a checkerboard cake, and we can't wait to try it again.  however, the next time we make a checkerboard cake, there are two things that we will do different.

first, we will make the center cut-out circle larger, because when we cut the cake it was too thin and fell apart.  (you can see in the picture below that there are only two rows instead of three.)

second, we will put a thin layer of frosting inside of each cut-out circle in order to hold the the circles together better when cutting the cake.

have you ever made a checkerboard cake?  

if so, i'd love to hear how it went!

love, laurie