Checkerboard cake

Hi, I’m Cath, been working for Splat for a year now, and although I get involved in some of the cooking at Splat my main role is to look for new and exciting products for the Splat on-line shop and I also look after the press and PR with the foodie and lifestyle mags.

In common with the rest of the Splat team I too am passionate about cooking, getting the right nutrients into my kids, and encouraging them to take an interest in what goes into their food, balanced eating, fresh seasonal produce – you name it.

What I AM NOT is CREATIVE. I draw stick men which the children proudly show their art teachers, I avoid art homework like the plague, and spend hours on the net to find templates if I really have to get my hands dirty. This all adds up to someone who in theory can’t decorate cakes, make nicely shaped biscuits, and panics at a blank canvas. But I have to choose new products for you, which need testing by Splat, and… Bev makes everything look so easy (ha ha!), and children pressure from my own two, means that invariably I go home with grandiose ideas which I put into practice – or try anyway.

So when my husband had his 40th birthday last month the children TOLD me that I had to make the three tier chequerboard cake – (tins available from Splat of course!). It took much longer than expected to make, I had to make far more mixture than the recipe on the box said, putting mixture into a piping bag was a new and messy job for me – a lot of dollops on the floor. But for a first amateur attempt I ended up with a cake that people couldn’t work out how I had put together, tasted good and I was quite proud of for my first go. The photo shows it a bit pulled about, a few slices gone, and the wear and tear of the blowing out of candles but…[thumb:77:r]

A week later my son was seven and asked if I would make him a chequerboard cake for his party – PLEASE!! Deciding to take a bit of time out I promised him glittered bug biscuits for his pond dipping party instead. I’ll share that experience next…