Our conventional Battenberg cake is a scrumptious venture for a day within the kitchen. Bake this simple however spectacular cake for a special day
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:2 hrs
- Cook dinner:1 hr
- Simple
- Makes 2 muffins, every cuts into 10 slices
- Freezable
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Components
For almond sponge
- 175g very tender butter
- 175g golden caster sugar
- 140g self-raising flour
- 50g floor almonds
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 3 medium eggs
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract
For pink sponge
- 1 x components for almond sponge
- pink meals colouring, we used ½ tsp Squires rose meals paste
To assemble
- 200g apricot jam
- 2 x blocks white marzipan
- little icing sugar, for dusting
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Methodology
- STEP 1
Warmth oven to 180C/160C fan/fuel 4 and line the bottom and sides of a 20cm sq. tin with baking parchment (the simplest means is to cross 2 x 20cm-long strips over the bottom). To make the almond sponge, put the butter, sugar, flour, floor almonds, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and almond extract in a big bowl. Beat with an electrical whisk till the combo comes collectively easily. Scrape into the tin, spreading to the corners, and bake for 25-30 minutes – if you poke in a skewer, it ought to come out clear. Cool within the tin for 10 minutes, then switch to a wire rack to complete cooling whilst you make the second sponge.
- STEP 2
For the pink sponge, line the tin as above. Combine all of the components collectively as above, however don’t add the almond extract. Fold in some pink meals colouring. Then scrape all of it into the tin and bake as earlier than. Cool.
- STEP 3
To assemble, warmth the jam in a small pan till runny, then sieve. Barely trim two reverse edges from the almond sponge, then effectively trim a 3rd edge. Roughly measure the peak of the sponge, then slicing from the well-trimmed edge, use a ruler that will help you lower 4 slices every the identical width because the sponge peak. Discard or nibble leftover sponge. Repeat with pink cake.
- STEP 4
Take 2 x almond slices and a pair of x pink slices and trim so they’re all the identical size. Roll out one marzipan block on a floor calmly dusted with icing sugar to simply over 20cm vast, then hold rolling lengthways till the marzipan is roughly 0.5cm thick. Brush with apricot jam, then lay a pink and an almond slice facet by facet at one finish of the marzipan, brushing jam in between to stay sponges, and leaving 4cm clear marzipan on the finish. Brush extra jam on prime of the sponges, then sandwich remaining 2 slices on prime, alternating colors to offer a checkerboard impact. Trim the marzipan to the size of the muffins.
- STEP 5
Rigorously raise up the marzipan and easy over the cake together with your fingers, however go away a small marzipan fold alongside the underside edge earlier than you stick it to the primary facet. Trim reverse facet to match dimension of fold, then crimp edges utilizing fingers and thumb (or, extra merely, press with prongs of fork). When you like, mark the ten slices utilizing the prongs of a fork.
- STEP 6
Assemble second Battenberg and hold in an hermetic field or effectively wrapped in cling movie for as much as 3 days. Might be frozen for as much as a month.