Chessboard Cake: the delicious, impressive dessert recipe you’ll love

Looking for an impressive dessert recipe that will wow your guests? Why not make this classy chessboard cake. Not only is it the perfect dessert for any chess lover, but everyone will love its delicious taste!

The cake has a beautiful chess pattern on top, and then when you slice into it, you’ll see it right throughout! To make it, you will first make a chocolate base which will form the brown squares. The cake is then decorated with a cream mixture to form the chessboard pattern.

Your guests will love the surprise once they cut into this beautiful cake! It’s almost too pretty to eat!

Tips

Take cake decoration to the next level by decorating it with actual chess pieces. If you can find chocolate chess pieces, even better!

Add a teaspoon of instant coffee to the cake batter to accentuate the chocolate flavor!

Use black food coloring (gel-based) to make the chocolate base even darker.

Use a gluten-free flour blend to make this cake gluten-free.

How To Store Chessboard Cake

Store the cake in an airtight container, in the fridge, for up to 4 days. Serve at room temperature.

How To Make Chessboard Cake

In a small bowl add the flour, cocoa powder.

Add the baking powder.

Stir in crumbled Oreo cookies and mix to prepare the cocoa mixture.

In a separate bowl pour 4 egg whites and whisk them with a pinch of salt.

Pour in the vanilla sugar and 70 g of granulated sugar little by little.

Go on beating.

In another large bowl, add the egg yolks, boiling water and add sugar gradually and mix with the mixer.

Gradually add the previously prepared white cream and mix.

Gradually sifts the previously prepared cocoa powder mixture.

Mix until thick and well combined.

Transfer the mixture into the cake mold (26cm – mold size) covered with parchment paper.

Bake in the oven at 175°C/347°F for 45 minutes. Cut the base in half and set aside aside. Take the top and divide it in half again. Leave the upper one aside and use the lower one.

Insert the latter in the opening circle and in the middle place some cut-out strips of baking paper.Take the base that you had kept aside.

Cut it out to obtain a 2 cm ring, using a paper circle and keep them aside.

Decrease the circle by 2 cm and make a second ring, repeat the process to obtain 4 more rings, then 6 rings in a total of 6 different diameters and leave them aside.

Make the white cream. Dissolve gelatin sheets in 100 ml warm milk.

In a saucepan, add the chopped white chocolate.

Stir in the cream of the Oreo cookies you kept aside.

Pour a little sour cream. Melt in a double boiler.

Combine the spreadable cheese, yogurt, vanilla extract, mascarpone in a bowl.

Mix with an electric whisk. Pour in 60 g of sugar and the remaining cream a little at a time, whip until it becomes a soft and smooth mixture.

Take the melted chocolate mixture and add the gelatin mixture. Let it dissolve completely.

Transfer the mixture with a sieve into the mascarpone and whip them.

In another bowl, whip 440 ml of cream with 40 g sugar until you have reached a frothy texture. Add the whipped cream to the cream, mixing it in little by little and stirring slowly from the bottom up so as not to disassemble it.

Now assemble the cake: wet the base with a syrup of sugar and water and top with a layer of white cream.

Create the first layer of sponge cake, arranging 3 circles to leave space between each and then filling the spaces with the cream, helping yourself with a sac à poche for greater precision.

Level the cream with a spoon spread the second layer of sponge cake, placing the last 3 circles exactly on top of the cream of the previous layer.

In the end, cover all the cake with the remaining cream and place it in the refrigerator for 8 hours. After the waiting time has elapsed, remove the foil, the snap ring, and the parchment paper strips.

Place on the surface of the cake some strips of cardboard, each of 2 cm, and form a checkerboard.

Decorate with bitter cocoa and remove the strips.

Repeat, laying the cardboard strips on top of the ones you just drew.

Sprinkle with more cocoa and remove the cards until you get a very precise chessboard.

Form a chocolate ribbon that will be placed around the cake. Melt the dark chocolate in a bain-marie and pour it onto the ribbon, spreading it out with a spatula. Let it dry for 10 minutes and, when it is firm but soft, arrange it around the cake and remove the parchment paper.