Last week was one of the biggest cake weeks I've ever had. I had 8 cakes and almost 400 cookies, including this Chess Board Cake and Chess Piece Cookies. I didn't plan for my week to be like that - but that's how it ended up and it was hard.

This chess themed order was the first and biggest order of the week (well, biggest in terms of work). Other than the order of cookies for Mercy House, this is the only other time I've done so many cookies in a week. For the chess pieces - I did 340 of those and then I had another order for 50 farm animal cookies. My hand hurt a lot by the time I was done.
Let me back up and tell you what these were for. There was a grand opening of the Franklin Chess Center in my tiny hometown. It was a pretty big deal and they actually celebrated twice. First I did 150 cookies for the student/parent open house on Wednesday. Then on Friday I did another 190 cookies plus the big cake for the public open house.
You can see the cookies all around the cake on the pedestals in the top picture and here's one close-up:
It took around 12 hours to roll, cut out and bake them all (with 2 ovens) then another 10+ to decorate them all, with a little help from my daughter. That's not including the time to make the dough, make the royal icing, let them dry or box them up. It was a JOB ya'll.
Here they are all drying...
I had them on the cookie sheets, on the cookie sheet lids, and in cake pans. It was a challenge finding enough space to spread them all out! Anyway - let's talk about the cake.
Chess Board Cake
It was almost 5 inches tall - two 16" square layers of white almond sour cream cake filled and frosted with vanilla bean buttercream. Then it was decorated with homemade marshmallow fondant.
I first covered the board in the light brown fondant, then I cut panels for each side and the top edges. It was a very, very light tanish-brown. I also added the wood grain texture with a mat and dug in deeper in some places with a dresden tool.
Before adding the squares on top, my husband got out the airbrush kit and airbrushed it for me and really brought it to life! I'm so thankful that he's not afraid to airbrush (like I am) and I'm also incredibly grateful that he's so good at it!
After he finished, I measured, divided and started handcutting the squares for the top. I used a ruler and pizza wheel to cut them in batches, but ended up having to individually trim each one to get a perfect fit. It took quite awhile.
While I worked on that, my amazing husband was once again at work... he made all of the chess pieces with candy melts and this chocolate candy mold for chess pieces. He did a fantastic job and I appreciate him so much!
So that's that - all the major details. If I missed anything or you have other questions, leave me a comment! I hope to share more of my cakes from last week in the coming days!
Happy Caking,
Rose
H jones
Those look absolutely beautiful! You guys did a great job! I know that was a lot of hard work.
Rose
Thank you!!
kamna
Such a beautiful cake..! Really a tough one with a lot of intricate details... God bless ! Keep it up! Cheers!
Rose
Thanks so much!
Donna L.
Prayers for your hand to feel better and to heal ASAP!
Rose
Thank you Donna! It's already a lot better - just needed some rest 🙂
Christine Stephens
Absolutely breathtaking! I know how tired you must be! All I can say is WOW!
Rose
Thanks so much!
Karen Peterson
What a terrific looking cake! And the cookies look delicious.
Rose
Thanks Karen!
Linda
Wow, busy week! Beautiful!!
Rose
Thank you!
Dolores
Wow, what an amazing job... so well coordinated and beautiful. How did your husband do the chess pieces? Did he make two of each and glue them together? If that's the case - he's an angel...
Rose
Yes, that's exactly how he made them 🙂 Thank you!
Marci
Rose, you did an outstanding job! And I might mention it was great to hear that I am not alone in how I feel overwhelmed sometimes with my orders. I do not take on nearly as much as you do as I have an out of the house 40 hour a week job, but to know that even with you having the time during the day, even you still struggle, well now I feel like I'm not alone. I love the cake and the fact you made all of those cookies for everyone in the same week is astounding! Great job, I'm highly impressed!
Rose
Thank you so much Marci! You are definitely not alone!
Valerie
As always your details are so neat and clean. It's a beautiful cake and I know all the time and effort you put into the checker board cake was truly appreciated. The cookies are amazing.
Enny
Beautiful work, excellent details.... Wow!!!
G
Wow.... Thats beautiful. I noticed you said it took alot of time to cut out the pieces. How long did it really take? Btw what size cake is that?
Rose
I initially cut them out with a square cutter but I found that they weren't fitting together well so I had to hand-cut each square as I laid them to make them fit tight. It probably took 2+ hours. 🙁