Every once in a while, someone asks for a cake that’s two flavors, usually half-chocolate and half-vanilla. Grocery stores do this easily, and they’re usually enormous sheet cakes.
But what are you supposed to do if it’s a round cake or a small sheet cake?
ROUND CAKES: I wouldn’t do a half and half cake for anything less than 10″ cakes, because what’s the point?
A 10″ round cake pan, 2″ tall, takes about six cups of batter, which is an entire cake’s worth of batter. So to make two layers, you need TWO batters.
So, if I want to make it half-chocolate and half-vanilla, I just make two batters.
I’m fond of Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake, which is very thin, so you have to take care. For my vanilla cake, I like King Arthur golden yellow cake.
After preparing your pans with shortening (Crisco) and flour, make a dam with some tin foil. Make sure that you fold the bottom so that nothing seeps through.
Then fill half of the pan with 3 cups of your vanilla batter, and the other half with 3 cups with your chocolate batter.
After both sides are filled, slip out the tin foil and sort of swirl the middle. Don’t worry about the chocolate and vanilla meeting in the middle – people LOVE if they get the marbleized middle!
Use the remaining batter to fill the other pan.
Baking: I baked these pans for the recommended time of 35-40 minutes. I went with about 38 minutes.
1/4 SHEET CAKES:
One 9″ x 13″ cake pan takes about 6-7 cups of batter. So, if someone wants a half-and-half cake in a quarter sheet, I recommend that they get a two-layer cake with yummy buttercream in the middle.
You proceed in the same way as above. It’s MUCH easier with the rectangle pans than the circular pans.
Make your two batters, make your dam, and measure 3 cups for each side. Proceed with second cake.
Baking: 1/4 sheet cakes bake for around 35-40 minutes. I usually stick to around 35 minutes since I use dark sheet pans.
The finished cakes!
Nichole's Custom Cakes 
I have someone that wants half lemon cake and the other strawberry shortcake. Normally when I make a strawberry shortcake sheetcake, I’ll split the cake and out fresh strawberries in the center, place the top layer back, then frost with whippy frosting, but I see a challenge ahead with the lemon flavor on the other half. What do you suggest??
Sorry it took me so long to respond — I don’t know if you’ve already made it, but I would simply do strawberries in the filling on the one side and keep the other side plain. Just add enough on the lemon side so that it’s equal with the other side with the strawberries.
Is it King Author’s Golden Vanilla Cake or a different one?
I’m just seeing this 🙈. It’s the golden KA cake
Is it King Author’s Golden Vanilla Cake? Or is it another one?
Yes. Both cakes are the King Arthur Recipe.
This is exactly what I needed. I was afraid to just try it. Thanks so much. And yes, you see grocery cakes do this all the time, but they’re not using these delicious recipes! Your cakes look great, too.