How To Make a Cake for Both Chocolate and Vanilla Lovers

Back in May, I wrote a post called Chocolate or Vanilla?  

In that post, I provided a link to an article about how to make a Chocolate and Vanilla cake, but unfortunately the link no longer works. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, and today I am re-publishing the article here:

How to Make a Chocolate and Vanilla Cake, with Chocolate and Vanilla Frosting

This was exactly the cake my son wanted for his 11th birthday

Decisions can be tough when they involve choosing cake and frosting flavors

Sometimes it can be hard to choose between vanilla and chocolate cake, with white or chocolate frosting. This was my son's dilemma on his 11th birthday. I came up with a solution that enabled him to have it all.

Mom to the rescue with a solution

To provide both kinds of cake, I baked a two-layer marble cake: vanilla batter with swirls of chocolate. (You can use a cake mix or your own recipe.) Then I made two kinds of frosting. You guessed it - one chocolate and the other vanilla.

Directions: 

I iced the cake the way you normally would ice a two-layer cake - with some modifications. These directions explain the method I used:

• Place one layer of the cake (completely cooled) on a plate.
  
• Use a knife to lightly etched a line right down the middle.
  
• Spread vanilla icing across the top of one half.
  
• Use a clean flat or offset spatula to spread chocolate icing across the top of the other half.
  
• Carefully center the second layer of cake on top of the first.
  
• Lightly etch a line through the center of the second cake, directly above the split between the two types of icing on the first layer.
  
• Extend the etched markings down either side of both layers to the plate.
  
• Using the knife marks as a guide, completely ice one side of the cake with white frosting. (Note that when the cake is cut into pieces, if you put this directly above the white icing previously applied, each piece will only have one kind of icing.)
• Using a clean flat or offset spatula, ice the other half of the top and sides with chocolate frosting, taking care to cover the cake completely, but keeping a straight clean line between the two types of frosting.

To make this cake even more unique for an 11th birthday, I carefully drew the number 11 on the top - using colors of icing opposite to the side of cake I was drawing on. I did it freehand, but you could pipe it on if piping is a method you are more comfortable with. Finally, I placed 11 candles around the perimeter of the cake.

A cake for chocolate - and - vanilla lovers.

Icing a cake this way is not very hard to do - a little patience and a spatula (and a piping bag, if desired) is all that is required.

Let them eat cake - chocolate and vanilla too!

The end result was a unique and strikingly attractive cake. It was fairly quick and easy to make, and it satisfied cravings for both chocolate and vanilla flavors. All that was left to do before eating it was to sing Happy Birthday and make a wish.

Have you ever made a cake with two flavors to satisfy the varied tastes of your guests?

This article was originally published by Yahoo Contributor Network on February 21, 2014, but Yahoo Voices was shut down, and rights for this content reverted back to me. 

 
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