Blueberry or Strawberry Checkerboard Cake

Difficulty:
1/5

Yield: 1 x 4 (8-inch/20.5 cm) layered cake

Ingredients:

Blueberry or Strawberry preserve 

  • ½ cup (120 ml) blueberries
  • ½ tablespoon (7.5 ml) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon juice

Cake

  • 1 ¼ cups (300 ml) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 ½ cups (590 ml) sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla
  • 4 cups (1 L) cake flour
  • 1 tablespoon (15 ml) baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
  • 1 ¼ cup (300 ml) milk
  • Blueberry preserves (see above)
  • 10 drops (10 ml) red or blue food colouring

Vanilla buttercream

  • 1 cup (240 ml) butter, room temperature
  • 4 cups (1 L) icing sugar
  • 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla

 

Method:

Let’s get baking!

To make the preserves, add either blueberries or strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a saucepan and simmer.

Stir to break up fruit.

Cook until mixture is reduced. It should be thick and syrupy.

Set aside to cool.

 

Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).

To make the cake, cream together butter and sugar in a bowl.

Add the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla and beat in.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder and salt.

Gradually mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture.

Gradually mix in the milk.

Divide batter in half.

Into one half of the batter, fold in the preserves and the corresponding food colouring.

Pour plain batter into 2 greased 8-inch (20.5 cm) cake pans.

Pour coloured batter into the remaining 2 greased 8-inch (20.5 cm) cake pans.

Cook for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Let cool, then remove from cake pans.

Note: place cakes in the refrigerator to speed up cooling.

 

To make the icing, cream together butter and sugar.

Add vanilla and incorporate.

 

To assemble, level cakes.

Use 6-inch (15 cm), 4-inch (10 cm), and 2-inch (5 cm) circular cookie cutters to cut concentric circles out of the cakes.

Spread a thin layer of buttercream on the inside ring of all circles.

Assemble cake layers by alternating colours.

Spread buttercream on one complete layer.

Carefully place a different alternating coloured layer on top and spread with buttercream.

Repeat until all layers are used up.

Spread remaining buttercream over entire cake.

Decorate as desired.

 

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