Hi ALL, Hope you had a wonderful New Year holiday and wishing everyone all the best in 2011. Here is the Chocolate checkerboard cake that I made for the New Year's Eve celebration. Hope that you love this pretty cake as much as I do. I used the checkerboard cake pan for making this pretty chocolate cake with peanut butter chocolate crispy rice as filling and ganache cream to cover the whole cake.
This cake pans was a gift from my dear blogger friend, Biren of Roti and Rice, click here and see what nice gifts she sent me. Biren is celebrating her 1st Blog Anniversary and having a cookbook as a giveaway, please check on her great blog and join the giveaway. You might be one of the lucky winner :)
Stunning cake, right?
Here is the recipe
250g Butter, room temperature
380g Sugar
3 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla extract
500g All purpose flour
3/4 tbsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Salt
2 cups Milk
2 tbsp Chocolate paste
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C. Spray pans with vegetable pan spray.
- In large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, and vanilla, mix well.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, mix well after each addition. Continue beating 1 minute. Divide batter in half. Stir in chocolate paste into half the batter, mix well.
- Place Batter Dividing Ring into one prepared pan.
- Pour chocolate batter in outer and center sections and plain batter in the middle section. Fill sections halfway. (**for convenient filling, place batter in disposable piping bag)
- Remove ring from pan by carefully lifting straight up on handles. (mine is not straight.. is a curvy checkerboard...hahaa..). Bake 25-30 mins or until skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.
- Rinse and completely dry ring and place ring in 2nd prepared pan and repeat the same step.
- For the 3rd pan, pour plain batter in outer and center sections and chocolate batter in the middle section. Remove ring from pan as before and bake at the same temperature.
Ganache Cream
200g Semi-sweet chocolate ~ chop to small pieces
50g Valrhona 66% chocolate ~ chop to small pieces
40g Butter
200g Whipping cream
one small bottle (300g) of Peanut butter chocolate crispy rice
In a large bowl, put in the chocolate pieces and butter together. Boil whipping cream and pour hot whipping cream over chocolate pieces. Use hand whisk to stir chocolate pieces till smooth and add 1 tsp vanilla extract, stir well and set aside.
Assemble Cake
- Position layer with chocolate cake on outside onto serving plate, spread top with peanut butter chocolate crispy rice.
- Position layer with plain cake on outside on top of first layer, spread top with peanut butter chocolate crispy rice.
- Position final layer, then pour ganache cream on entire cake. Decorate as desire.
Enjoy
So gorgeous! I love how it came out.
ReplyDeletebeen a silent reader of your blog .... for a while. have always been impressed with your cooking and baking, but this cake is definitely ...... WOWZERS!!! stunning cake, my friend!:)
ReplyDeletehappy 2011 to you and your yours!! xoxo
Ann, you never cease to amaze me with your beautiful cakes and dishes. I hope that one day I will be able to bake wonderful treats like you so my kiddies can enjoy a cake that their mom made for them. Your cake is truly beautiful, inside and out.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to have met sweet blogging friends such as you and Biren. Hope to get to know you both better in the new year to come.
the checker board design is gorgeous!!
ReplyDeleteWow Ann, you are amazing!! I love the cake and that wonderful ganache cream. Wish I could have a slice. It looks absolutely yummy! I instantly thought of you when I saw those cake pans. I knew you would put them to good use :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the mention. You are a sweetheart. I am so glad we got a chance to meet. Sending many, many hugs and kisses your way.
Your friend...Biren
Oh, I love that checker-board design. It somehow reminds me of traditional bakeries in Singapore.
ReplyDelete@celine
ReplyDeleteCeline, Thank you very much for your support and please come often and drop your comments :)
@lequan
ReplyDeleteLequn, As I always said you're also one of my best blogger friends thru blogging. Thank you very much for your lovely comment. I am always amazed at your cooked food especially seafood, always makes me drool *.*
@Biren @ Roti n Rice
ReplyDeleteBiren, Thank you very much for sending this cake pans to me. My family and friends shout out a "BIG WOW!!" after the cake was cut. The credit must goes to you, my dear friend :))
@tigerfish
ReplyDeleteYes, I love the design very much. Looks so pretty and special.
This cake is right out of Alice in Wonderland. I don't know how you did it. Thanks.
ReplyDeletebeautiful checks! happy new year to you and your loved ones :)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely stunning checkerboard cake! Am waiting to use my new checkerboard pan set too:-)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
An absolutely stunning cake. It makes me want to pull out my checkerboard pan this weekend .. haha bought it almost a year ago and have yet to make use of it. Here's wishing you a great 2011.
