Checker Board Pan Users..... Help?
Decorating By OhMyGoodies Updated 8 Jul 2007 , 1:08pm by OhMyGoodies
Ok so I've used this thing once before today lol the 3 candy corn cakes in my photos. Sooooooooo easy! cause they were all one layer cakes.... Well today I'm making a 3 layer red white and blue cake for a 4th of July/hubby's birthday Party tomorrow.... (his bday is today but we always celebrate with friends on the 4th 
kill two birds w/one stone lol) Anyway!!!!
I made it like it said to, I did two layers identical being (from outside edge to inner circle) red white blue. I made two white cake mixes and dyed the icing red and blue from the first mix and left the 2nd mix white. I needed more red when I got to the 3rd layer... I ended up having to do blue white red cause I couldn't figure out how to make it so it would line up properly to get the red white blue in the slices... like going diagonally...
Anyone else have issues when using 3 colors instead of just two per directions??? I was thinking when I bought this set how great it would be for a christmas cake by doing red and green layers but now I can't figure out for the life of me how to arrange the batter in my 4th of July cake to make it right 
it's too late to change this cake as it's in the oven now lol, but am asking for tips and tricks using 3 colors for my next cake I make with this....
I want to do an Easter cake I saw on Wilton's website, it's got 3 layers, each one having yellow, pink and purple somewhere in them lol....when cut it's perfect.... how!?!?!?! OMG I HATE WILTON PEOPLES! lol it's like they think everyone is so perfect! and it's so darn difficult to do some of these things lol....
Anyway any tips, tricks or help is much appreciated it!!! 
TIA
Becky
OKay, heres my thought. You would rotate the colors on all 3 layers instead of doing 2 identical.
R=Red
W=White
B=BLue
1st Layer = RWB
2nd Layer = WBR
3rd Layer = BRW
Hope that helped.
I used to sell Pampered Chef and they have one of these.
I hope you didn't put to much color into the batter. Me and another comcultant were setting up at a festival and she tried to do one. After it baked, you could actaully pull up pieces of red and blue cake. It had so much color in it, they didn't bake together. Weird! 
Also, we were always told to spray the divider with Pam. It helps when pulling it out and keeps the colors from running so bad.
I have directions on how to do a 4th cake, but don't know where it is right now. If I can find it, I'll post it.
I sprayed the ring when I did the candy corn cake and used Wilton gel based colors and the three different sections pulled away from each other....
This time I used Americolor colors and did NOT spray the ring so hopefully that'll stop the seperating from happening lol.
Thanks for the lay out on the colors for next time
culinarycreations: Please do post them! I have used 2 colors but never 3, and I would love to know as well.
Thanks!! And good luck to you, OhMyGoodies! Let us know how it comes out!
Hey fellow checkerboard cake pan user!
Yes, I feel the frustration as well. I 2 red/white/blue cakes yesturday using the checkboard pans BUT... when trying to figure out how I would do the red, white and blue with the checkers (Which I am sure could be done but I didn't feel like thinking that much). I just filled the outer ring with red, middle ring with white and inner ring with blue. That way when they slice into it, it will be red white and blue like the "candy corn-style." My problem was estimating how much batter to tint red and blue. For my first cake, I tinted too much blue and had to through the rest out. For the 2nd cake I made way too much red and didn't have enough white so that the one layer was thinner. UUUGH. I love those pans because the end product is always awesome and people are so amazed by them, the greif they sometimes cause is almost not worth it. Hope that helps.
P.S. I have a few checkerboard cakes in my photos if you wanted to take a look. For the christmas one, I just did red and white but if you wanted red and green that would be cool too.
Thanks everyone.... welp I just took them out of the oven and guess what happened 
... the blue turned a greenish color (only on the outside of the cake really pretty royal blue on the inside still..) and how do I know what the inside looks like already??? Well... funny you should ask lol... The divider has 4 pouring sections.... well for some reason the batter didn't mix into each other in the out rings of each of the 3 cakes so now they are split where they didn't blend.... thank god this is just for a family function and not a paying job lol I was hoping to impress some people but hey they are impressed just by the jell-o souffle I'm heading to make now lol so I guess as long as it holds up until cutting time I'm alright with it lol.
A tip I can give for other users.... always take a small spatula and mix each color after you put it into the pan lol
You may want to read the info on this site: http://www.baking911.com/recipes/cakes/checkerboard.htm She has a tip in a purple box on the left that "might" help? Just a thought.
