Rainbow Checkerboard Cake

This will just be a short post since I'm typing it up on my iPhone. I had a couple of packet cake mixes that were about to expire. I don't love packet cakes, but every so often I need an emergency dessert and have no ingredients in my pantry. As it happened, I did need a dessert for tonight, and also had these packets waiting to be used, so decided to convert these blah-buttercakes into something very cute and creative.

I got the inspiration from Raspberri Cupcakes.  I won't bother writing out instructions to create the checkerboard effect, she does it much better than me.

For the chocolate ganache, heat up 150g cream in a saucepan. When it is almost boiling (when the cream begins to have a distinct milky smell) pour it over 200g milk chocolate buttons. Stir until chocolate has melted. Allow the ganache to sit until it has thickened to a spreadable consistency. Use a spatula to spread the ganache over the cake. You can leave it as is, but I chose to cover mine with 100s & 1000s as I didn't like the 'bumpiness' of my ganache. Unfortunately I don't have a cake smoother, so I'm at the mercy of my silicone spatula. I'll post photos up properly once I get onto my computer.

This cake was not without its drama either. The chocolate cake had been in the oven for about 10 minutes when I realised I had forgotten to add the eggs. After some frantic Google searches ("what happens if you bake a cake without eggs") I discovered that eggs are a pretty vital ingredient unless you're happy to eat a brick. The cake had already started to rise, and the top of the cake was baked, but I took it out, slopped the partially cooked batter back into my mixer and beat the life out of it until it was liquid again. I was then able to add the eggs (hoping the steaming hot batter wouldn't cook them instantly) then popped the whole thing back in the oven . I guess it worked out...I mean, it was edible, but it had a very different texture to what a cake should be. It was much heavier and more fudge-like than normal, but I actually think that added to the texture of the Checkerboard Cake. It gave a bit more variation between the chocolate and vanilla. Well, I'll keep telling myself that anyway to hide the fact that I made the rookie error of not adding eggs to a cake batter.

As cool as Checkerboard Cakes are, I can't see myself making them every week. All the time involved in slicing, cutting and layering the cakes certainly adds to the "wow" factor when you cut it open, but I'd rather use that time baking something really special and amazing, rather than a cake that looks cool, then gets eaten. Still, it's nice to have some fun every now and then!