Checkerboard cake with lemon buttercream

Step 1

You will need 4 cake tins. 16 to 17 cm or 8 to 9 inches. Grease and line the tins.Set the oven to 170C/ 340C

Step 2

Put the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl and whisk well to combine

Step 3

Mix the two sugars, the vanilla and buttermilk together and whisk well until smooth and combined. Melt the butter and whisk into the buttermilk mixture until combined

Step 4

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until thick and well combined (Mix by hand or in a mixer with a paddle attachment)

Step 5

Divide the mixture into 4 bowls and colour each one (or just use two colours). Fill each cake tin with the batter. Bake approx 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean

Step 6

Cool the cakes. (cakes cut better once chilled). Cut the top from the cakes and flatten them to even.

Step 7

Buttercream is more successfully made in a mixer. Beating butter until light and creamy makes the best frosting. Use the paddle attachment or beaters if using a hand held mixer.

Step 8

Cut the butter into cubes and let it come to room temperature.

Step 9

Zest the lemon and add the zest, the vanilla and salt to the butter in a mixer bowl. beat till light and fluffy. The butter will be nice and white. This should take about 5 to 8 minutes at least. Add the icing sugar 1/2 a cup at once and beat in well.

Step 10

Whipping up buttercream requires adding the sugar a bit at a time. This allows it to be incorporated into the butter without knocking the air out, that you just put into it. It allows the sugar to melt into the butter slowly AND most importantly the sugar won't fly out everywhere when you turn the mixer on.

Step 11

Squeeze the lemon. Once the sugar is added finish the mixture off with as much lemon juice as your tastebuds want. You should think about adding just enough to make the buttercream light and spreadable (usually about 20 to 30 ml- 1 to 11/2 tablespoons)

Step 12

Use 1/2 or up to 3/4 the buttercream aside. Once you have filled and covered the cake you can colour what is left separating as described belowDivide the buttercream into 4 separate bowls and colour them to match the cake layers. To pipe multicoloured buttercream, spoon the buttercream onto a piece of cling wrap. Wrap this up into a sausage and cut the end close then put into a piping bag with a star tube. The buttercream will squash out the bottom in a nice multicoloured stream.

Step 13

I have a set of cutters, but you don't need cutters to do this. What you do need is to find a way to cut 3 equal circles from each cake. You can make 3 different sized circles from cardboard and use them as a pattern to follow to make even circles on each cake.

Step 14

Once you have your 3 circles in each cake you are ready to line each cake with a little buttercream between each of the circles and put them together

Step 15

The buttercream will form part of the cake pattern and make each piece of cake deliciously creamy. Each cake needs alternate cake colours that you will make by alternating the colours in each cake. You will need to alternate the colours before stacking and buttercream -ing together.

Step 16

Each layer needs a thin lining of buttercream. Stack on the next cake and continue until all 4 layers are sacked. Put the cake onto a serving plate or cake base. Cover the cake with a very thin layer of buttercream and chill for at least 30 minutes. This sets the crumbs onto the cake and makes the final layer much better.

Step 17

Put a large amount onto the top of the cake and start to smooth it over letting the excess go to the edges of the cake. Smooth the sides bringing the buttercream down the side of the cake with a flat cake palette knife. Add more buttercream as necessary (making sure to leave some behind to colour for the top)

Step 18

Use the leftover buttercream and divide into 4 as described above. use the same colours as you used for the cake layers.Use whatever sprinkles or decorations you like to finish the cake.