Candy Cane Checkerboard Christmas Cake

This cake didn't quite end up how originally planned. I was going to use the candy canes in the peppermint chocolate Christmas cake, but the candy canes were strawberry flavored. I was also going to cover it in fondant and really decorate it, but I got the message from those it was meant for that they weren't concerned about it, so I finally decided to save myself the work. The consensus was also that they wanted strawberry buttercream, so I decided to use the candy canes on this cake.

I really wanted to make a checkerboard pattern inside, which I had never made before. So I started out with vanilla cake baked in layer pans. Two layers were left white and two were colored red and green.

I filled the pans all the way to the brim in the hopes that these very shallow pans would yield a slightly deeper cake. Totally backfired. I put enough batter for 8 cupcakes (according to my cupcake scoop), but enough for 6 would have been plenty.

 I leveled the cakes, wrapped them in aluminum foil and froze them. When I was ready to work with them, they were frozen solid. Cake from layer pans is very thin, so it was still possible to cut it, even frozen.

 I decided to measure the cakes to see how big to make the inner rings. They were baked in 8" layer pans, but they measured 7.5". Divided by three, gives us 2.5" and double that was 5". So those are the sizes I needed to cut the rings inside. I didn't have a 5" circle cutter, so I used a tupperware container as a guide, pressing it gently into the cake to mark where I should cut. The center circle I used a 2.5" circle cutter to cut out.

 Because it was frozen, the cake was fairly stable and didn't crumble after it was cut.

 I alternated colors to create the checkerboard effect. The layers with two colored rings, I used both red and green.

Now it was time to stack. The buttercream I made was made with very soft butter, so I didn't even bother to put any milk in it, so it was very sticky. I flavored it with strawberry flavoring because it's no where near strawberry season. I started with the white and green layer, then the one with green on the outside and red in the middle, then the white and red one, then the one with red on the outside and green in the middle.

 Then I frosted the cake. It didn't have to be perfect because I knew I would just be covering it with candy canes anyway.

 I am happy with the overall effect, but I would have preferred it covered in white fondant.

The checkerboard effect really worked. The layers weren't quite the same size, but the overall effect was really pretty. Unfortunately, with layers this thin, all you can really taste is the frosting. It was VERY sweet. If ever I make a cake that requires this much frosting again, I'll choose a different frosting. Pretty, but no one, myself included, could eat more that three or four bites.