ReplyDeletewow simple beautiful you need to open a bakery :-)
ReplyDeleteGood heaven, I'm salivating! You've done such a remarkable job here, Ann! Kudos!
ReplyDeleteHave a great day!
Cheers, Kristy
Great and gorgeous cake, looks sooo yummy..
ReplyDeleteHi Anncoo,
ReplyDeleteHappy 2011 to you and your family!
This is such a stunning cake. The checker is so neatly done.
Just Gorgeous! That should be for my birthday...haha :D So sweet of Biren. She is a very sweet lady...a nice friend!
ReplyDeleteWow!!! The Cake looks absolutely gorgeous :-)
ReplyDeleteHave a beautiful day :-)
Wow it looks fabulous .The checker looks so perfect and beautiful.Wishing u and your family a Very Happy New Year
ReplyDeleteOh WOW that's amazing!! I LOVE the checkered pattern. That looks so delicious and the coolest cake ever! That special pan looks so interesting, I had no idea such things existed!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year Ann! Love your checker cake! I have always wanted to make one...hope I will be able to make one as nice as yours. Looking forward to see more great post from you in this new year. ;)
ReplyDeleteYou've really put your gift to good use! Stunning cake -so neat!
ReplyDeleteHey Anncoo,
ReplyDeleteThat's a beauty...amazing dear..Happy new year to you!:)
Dr.Sameena@
http://www.myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com/
@Suma Rowjee
ReplyDeleteI also want to see your checkerboard cake :)
@Jo
ReplyDeleteOh you have this cake pan? Must use at least once ;DD
@Chow and Chatter
ReplyDeletehahaa...Thank you.
@My Little Space
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristy.
@Cook.Bake.Love
ReplyDeleteThanks! Your fruit cake looks perfect too!
@MaryMoh
ReplyDeletehehee...I know when is your birthday... you should have a better cake than this one. Totally agree with you, I am so lucky to know Biren and you thru blogging.
Priya, Rachana, Padhu, BeeBee, Shirley, Dr. Sameena:
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your lovely compliments.
Happy New Year to all of you :)
@Sharon
ReplyDeleteThanks! Go to Wilton.com and you find many baking pans there.
This is such a beautiful cake. I bought the same baking pan a few years ago and it is just sitting at the basement collecting dust. I find it too complicated to make this ha ha..seeing yours might give me the push to bake this. Thanks Ann :)
ReplyDelete@ICook4Fun
ReplyDeleteGert, this is not complicated at all. Must try it at least once :)
I've reduced the sugar and to avoid the cake becomes too dry, I used chocolate paste instead of melted chocolate.
Ann, this checkerboard cake looks simply amazing! I've never tried making one and always wondered how to, now I can try your recipe because it turned out so well. I'm going to get myself a set of these special pans, and see if I can play a little with the colors and flavors ;-). Thanks for sharing this! (I'm still a bit speechless...)
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty checkerboard cake! You bake like a pro!
ReplyDeleteahh that's so cute! must have taken u a lot of effort :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful cake! I used to have a mold for this cake years ago and I gave it away! Now I wish I did not! Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.
ReplyDeleteton gâteau est magnifique et surement délicieux je te souhaite une très bonne année 2011
ReplyDeleteà bientôt
How gorgeous and it sounds absolutely, unbelievably delicious too! Thanks for linking it up for Tailgating Time this week! :-)
ReplyDeleteJust one word, Ann .... simply Awesome!
ReplyDeleteThis is too complicated for me. Salute for your passion to baking.
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful cake for the new year. Happy new year!
ReplyDeleteWow, this is amazing!! Love the cake! Happy New Year 2011 to you and family too!
ReplyDeleteAnn, the cake is so beautiful, I've also thought of buying the pan but dropped the idea because I know I won't be able to bake such a beautiful cake as yours, better don't waste money.. hee
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful choc cake you made. You can open a cake shop, Ann.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThese pans are so cute. I have a little loaf pan like this. My cousin bought it for me at a garage sale.
@Foodiva
ReplyDeleteThank you for your lovely compliment. You can add any color to this cake as you like :)
Thanks everyone for your lovely comments.
ReplyDelete@tasteofbeirut
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you too!
Oh..you give the cake pans away, perhaps you can borrow it.. ;DD
@Martha (MM)
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for including me.
@KidsDreamWork
ReplyDeleteAi Ping, So happy to see you again!
