Snack

Battenberg Cake

Name: Battenberg Cake
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 120 min
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 175g Butter; 175g Caster sugar; 140g Self-raising flour; 50g Ground almonds; ½ tsp Baking powder; 3 medium Medium eggs; ½ tsp Vanilla extract; ¼ teaspoon Almond extract; 175g Butter; 175g Caster sugar; 140g Self-raising flour; 50g Ground almonds; ½ tsp Baking powder; 3 medium Medium eggs; ½ tsp Vanilla extract; ¼ teaspoon Almond extract; ½ tsp Pink food colouring; 200g Apricot jam; 1kg Marzipan; Icing sugar, for dusting, Dusting

A classic British checkerboard cake made with almond and pink sponge, apricot jam, and a marzipan covering.

2 hr
560 kcal
Vegetarian
British
Cake
Dessert

Mellowpan tip: Makes 20 servings, plenty to share.

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Ingredients

For 20 servings

Steps

Step 1:
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
Step 2:
Line the base and sides of a 20cm square tin with baking parchment, crossing two 20cm-long strips over the base.
Step 3:
To make the almond sponge, put the butter, sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking powder, eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a large bowl.
Step 4:
Beat with an electric whisk until the mixture comes together smoothly.
Step 5:
Scrape the mixture into the tin and spread it into the corners.
Step 6:
Bake for 25–30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the sponge comes out clean.
25–30 min
Step 7:
Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling while you make the second sponge.
10 min
Step 8:
For the pink sponge, line the tin as before.
Step 9:
Mix the second set of butter, sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking powder, eggs, and vanilla extract together as above, without adding the almond extract.
Step 10:
Fold in the pink food colouring.
Step 11:
Scrape the pink mixture into the tin and bake as before.
Step 12:
Cool the pink sponge.
Step 13:
To assemble, heat the apricot jam in a small pan until runny, then sieve it.
Step 14:
Barely trim two opposite edges from the almond sponge, then trim a third edge well.
Step 15:
Measure the height of the sponge, then cut four slices from the well-trimmed edge, each the same width as the sponge height.
Step 16:
Discard or nibble the leftover sponge, then repeat with the pink sponge.
Step 17:
Take two almond slices and two pink slices and trim them so they are all the same length.
Step 18:
Roll out one block of marzipan on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar to just over 20cm wide.
Step 19:
Continue rolling lengthways until the marzipan is roughly 0.5cm thick.
Step 20:
Brush the marzipan with apricot jam, then lay a pink and an almond slice side by side at one end, leaving 4cm of clear marzipan at the end.
Step 21:
Brush jam between the sponge slices to stick them together, then brush more jam on top.
Step 22:
Sandwich the remaining two slices on top, alternating colours to create a checkerboard effect, and trim the marzipan to the length of the cakes.
Step 23:
Carefully lift up the marzipan and smooth it over the cake with your hands, leaving a small marzipan fold along the bottom edge before sticking it to the first side.
Step 24:
Trim the opposite side to match the fold, then crimp the edges with your fingers and thumb or press them with the prongs of a fork.
Step 25:
If desired, mark 10 slices using the prongs of a fork.
Step 26:
Assemble the second Battenberg and keep both cakes in an airtight box or well wrapped in cling film for up to 3 days. Freeze for up to 1 month if desired.