L'Arc Bakery: "KISS" checkered cake

I remember when “KISS” album came out. I thought: great album, but that cover is... ok I guess :/

I remember when the KISS promo came out. Holy-shit-is-that-hyde-and-tetsu-kissing-what-the-f?

Laruku is not a band for much fanservice, an innocent hug and touch here and there, but that promo was pretty epic, and hillarious XD (oh, Ken's face) Too bad I wasn't in Tokyo at the time and I couldn't see that pictures in giants billboards in Shibuya. It was shocking but not because of the fanservice, no, because with that promo I discovered that hey, even Sony/Kioon has sense of humour! You know, sometimes. Once in a lifetime.

Ok, the cover of the album isn't great, but it's perfect for a simple chocolate and vanilla cake. I'm baking this cake while listening to the album. Which song is your favorite? if choosing among all these awesome songs is even possible :/ I don't think I have one either but Daybreak's bell is ABSOLUTELY GREAT and I have a thing for that song, it's more or less new but I think it will become a classic. Am I wrong? Well, it's a classic in my head! I have a big head :P

“KISS” CHECKERED CAKE

Ingredients:

For the cake:

- 120 gr. (1/2 cup) butter or margarine, softened

- 250 gr. (1 1/4 cups) granulated white sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 250 gr. (2 cups) flour

- 1/2 tablespoon baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 250 ml. Milk

- 2 tablespoons unsweeted cocoa powder

For the syrup:
-50 ml. water
-50 gr. granulated white sugar

For the buttercream:

- 250 gr. (1 ¼ cups) room temperature butter

- 325 gr. (2 ½ cups) powdered sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 2-3 tablespoon milk

For the decorations:

- 50 gr. (4 ounces) white chocolate

- 50 gr. (4 ounces) dark chocolate

- 50 ml. heavy cream

- Strawberry jam (or any other flavour you like)

STEP 1: CHECKERED CAKE

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Lightly grease a 20x20cm. squared mould (mine was like that, if you use a bigger one the layers will be thinner) with butter, oil of vegetable pan spray.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract, mixing well after each addition.

In another bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. Add half of this mixture (better if sifted) to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Then add 3/4 of the milk and mix (put the rest of the milk in another recipient, we will use it later). Again, add the rest of the flour mixture and mix for two more minutes until the batter is smooth and has no lumps.

Divide the batter in two different bowls, and add the powdered cocoa and the rest of the milk to one of them. Now we have chocolate batter and vanilla batter.

Pour the vanilla batter into the mould and bake the cake at 180ºC (350º F) for 30 minutes, with the rack in the center of the oven. Insert a toothpick in the center of the cake to be sure it's cooked: if the toothpick comes out clean, you can remove the cake from the oven.

Clean the mould, grease it again and pour the chocolate mixture. Repeat the process to bake the chocolate cake. Let both cake layers cool completely before starting with the assembling.

STEP 2: SYRUP

Put 50 ml. of water and 50 gr. Of sugar in a sauce pan and bring the mix to boil. Let it cool for a few minutes before using it. Yeah, that easy :D

STEP 3: ASSEMBLING THE CAKE

Put one layer on top of the other, making them fit perfectly. Cut the leftovers on the side to help make the shape cleaner and the cake moister (the sides are usually hard and unpleasant).

With a sharp knife, cut both layers like in the picture above, making concentric squares. Very carefully, trying to prevent the pieces from breaking apart, separate each piece.

We are going to combine the chocolate pieces with the vanilla pieces to form two layers again. Carefully place the pieces inside of each other like in the picture: vanilla-chocolate-vanilla (1^st layer). Don't assemble the second layer yet, it's better to assemble it on top of the first one.

Once the first layer is done, brush it with the sugar syrup, this will help to keep the cake moist. Let it dry and add a rich amount of jam (you can choose another filling, but I love jam! :D), and carefully assemble the second layer on top of it (chocolate-vanilla-chocolate). Again, brush the layer with sugar syrup and let it dry.

I only had one chocolate cake and one vanilla cake to work with but if you have two you can make a more impressive and higher cake. You just have to bake two more layers ;)

STEP 4: MAKING THE BUTTERCREAM

The buttercream can be made days ahead and kept in the fridge, but I made it while the second cake was in the oven, it's up to you ;) Just be sure you are checking your cake often, he he.

In a large bowl, cream the butter. It’s important to use room temperature butter, if it’s too cold it would be difficult to cream it.

Add the milk and the vanilla first, and slowly add half the powdered sugar, sifted (very important! Powdered sugar usually has lumps).

Put the electric mixer, or stand mixer, in low speed. Cover the bowl to prevent the powdered sugar to fly all over the room. My little trick is to put the bowl in a plastic bag. It makes the task less messy ;)

Mix on slow speed for about one minute and then add the other half of the powdered sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high and mix for another three minutes. The buttercream will have the right consistency when it’s creamy but firm, like ice cream.

STEP 5: ICING THE CAKE

It's time to coat the whole cake with the buttercream, it seems like a simple step but it can be tricky to get a smooth surface.

First, coat the cake with a thin layer of buttercream, you can see it has many crumbs. This first layer is very important to prevent the outer layer of buttercream from having crumbs and darker spots. Don't try to make the first layer perfect, you will correct all the imperfections with the second layer, wich will be thicker.

To make a perfect and smooth surface, use a wet spatula to spread the buttercream, and clean it often. It really helps! If the spatula is wet (just a little bit of water! Keep a glass of water nearby), you can easily get a smooth and flat icing.

STEP 6: CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Before starting with the ganache, draw the design of the “KISS” face on your cake. I used a toothpick, not applying too many pressure, just enough to see the outline. If you are not good at drawing, you can always print a template, it will make the task less troublesome. (can you see it in the picture? I'm not sure...)

Ok, chocolate ganache! Chop evenly 50 gr. of dark chocolate and put it in a small bowl.

In another bowl, put 50 ml. of heavy cream and heat it in the microwave until it boils (2 minutes, more or less). Pour the hot heavy cream in the chocolate bowl and mix until the chocolate is melted. You will get a soft and glossy chocolate cream.

The ganache is more or less liquid while still hot, but it will get thicker as it cools, so make sure to decorate the cake with it immediately, before it becomes too thick. Get the piping bag ready beforehand.

Put a full tablespoon of ganache in the piping bag and outline the sihlouette of the “KISS” face and the headphones. Then fill the sihlouette with more ganache. I used a spoon to spread it. Try to spread it evenly in order to get a flat and nice looking surface. It's difficult to correct bumps and imperfections in the ganache :(

Let the chocolate ganache to cool and dry, you can put it in the fridge for five minutes to make it cool faster.

STEP 7: DECORATIONS

Chop 50 grams. of white chocolate finely and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute until it's melted.

Put the chocolate in a piping bag with a very small piping tip. I used Wilton #1, which is perfect for drawing letters and little decorations.

Print a copy of the “KISS” album cover to have a guide nearby and slowly draw the letters and small white parts in the cake. The “L'Arc~en~Ciel” part was too small for my super small piping tip, so I draw it with a toothpick coated with chocolate :P