Checkerboard Cake

Checkerboard cakes are a British tea-time classic that has filtered down to its former colonies like Singapore and India. I remember scoffing down checkerboard cake in my childhood and wondering how the baker made it. So today I have decided to make one or two, since I am so into afternoon tea these days. My favourite brew lately is Crabtree & Evelyn's Earl Grey Tea, 99% tea 1% Bergamot oil.

 I read the Norpro pan reviews online and know about the separator lifting up once the batter is poured in. Since I didn't have a second pair of hands around, I filled cups with water and balanced it on top of the separator to hold it down.

I baked 1 chocolate cake, 1 vanilla cake and 1 with the separator in it. It was my intention to purchase a metal separator as opposed to a plastic one, as metal can conduct heat into the middle parts of the cake thereby cooking it evenly. After the cakes are baked and cooled sufficiently, I removed the metal separator and used it to cut the chocolate and vanilla cakes to re-assemble.

Chocolate Vanilla Cake with Caramel Toffee icing, gold biscuit sprinkles to complete the look.

One more cake, a Lime & Elderflower cake with Cream Cheese & Lime frosting.

The frosting is the best and made with freshly squeezed limes.

Silver sprinkles to complete this summertime cake.

I layered it wrongly though, in my haste. Still glad the green colour came out nicely after baking.

Lukka Sigurdardottir's 2010 creation, a checkerboard cake dress. Well lah-di-dah, extreme baking successfully executed. Definitely rivals the Barbie life-sized cake.