Today, I’m once again sharing a recipe I made quite a while ago but hadn’t taken the time to publish. To be honest, I think Thomas is a good 2 years older now 😀 Thomas is the son of one of my colleagues, and clearly passionate about magic. The mission was simple: make his birthday cake on that theme. It’s never an easy exercise for me, as I’m not very fond of sugar paste, but the desire to please this little boy was stronger!
For the cake, I went for a checkerboard — it always makes an impression when it’s cut. And I know the checkerboard cake well, having already made it several times (the rose cake and the pirate cake). I use François Perret’s chocolate and vanilla loaf cake recipes — I love them!
And to finish: a hat, a rabbit, a magic wand, a playing card and a few stars, and the trick is done 🙂
Edit of 15/09/21: I made this checkerboard cake for my son’s 3rd birthday on a Paw Patrol theme — I’ve added a few photos at the end of the article.
Ingredients & method
6 components · Full recipe
Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.3 oz) butter
- 330 g (11.6 oz) caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 vanilla pods
- 4 g (0.1 oz) fine salt
- 220 g (7.8 oz) full-fat whipping cream
- 280 g (9.9 oz) flour
- 6 g (0.2 oz) baking powder
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F.
2
In a food processor (or stand mixer with a blade attachment), combine the butter cut into small pieces, sugar, vanilla seeds and salt.
3
Add the lightly beaten eggs (without stopping the machine), then the flour sifted with the baking powder, and finally the cream.
4
Butter a 27 cm (10.6 in) diameter tin and pour in the cake batter.
5
Bake for about 60 minutes. Check the cake is done by inserting a knife — the blade should come out clean.
6
Once baked, transfer the cake to a wire rack.
7
While still warm from the oven, brush the cake with the cold soaking syrup. Take care not to oversoak it, or it may crumble during assembly. Leave to cool.
8
Wash the tin so it can be used again for the chocolate cake.
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.3 oz) fresh butter
- 330 g (11.6 oz) caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 40 g (1.4 oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 g (0.1 oz) fine salt
- 220 g (7.8 oz) full-fat whipping cream
- 240 g (8.5 oz) flour
- 6 g (0.2 oz) baking powder
Method
1
In a food processor (or stand mixer), combine the butter cut into small pieces, sugar and salt.
2
Add the lightly beaten eggs (without stopping the machine), then the flour sifted with the baking powder, the cocoa powder, and finally the cream.
3
Butter the 27 cm (10.6 in) diameter tin again and pour in the cake batter.
4
Bake for about 60 minutes. Check the cake is done by inserting a knife — the blade should come out clean.
5
Once baked, transfer the cake to a wire rack.
6
While still warm from the oven, brush the cake with the cold soaking syrup and leave to cool.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) dark chocolate
- 250 g (8.8 oz) full-fat whipping cream
- 10 g (0.4 oz) butter
Method
1
Chop the chocolate and briefly microwave it until it just starts to melt.
2
Bring the whipping cream to the boil and pour it over the chocolate in three additions, emulsifying well each time. The ganache should be smooth and glossy.
3
Add the butter in pieces and stir in with a spatula.
4
Set aside at room temperature.
Soaking Syrup
Ingredients
- 25 g (0.9 oz) sugar
- 60 ml (2 fl oz) water
- 1 tablespoon rum
Method
1
Bring the water, sugar and scraped vanilla pods to the boil until the sugar is completely dissolved.
2
Off the heat, add the rum (you can add it before if you want the alcohol to cook off — for children, for example).
3
Strain the syrup through a fine sieve and leave to cool.
Assembly
Ingredients
- None
Method
1
To make the checkerboard cake, I used 3 cutters of different sizes: 8 cm (3.1 in), 18 cm (7.1 in) and 24 cm (9.4 in) in diameter.
2
Using the largest cutter, I removed the outer edges of both cakes, which were a little too dry for my taste. Then, in each cake, I cut out an 18 cm (7.1 in) circle and a smaller 8 cm (3.1 in) circle. To find the centre of each cake, I placed a toothpick in the middle. I now have 6 circles (3 chocolate and 3 vanilla).
3
Now for the assembly. Start with the largest vanilla circle. Brush the inside with chocolate ganache. Place the medium-sized chocolate circle inside it. Brush the inside again and finish with the small vanilla circle. Cover the whole stack with chocolate ganache, then repeat the process inverting vanilla and chocolate (see photos). I had some chocolate ganache left over, so I used it to cover the top of the cake. Refrigerate.
Decoration
Ingredients
- white sugarpaste
- black sugarpaste
- blue sugarpaste
- a little red sugarpaste
- a little pink sugarpaste
- a little grey sugarpaste (a mix of white and black)
- cocktail sticks
Method
1
Decorate your cake with a magic theme.
2
I made this checkerboard cake again for my son’s 3rd birthday with a Paw Patrol theme. I have included a few photos.
Gallery