Happy New Year :)
@neyeeloh
ReplyDeleteEsther, I'm sure you can do it too!
I bought a checkered board pan online from USA along with some silicon cake pans but they are still sitting in my cupboard (it had been more than 2 years) :p
ReplyDeleteNice work Ann, you never fail to impress me with your skills.
I call this as the perfect way to celebrate New year, in fact any occasions. I was looking at this post and couldn't resist showing this to my colleagues, they all screamed: WOW! I truly appreciate your attention to detail while decorating the cake. You deserve to be on "ace of Cakes", Food network channel. Wishing you and your family a Happy New year!
ReplyDeleteWow that looks absolutely gorgeous Ann .. Love the new look of ur space. Wish You Happy New Year !!!
ReplyDeleteThe cake is too pretty!!! I don't wanna destroy the beauty but the flavor sounds really good. Dilemma - eat or keep. Great work Ann! That's so sweet of Biren to send you those. She will be very happy to know you've got a good use of out it!
ReplyDeleteAnn, what a gorgeous cake...it not only looks good it looks like it tastes amazing! I have one of the pans to make a checkered cake and am sorry to say that I have never used it. I don't even know what I did with it. I know it wouldn't of looked this good! Thanks for linking it to Tailgating Time!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year :-)
ReplyDeleteI remember the photos of when you got the pan as a gift.
The results are very effective and your cake seriously impressive. Well done !
wow..very impressive!
ReplyDeleteStunning cake! This is such an ingenious idea and very pretty too :)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely stunning :)
ReplyDeleteHope you had an amazing Holiday and have a glorious 2011!
Anncoo, beautiful cake...love it...and the photos are just great! Happy New Year...to you and your family!
ReplyDeleteHi Ann, the whipping cream used for the ganache is it from Phoon Huat Redman Whip Topping? Or is it the Millac Dairy Whipping Cream used for cheesecake? thks alot for your help :) May
ReplyDeleteDoes the ganache cream in this recipe hold well for at least an hour in room temp or will it melt easily? Is choc buttercream coating less easy to melt in Spore weather? Do you think the choc buttercream will be a suitable coating for your checkerboard cake? Thank you
ReplyDelete@Blessed Homemaker
ReplyDeleteBetter use, don't waste ;))
@Thas@Cooking with Thas
ReplyDeleteThas, Thank you very much for your compliment. I'm flattered by your words *-*
@Pavithra
ReplyDeleteHi Pavithra, So glad you're here again. Happy New Year to you too!
@Tanantha @ I Just Love My Apron
ReplyDeleteYes, Biren compliment me on this lovely cake. I am the one who should thanks her for sending the cake pans to me.
@Lyndsey
ReplyDeleteLyndsey, you have this pans? Must use it, I am sure you can do a good job on this and thanks for including me to Tailgating Time :)
Sarah - Thank you. I love those moulds you have in your blog.
ReplyDeleteWen ~ Thanks.
Allie ~ Thank you.
Magic of Spice ~ Thanks. Happy New Year to you too!
Juliana ~ Same to you too!
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteMay, yes I used Phoon Huat Millac whipping cream because it is not sweet.
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteOf course you can use choc buttercream if you like. Actually this recipe is using choc buttercream but I never like buttercream on my cakes.It is OK to use ganache cream and its definitely can stand within an hour, ganache will becomes soft but will not melt.
1. Do you use a cake ring to assemble the cake?
ReplyDelete2. any tips on how to lift the sponge cake onto cake ring without breaking it?
3. how to align the 3 layers so accurately in checkerboard pattern?
4. will it taste gd with peanut butter instead of choc crispy rice?
thks, Liz
@Anonymous
ReplyDelete1. Never use cake ring for ganache cream or buttercream. You will mess up the chocolate because the cream will sticks to the cake ring.
2. You must lift the cake with care especially sponge cake.
3. When you place cake on top of the cream you can gently push the cake to straight line. But actually its really doesn't matter about the accuracy, look at my last picture, it's not straight at all.
4. I think choc crispy rice is better because it is crispy while the peanut butter is creamy.
Please refer http://anncoojournal.blogspot.com/2009/05/peanut-butter-chocolate-cispy-rice-cake_8210.html
oh wow! This cake looks so amazing. happy New year to you too :)
ReplyDeleteAnn, I don't know how you do it, but you are amazing.
ReplyDeleteYou did a phenonmanal creation and it looks incredibly moist and yummy.
ReplyDeleteAnncoo, here's wishing you the very best for this newest year!
