Checkerboard Cake

If you've never made a checkerboard cake before, read the first paragraph of the Checkerboard Cake post in my blog.  That should clear some things up in a jiffy.

3 oz chocolate*

3 T or 19 g Dutch process cocoa powder

1 3/4 C butter, room temperature
600 g sugar
8 egg whites, room temp
500 g cake flour, sifted
4 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 C buttermilk
1/2 C whole milk
juice of 1 lemon (2T)
1 t vanilla bean paste

3 9-inch pans

3 checkerboard cake molds

2 large ziplock bags

rum cake drizzle (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Ensure that oven racks are perfectly level.

(I bake 2 cakes side by side on a bread stone to lessen warping;

The third cake bakes in the center of the top rack.)

Line 3 9-inch pans, then grease and flour sides or use cake release.

In a double boiler, melt chocolate.

Stir in cocoa powder and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar for 4 mins.
Add egg whites and beat an additional 5 mins.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
Separately combine buttermilk, whole milk, lemon juice, and vanilla.
Alternating in batches, fold in dry and wet ingredients.

Transfer a little over 1000 g cake batter to ziplock bag.

Mix cooled chocolate into remaining batter.

Transfer chocolate cake batter to second ziplock bag.

Snip a corner off each batter bag.

Place a large bowl and ziplock bag of batter on scale and tare.

To check how much you have piped, place ziplock back in bowl.

You'll be looking for readings of -417/-83/-250, taring each time.

Pipe towards the outer edges of the mold for a more even rise.

With mold held down firmly in place,

Pipe 417 g chocolate batter into outer ring.

Pipe 83 g chocolate batter into center.

Pipe 250 g vanilla batter into middle ring.

Repeat for second cake.

For the third cake, pipe 417 g vanilla batter into outer ring.

Pipe 83 g or remaining vanilla batter into center.

Pipe 250 g or remaining chocolate batter into middle ring.

With molds firmly in place, shake and slam pans to level.

Place cakes in freezer for 30 mins for batter to firm up.

(The longer the cake batter chills, the less effective the leavening.)

(But also, the firmer the batter and the straighter the checkerboard!)

Carefully lift molds straight up and begin baking immediately.

Bake until 35 mins or until centers are dry.

Let cakes cool for 10 mins before transferring to cooling rack.

This is a dry cake, so a drizzle is recommended, and now is the time.

Cover cakes with cloth and let rest at least 4 hours.

With undrizzled cakes, consider using a simple syrup during assembly.

I prefer not filling cakes minimally for a cleaner checkerboard.

Pairs well with thick chocolate frosting.

thatskinnychickcanbake

*If not using chocolate, you will need a little more cake batter.

You could add 4 of the 8 yolks back to entire mix after beating whites.

Those 8 yolks can yield a double batch of ice cream or lemon curd.

**Alternatively, yields 48 cupcakes