King for the day

With the regular ‘Game Night’ participants gathered to celebrate a milestone birthday for “P”, Upper Cut Gal “E” decided to create a chess-inspired cake, the idea for which had been percolating in her mind for months.  At about six and a half pounds in weight, china serving plate included, the product was truly massive.  On the surface (literally and figuratively), the chess theme played out in the chess pieces of molded golden and chocolate marzipan that nestled into dark chocolate fudge buttercream frosting.

The king and queen held places of honour atop the cake while rooks, bishops, knights, and pawns stood guard around the sides. 

But the theme ran deeper, as the birthday boy (man) discovered when he cut the first gigantic slice.  Inside, three layers of alternating chocolate and yellow butter cake formed an internal chess board.  “E”’s love affair with ‘outside/inside cakes’ continues.  [Technical note: a more even pour would have yielded a more uniform chess board, but "E" had a months-old mini-Upper Cut Cakes gal in her arms at this stage so perfection was not expected!]

(three layers of yellow and chocolate butter cake, poured into alternating rings to create a checkerboard pattern when stacked; dark chocolate fudge buttercream frosting on outside, for piping, and between cake layers; golden and chocolate marzipan molded into chess pieces for decoration)