Good luck to ya!
I've never thought of using 3 colors, but that would be really attractive. The key is you wouldn't have two layers that are the same, and would need to make the same amount of each color.
Let's say you have colors A, B and C:
First layer: A B C B A
Second Layer: B C A C B
Third Layer: C A B A C
OR
First layer: A B C B A
Second Layer: C A B A C
Third Layer: B C A C B
Wow, redpanda!! What a big help you are! Thanks a million!
I'm keeping an eye on this post! i have only done the one they suggested in the box. But would love to see how it turns out with the RWB colors. My sister asked me to do a July 4th Cake for a party her neighbor is having on Saturday. I'm sure they'll get a kick out of a cake like that.
I want so bad to throw this set out lol but I think the most I would throw out is the insert lmao. I love the pans they are great! But man am I ever so ticked at this right now. When I was pouring the outter batter into the ring it all "melted" together so to speak and became one.... but I guess when I removed the ring I should've gone thru it with a knife or small spatula to blend them some more with their own colors but I didn't and now I have cracked up cakes lol I'm fixin to turn them out onto the board and we'll see if they'll hold up to icing and the weight of each other without falling apart lol if not.... it's gonna be a late late night for me lmao
I bought the set because my daughter wanted a candy corn cake for her birthday. She made the one that is in my photo's. I found the insert at my local thrift store and took back the set because I didn't use it. I've made a couple other cakes with it. my colors don't always line up perfect like I've seen others do, but it is still fun to watch the reaction when people cut into it and try to figure out how the colors were made.
Am I reading correctly that some of the checkerboard sets have dividers within a ring, not just between rings? The set I have just has two rings held together from above, so there is no interruption within a color. I've never had problems with the rings of cake not baking together, either. Maybe it depends on how thick your batter is.
I am sorry I haven't read through all of the post but I did this exact thing a couple of years ago. Take a look in my photos at the red/white/blue checkerboard cake, i have a picture of it cut so you can see.
I did see up above someone did a quick diagram and that is pretty much what I did.
HTH
Lookit here at this cake:
http://www.bakedecoratecelebrate.com/projects/pastelcheckerboardcake.cfm?cat=1
And geez that's a lot of BC!
Ok my post didn't go thru lol
I turned them out and they fell apart into 3 sections.... so now I have all this cake and nothing to do with it lmao it also pulled away from the pan so much that the outside all the way around got crispy... so now I'm going to trash all that cake and remake them but instead of doing the checkerboard I think I'll just make 3 layers one red one white and one blue...
Leily, funny you should post lol Your 4th of July cake is the one I'm trying to recreate in my own way lol I've pm'ed you for help on this because I really want it to work and really want that WOW factor when we cut into it lol... Any help is much appreciated!
Am I reading correctly that some of the checkerboard sets have dividers within a ring, not just between rings? The set I have just has two rings held together from above, so there is no interruption within a color. I've never had problems with the rings of cake not baking together, either. Maybe it depends on how thick your batter is.
I have the Wilton set and it has 3 sections similar to the one shown above except the pans are non-stick and a dark gray color. When I said the pouring in sections part I meant if you look at it you'll see the little legs/arms that extend out the sides... it devides it into 4 in a way that you have to pour 4 sections so you don't get it all over the place and once I bake it it bakes into 4 sections lmao and it just falls apart....
The outter edge of the entire cake is too hard it got way too done I'm thinking I may need to reduce the heat from 350* to 325* for the 30-35 minutes it says to bake them for... I'm using a brand new oven and I'm not 100% sure about the temps and stuff lol
Make cake balls! Coat them with red, white, and blue candy melts! If it is a picnic, most people would love food they can just grab and walk around with!!!
Ok gang I'm off to the kitchen again lol. I'm going to make 3 mixes, color one red and one blue, and leave one white. I'm going to follow the picture diagram drawn for me lol and do RWB, BRW, WBR lol and hopefully it'll work out this time lol.
I have used it with red, white and green for when Italy won the World Cup and it turned out great. I didn't tell anyone about it until it was cut and it was a huge success! I used the chart someone mentioned in a previous post. I hope it works out for you!
Jen
Oh don't trash the cake. Make a trifle with the colors and strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream maybe even some pudding wouldn't that just look so neat with all the colors of cake!
Good luck with the next batch of cakes - I think I may try this with my pans for tomorrow's family BBQ
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