Flavourful wishes,
Claudia
What a beautiful cake! You did such an amazing job!!!
ReplyDeleteWow this cake looks so stunning inside out.! Wish I have the cake pan too..:) thumbs up to u Anncoo !:D Happy New Year to u again.
ReplyDelete1. Can i use canned Nestle Cream instead of the whipping cream for the ganache? Will taste n texture be similar cos i dont want ganache to melt easily.
ReplyDelete2. What is the diameter n height of this cake? Thks alot, Ann for helping.
Ruth:)
@Penny, Ju ~ Thank you ;D
ReplyDeleteClaudia ~ Same to you too :)
Erin ~ TKQ~!
Bren ~ Thank you for your compliment :)
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteRuth ~ I can't tell you the difference because I've never used Nestle cream before. If you're are afraid the ganache will melt, you can increase a little of butter and chocolate pieces. I wonder how long you want to put the cake outside the fridge?
The cake itself is more like a soft pound cake not really soft like sponge cake and it is about 4" tall, it is also quite filling..so don't cut too thick when served.
Absolutely gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteHappy 2011 Anncoo :)
This is the kind of cake you bake to impress!!! I surely AM!
ReplyDelete@Cookie
ReplyDeleteThanks Cookie :) How are you? Must be very busy life in London.
Ann,
ReplyDeletethanks for remembering me!
Life is rather hectic & busy in London, but the family is doing fine otherwise.
Your baking & cooking is gaining great momentum just by looking at the comments you attracted in every post - KEEP IT UP! :-)
@Cookie
ReplyDeleteHi Cookie,
Of course I remember you... I was very much inspired by your blog before I started mine.
Thank you very much for your encouragement, still got a lot to learn from bloggers :))
Take care!
Thanks hatesracist! Hope to see your post soon :)
ReplyDeleteYour cake looks gorgeous! I want to try soon :)
ReplyDeleteHi Anncoo, I'm gonna try out my first chocolate ganache and need some guidance from you. I have seen other recipes mainly use dark chocolate and whipped cream. Am I right to say that adding butter will reduce the chance of ganache to melt? If we keep the cake in fridge, will the ganache become firmer than those without butter? Phoon Huat is selling 2 types Millac whipped cream, one in blue color while the other in yellow. Do you know the different? I'm hesitating of buying it as the package is big. Do you any recommendation for smaller packet one? I would much appreciate your reply to my questions.
ReplyDelete@Sue
ReplyDeleteHi Sue,
Yes you're are right. The butter will becomes soft but will not melt. Of course the ganache will be firmer because there is chocolate in it but if you leave it outside for about half hour choc cake will become softer.
I usually used the blue one since the very first time really don't know the different. The smaller packet of the whipping cream is quite expensive, I think is around $4 for 200ml, why not take the 1L packing. Cover the unused cream with a cling wrap or plastic and store in the fridge,it will last for about 10 days.
Hi Anncoo, thanks very much to your prompt respond. You are right that smaller packet whipped cream is more expensive than 1l one. I guess I'll try to do more baking that use whipped cream but of course not too much. I like your cake baking and decorating. It's usually simple and yet elegance. I hope my baking skill can be as good as yours one day.
ReplyDeleteHi Ann, this is Sue again. I have baked a 6" chocolate cake using chocolate mousse recipe from your banana chocolate cake and the ganache here. It's really delicious as it's not too sweet. My daughter even begged me for 3rd slices! I'm going to bake a bigger for my niece birthday. May I know how did you do those vertical line at the sides? Did you do it before chilling the cake? Thanks for sharing great recipes and the detail of each steps.
ReplyDelete@Sue
ReplyDeleteHi Sue,
So good to hear you made this chocolate cake. How I wish I can see your cake :)
As for those vertical line, just hold the scraper upwards on the side of the cake and rotate the turntable with the other hand. This must be done immediately after you have pour the chocolate on the cake to get a smooth look.
Happy Baking :)
Hey Ann, I know this is incredibly late but I just came across your post while looking up checkerboard cakes! That's an amazing cake you've got there!! Do you know where I can get a checkerboard cake pan in Singapore? I'd really like one. Thanks in advance!!
ReplyDeleteDhanya
Hi Dhanya,
DeleteI think this cake pan is available at Chong Trading, 1 Coleman Street The Adelphi #02-09, Singapore 179803. Tel:+65 63360560
Happy New Year!
Thank you so much!! I'll definitely check it out :)
ReplyDeleteDhanya