Last Tuesday, a family meal was planned to celebrate the birthday of my sweetheart’s niece who had just turned 8! For the occasion, I absolutely wanted to try the checkerboard cake I had discovered on Le Meilleur Pâtissier and for the decoration, I wanted something very girly and pink, obviously! I had already spotted the “rose cake” on the blogosphere and so I had equipped myself (you need the Wilton 1M nozzle). I knew exactly what I wanted to do: François Perret’s chocolate and vanilla loaf cake recipe (he appeared on the show LMP), a checkerboard cake then, and a pretty all-pink decoration. It was my sister-in-law who pointed out to me that I had made “the same cake as Anne-Sophie from Le Meilleur Pâtissier“. I didn’t even remember!! I’ve since looked at the photos again and indeed, I did exactly the same thing or almost 🙂
I loved making this cake! Firstly because I knew I was going to make my niece happy as she was celebrating her birthday, then because it was really very good and finally, I impressed everyone (including my mother-in-law ^^)! I’m rather proud 😀 For the decoration, I didn’t want buttercream or any other kind of heavy cream, so I went for a mascarpone chantilly. The mascarpone gives it more hold and there was a 1-hour drive to do after all (I can’t tell you how anxious I was in the car!). I lightly sweetened it and flavoured it with vanilla (I preferred vanilla extract to a vanilla pod because I didn’t want to see the little vanilla seeds).
In the end, this cake wasn’t heavy at all, the chantilly was very good (I ate it with pleasure, for the first time in my life, which shows how good it was!). And then, I even took the time to make a little banner with my niece’s name, it’s even prettier I think!
Edit of 01/11/22: I had the opportunity to make this dessert again, so I took the chance to retake the photos 🙂
Ingredients & preparation
7 components · Complete 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) double cream
- 280 g (9.9 oz) plain flour
- 6 g (0.2 oz) baking powder
Instructions
1
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F.
2
In a food processor (or stand mixer), blend the butter cut into small pieces with the sugar, vanilla seeds and salt.
3
Add the 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 approximately 60 minutes. Test whether the cake is cooked by inserting a knife blade — it should come out clean.
6
Once baked, place the cake on a wire rack.
7
Straight from the oven, brush the cake with the cold soaking syrup. Be careful not to over-soak 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) double cream
- 240 g (8.5 oz) plain flour
- 6 g (0.2 oz) baking powder
Instructions
1
In a food processor (or stand mixer), blend the butter cut into small pieces with the sugar and salt.
2
Add the beaten eggs (without stopping the machine), then the flour sifted with the baking powder, the cocoa powder, and finally the cream.
3
Butter a 27 cm (10.6 in) diameter tin and pour in the cake batter.
4
Bake for approximately 60 minutes. Test whether the cake is cooked by inserting a knife blade — it should come out clean.
5
Once baked, place the cake on a wire rack.
6
Straight from the oven, brush the cake with the cold soaking syrup, then leave to cool.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.3 oz) dark chocolate
- 150 g (5.3 oz) double cream
- 7 g (0.2 oz) butter
Instructions
1
Chop the chocolate and briefly microwave it until it just begins to melt.
2
Bring the double cream to the boil and pour it over the chocolate in 3 additions, emulsifying each time. The chocolate should be smooth and glossy.
3
Add the butter in pieces and stir 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
Instructions
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 evaporate during cooking — for children, for example).
3
Strain the syrup through a fine sieve and leave to cool.
Vanilla Mascarpone Chantilly
Ingredients
- 450 g (15.9 oz) double cream
- 225 g (7.9 oz) mascarpone
- 5 tablespoons icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- a little pink gel food colouring
Instructions
1
Place the mixing bowl and electric whisk attachments in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.
2
Put the mascarpone in the bowl and whisk to loosen it slightly.
3
Pour in the very cold cream and begin whisking at medium speed. When the cream starts to stiffen a little, increase the speed. The cream will gradually rise and firm up.
4
Check the consistency from time to time by stopping the whisk and looking at the cream. It is ready when it holds completely — if you turn the bowl upside down, it should not fall out. Be careful not to overwhip, or you risk ending up with butter. You need to know when to stop.
5
Add the icing sugar, food colouring and vanilla extract when the cream is almost fully whipped.
6
Refrigerate until needed.
Checkerboard Assembly
Ingredients
- None
Instructions
1
To make the checkerboard cake, I used 3 rings of different diameters: 8 cm (3.1 in), 18 cm (7.1 in) and 24 cm (9.4 in).
2
Using the largest ring, I trimmed the outer edges of both cakes, which I found a little too dry. Then, inside each cake, I cut out a circle 18 cm (7.1 in) in diameter and a smaller one, 8 cm (3.1 in) in diameter. To find the centre of each cake easily, I placed a cocktail stick 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 surface with chocolate ganache. Place the medium chocolate circle inside it. Brush the inside again and finish with the small vanilla circle. Cover the whole thing with chocolate ganache, then repeat the process, swapping vanilla and chocolate (see photos). I had ganache left over, so I used it to cover the top of the cake too. Refrigerate.
Decoration
Ingredients
- None
Instructions
1
Place the cake on a turntable (it’s much easier this way!).
2
Using a spatula, cover the entire cake with a thin layer of chantilly, then refrigerate.
3
Meanwhile, I made the little banner ^_^
4
Place the remaining chantilly in a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M nozzle.
5
Pipe roses over the entire surface of the cake, starting from the bottom. When the first row is done, pipe the second row staggered between the first. Finish with the top of the cake. The roses don’t need to be perfect — the effect will still be stunning! Refrigerate.
6
At serving time, place the banner on the cake (if you have one, like me). Your guests will first be bowled over by the rose decoration (when in fact it’s very easy to do) and then amazed by the inside! Success guaranteed!
Gallery
