How To Make A Checkered Cake

These two pictures were taken with a phone so, sorry about the pictures. I wont be winning any photography contests with these. But at least you can kind of see inside the cake.
That was the checkered *Perfect Party Cake*.

Here, I'll give you a few more bad shots of a checkered cake I made in January.



They were fun cakes and easy to make. The kids thought I was a genius. I'll admit, I liked that.

So how do you make a checkered cake with out a special pan?
Well... you do need some cookie cutters.

First I baked a chocolate layer and a vanilla layer. I cut each layer in half to get four layers.

I used 9 inch cake pans, but I have used 8 inch and it worked fine because my cutters aren't exact.



You need a 6" cookie cutter. (hard to find)

I found a 5 1/2 inch one at Cost Plus World Market.



and a 3 inch cutter.



Cut each layer into 3 circles.





Then swap inner circle rings with opposite layer.




Frost the inside of each circle before putting in the next piece. This keeps the pieces together when the cake is cut. I learned this the hard way!



This is how they should look. You'll notice only two layers got the frosting in between rings. That's how I know to frost all the rings. This particular cake wanted to fall apart where I didn't frost. Don't make my mistake, frost!



Frost each layer and I spread some of my Chocolate Covered Strawberry Jam in between.



Yummy goodness!




Add each alternating layer,



Frost and more jam



repeat with all layers



final frosting

Decorated with white and dark chocolate shavings.

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Photography by Kellie. (My 13 year old)

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