Battenberg Cake

Name: Battenberg Cake
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 6 oz butter; 6 oz superfine sugar; 5 oz self-rising flour; 1 ¾ oz almonds; ½ tsp baking powder; 3 eggs; ½ tsp vanilla extract; ¼ tsp almond extract; 6 oz butter; 6 oz superfine sugar; 5 oz self-rising flour; 1 ¾ oz almonds; ½ tsp baking powder; 3 eggs; ½ tsp vanilla extract; ¼ tsp almond extract; ½ tsp pink food colouring; 7 oz apricots; 2.2 lb marzipan; Dusting powdered sugar

A British dessert. Ready in about 1 hour 5 minutes. Difficulty: medium.

35 minPrep (about)
30 minCook (about)
1 hr 5 minTotal time
4Servings
MediumDifficulty

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Ingredients

How many people?

− 5 people +

Changed from 4 to 5 people · Back to 4

8 oz butter
8 oz superfine sugar Shopping tip: Superfine sugar (UK: caster). Regular sugar works.
6 oz self-rising flour Shopping tip: Self-rising flour (UK: self-raising).
2 ¼ oz almonds
¾ tsp baking powder
4 eggs
8 oz butter
8 oz superfine sugar Shopping tip: Superfine sugar (UK: caster). Regular sugar works.
6 oz self-rising flour Shopping tip: Self-rising flour (UK: self-raising).
2 ¼ oz almonds
¾ tsp baking powder
4 eggs
¾ tsp pink food colouring
9 oz apricots
2.8 lb marzipan
Dusting powdered sugar Shopping tip: Powdered sugar (UK: icing sugar).

Spices & seasonings (4): vanilla extract, almond extract, vanilla extract, almond extract

¾ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract
¾ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract

How to make it

Steps in our own plain words.

Turn the oven on to 350°F (325°F for a fan oven) plus line your base plus sides of a 8 inches square tin using baking parchment (your easiest way is.
Do it to cross 2 x -long strips over the base).
To make the almond sponge.
Put the almond extract, vanilla, eggs, baking powder, ground almonds, flour, sugar and butter in a large bowl.
Beat with an electric whisk till the mix comes together smoothly.
Scrape in the tin, spreading to the corners.
Cook in the oven for 25-30 mins – you poke in skewer, it should come out clean.
Cool in the tin for 10 mins.
Move to wire rack.
Do it to finish cooling while you make your second sponge.
For your pink sponge, line the tin as above.
Mix all your ingredients together as above, don’t add the almond extract.
Fold in some pink food colouring.
Scrape it all into the tin.
Bake as before, cool, to assemble.
Heat the jam in a little pan until runny, sieve.
Barely trim two opposite edges from your almond sponge.
Well trim a third edge.
Roughly measure the height of the sponge.
Cutting from the fully-trimmed edge, use ruler to help you cut 4 slices every the same width as the sponge height.
Discard or nibble leftover sponge.
Repeat with pink cake.
Take 3 x almond slices plus 3 x pink slices plus trim so they're all the same length.
Roll out one marzipan block on surface lightly dusted with icing sugar to over 8 inches wide.
Keep rolling lengthways till the marzipan is roughly ¼ inch thick.
Brush with apricot jam.
Lay a pink plus almond slice side by at one end of your marzipan, brushing jam.
Do it in between to stick sponges, plus leaving 1 ½ inches clear marzipan at the end.
Brush more jam over the top of the sponges.
Sandwich remaining 2 slices over the top, alternating colours to give checkerboard effect.
Trim your marzipan to the length of the cakes.
Lift up your marzipan plus smooth over your cake with your hands, but leave a little marzipan fold along bottom edge before you stick it to your first side.
Trim opposite side.
Do it to match size of fold.
Crimp edges using fingers and thumb.
If you like, mark your 10 slices using your prongs of a fork.
Assemble second Battenberg.
Keep in an airtight box or fully wrapped.
Do it in cling film.
Keep going for up to 3 days.
Can be frozen for up to month.