Chess Board Brownie Cake

My oldest son helped me make this chess board cake for a parent-child baking contest a few summers ago.  We won second place!  Since then, I've made different iterations of this cake every year.  Last year, I made the cake for his school chess club.  Given the number of children, I assembled the board out of alternating brownie and blondie squares.  This year, I experimented by cutting squares out of rolled fondant, laid over a thin layer of brownie cake.  The boys proposed playing a game of blitz on this board, with the victor earning the right to eat any captured chocolate piece.  I said no.

Ingredients:

1 box brownie mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup water

1 14-oz. package white candy melts (or white chocolate chips)

1 14-oz. package black or dark brown candy melts (or dark chocolate chips)

1 24-oz. box of Wilton's white fondant

1 24-oz. box of Wilton's chocolate fondant
Cream cheese frosting

Chess candy mold

To make the chess board:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Coat a 12" x 12" baking pan in butter or margarine.

3. Combine eggs, water, oil and brownie mix in a mixing bowl and stir well.

4. Spread mixture into buttered pan.   

4. Bake for 20 minutes.

5. When cooled, turn the entire cake upside down into a square serving platter.

6. Roll white and chocolate fondant, using a baker's rolling pin. 

7. Cut flat fondant into 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares.

To make the chess pieces:

1. Melt candy melts in a medium saucepan over low heat, or in microwave on 50% power for 90 seconds, stirring frequently.

2. Spoon melted candy melts into mold cavities.  Gently tap the mold on a hard surface, to level out chocolate and remove air bubbles.

3. Place filled mold onto a flat surface in the freezer.

4. When solid, gently remove pieces by turning the mold upside down and carefully tapping it. 

5. "Glue" the halves of each chess piece together using leftover melted candy melts.

To assemble the board:
1. Spread a thin base layer of frosting over the entire brownie cake.
2. Lay alternating white and chocolate fondant squares in an 8 x 8 square board. 

3. "Glue" the chess pieces onto the board using leftover melted candy melts or frosting.