Mango Checkerboard Cake

On the Menu Today~
Mango Checkerboard Cake

You could also make this cake into a
Battenberg Cake...a fancy word for a
checkerboard cake...minus a few squares..

Battenberg Cake is a light sponge cake
with the pieces of cake covered in jam or custard.
The cake is covered in marzipan and
when cut in a cross section,
displays a distinctive two-by-two checked pattern.

The interior pastel colors, yellow and pink,
are still traditionally seen in cakes today,
with the four checkered blocks said to represent
the four princes of Battenberg.

Battenberg Cake,
was created as a wedding gift for Prince Louis of Battenberg (Germany) and
Princess Victoria (grand-daughter of Queen Victoria).
To pay tribute to England's newest royal family member
by using his last name as the title of the cake.

I found this Vintage Rowoco Checkered Loaf,
4 piece cake mold set at a thrift store for $1.00.
The outside packaging was badly damaged but
everything else was intact.

I am a sucker for gadgets and
vintage kitchen pans.
Normally I bring the 'gadget' I find home,
throw it in my 'to try later' drawer and
usually forget about it for a few months..
sometimes even for a few years...

I think I had this pan in my drawer for over a year,
until one day my grandson found it.
When my grandson found it... he said,
"Hey Grandma, can we make a checkered cake?"
I said, "Well certainly, my dear grandson!"

So we proceeded to make our first checkered cake.
I always keep a few boxes of cake mixes and
containers of frosting on hand for when
my grandson comes for a visit.

I think it's a great way to get kids in the kitchen and
gets them involved in cooking,
without making it too complicated or time consuming.
I find kids love to help make cookies and cupcakes and
they love to eat them too.

Mango Checkerboard Cake

Ingredients

• 1 (15 oz) box Pillsbury Moist Supreme Tropical Mango Flavored Premium Cake Mix
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 2 to 3 drops Americolor electric orange food coloring gel
• checkerboard pan with inserts (Rowoco)
• 1 can Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Vanilla Frosting

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour checkerboard pans and inserts.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, water, oil and eggs. With an electric mixer on low speed, mix until moistened. Beat on medium high for 2 minutes. Divide batter in half and place half of the batter in a medium glass bowl. Add 2 to 3 drops of food coloring gel to one batter half. Mix on low speed until combined.

To make checkerboard; with batter divider in place,

1. First pan: pour mango colored batter (1/2 full) into outer stripes, pour orange colored batter into middle stripe. (1/2 full)
2. Second pan: pour orange colored batter (1/2 full) into outer stripes, pour mango colored batter into middle stripe. (1/2 full)
3. Third pan: pour mango colored batter (1/2 full) into outer stripes, pour orange colored batter into middle stripe. (1/2 full)
4. Fourth pan: pour orange colored batter (1/2 full) into outer stripes, pour mango colored batter into middle stripe. (1/2 full)
5. Carefully remove divider(s) from pans, lifting up slowly by the edges.
6. Bake at 350º until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 25 to 35 minutes.
7. Remove pans from oven, cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Carefully remove cakes from pans and cool on wire racks until cakes are cold.

To Frost:

1. Place cake from first pan on a serving plate, brush off crumbs, frost top.
2. Place cake from second pan on top of frosting, brush off the crumbs and frost top.
3. Place cake from third pan on top of frosting, brush off crumbs and frost top.
4. Place cake from fourth pan on top, brush off crumbs, frost the top and sides of cake.

When you cut the cake you should have a checkerboard pattern.

Cake, Cake Mix
*This is not a sponsored post. T2T is dedicated to passing along food finds to its readers.