Here is an easy tutorial showing you how to make a half and half round cake!

We all have seen a half yellow half chocolate sheet cake at least once in our life, whether it be at a birthday party or some family function. Maybe it was homemade or from the local grocery store. Either way, there is now a way to do half and half with ROUND cakes!

Now, this technique may already exist, but I assure you that I taught myself. I was faced with the task of a half chocolate half yellow round cake one day a few years ago and while brainstorming the details for the cake, the light bulb came on and I attempted this idea and it worked! I am so excited to share this and I hope it works as well for you as it has for me over the past several years.

This technique can be used with any 2 flavors of cake, with any icing, with any size round pan. The cake can be box cake or your favorite homemade recipes, it will work either way! For this I baked 1 - 8" round yellow cake and 1 - 8" round chocolate cake, which made a 2 layer 8" round cake to serve up to 20 people.

Supplies

Two (2) different cake flavors of your choice (box cake or homemade)
2 round cake pans of the same size
Icing of your choice
Cake board
Offset spatula
Knife and cake leveler (optional)
Bench scraper (optional)
Ruler (optional)

Step 1: Baking Your Cakes

First, you will need to bake your cakes. I used my own yellow and chocolate recipes and baked them each in a 8" round pan. Each recipe makes 2 cakes, but I wanted thicker layers so instead of splitting each batter into 2 different pans, I put it all of the same batter into one pan. (Example: whole yellow recipe goes in one pan, whole chocolate recipe goes in the other pan)

I recommend making one (1) round pan of each flavor as it will give you a two (2) layer cake in the end. You may need to double, triple or more, your recipe accordingly if using a pan bigger than 8 inches or wanting a cake taller than two (2) layers.

If using box cake and 8" round pans, here's a tip: 1 box = 1 pan (do not split up the batter like the box calls for)

Here's additional information regarding box cake:

6" round: 1 box = 2 pans
10" round: 1.5-2 boxes per pan
12" round: 2.5-3 boxes per pan

Once your cakes are done baking, pull them out and let sit to cool. I actually leave mine out for several hours, sometimes overnight.

Step 2: Cutting Your Cakes

Once your cakes are cooled, remove them from the pans.

Place cakes on a flat surface and level them. To level cakes you can use a cake leveler or a serrated knife along with a ruler. I use a serrated knife, sometimes with a ruler, but leveling comes pretty natural now. Get your cakes nice and flat on the top.

For this part, you can use a ruler or eyeball it like I do. Once leveled, you will need to cut each cake in half vertically as pictured. Use your best judgement for where the middle of the cake is if you are not using a ruler.

Step 3: Placing Your Cakes - First Layer

When the cakes are cut, place your cake board onto your work surface; whether it be a turn table or regular table. Place a dollop of icing in the middle of the cake board and smooth out slightly. It does not need to be spread the entire area of where the cake will sit, it just needs to be spread in the middle. This will be the cement to hold your cake on the cake board and to prevent sliding.

Take a half from each cake and place them together on the cake board making one complete round cake (as pictured). They should lay flush against one another. I added a side view of the cakes together for reference.

Now go ahead and icing the first layer of cake.

Step 4: Placing Your Cakes - Second Layer

After you have applied icing to the first layer, it is time to add on the second layer. You will place the remaining cake halves one at a time on top of the bottom layer, matching them to their original halves (yellow on top of yellow, chocolate on top of chocolate). It might look a little messy or sloppy at this step, but keep going!

For this step there are 2 different ways to place the next layer. You can place these cakes by either laying the bottom of the top half on top or by flipping over the top half and leaving the bottom side up for a straighter finish - it will work either way. I usually stack my cakes by matching bottom to top - which is what I did here. As you can see from the picture I placed the bottom of the top layer onto the top of the bottom layer.

I added a picture of the slight gap you can get on the top layer. Feel free to add icing to one of the halves before putting down the last piece of cake if you wish to hold this gap together a little better. From here, go ahead and crumb coat your cake.

Repeat this step if doing more than 2 layers.