This looks like it would be a lot easier than the checkerboard cake: zebra stripes aren't supposed to be uniform. But it does raise a question/problem I've never resolved: is there a recipe out there for a checkerboard cake that would actually taste good and be moist and tender? The recipe that I got with the box (more than 20 years ago?) makes a dense, somewhat dry and unappealing cake. When I've tried recipes that have a thinner batter and make a lighter, more moist cake, I didn't get neat squares - more like a checkerboard cake that Salvador Dali would paint, if you can follow that. I think I tried your vanilla/chocolate layer cake recipe (from this blog) because I knew it would taste good, but if I remember rightly, the batter was too thin and things ran together when I took the concentric circle form our of the batter. Tasted great, but instead of 'wow' the reaction was more, 'Um... what were you trying to do with the black and white thing here?' As a lover of black and white, have you ever found the perfect recipe for checkerboard cake - something moist and delicious but at the same time stiff enough (I guess) to give the neat squares? It's one of my baking 'grails.' I have to confess I've never made a checkerboard cake, I've never had the right pan set. This batter is pretty thin, so it wouldn't hold up well when you take out the rings. BUT, you might want to try our Golden Vanilla cake, and add a bit of the cake enhancer, I think that may work well. ~MaryJane

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