Battenberg Cake

Ingredients

• 175 gbutter, for almond sponge
• 175 gsuperfine sugar, for almond sponge
• 140 gself-rising flour, for almond sponge
• 50 galmonds, ground; for almond sponge
• 1/2 tspbaking powder, for almond sponge
• 3eggs, medium; for almond sponge
• 1/2 tspvanilla extract, for almond sponge
• 1/4 tspalmond extract, for almond sponge
• 175 gbutter, for pink sponge
• 175 gsuperfine sugar, for pink sponge
• 140 gself-rising flour, for pink sponge
• 50 galmonds, ground; for pink sponge
• 1/2 tspbaking powder, for pink sponge
• 3eggs, medium; for pink sponge
• 1/2 tspvanilla extract, for pink sponge
• 1/4 tspalmond extract, for pink sponge; omit when making pink sponge
• 1/2 tsppink food colouring, for pink sponge
• 200 gapricot jam, instructions use it as apricot jam for gluing sponge layers
• 1 kgmarzipan, for wrapping; two blocks of 500g each
• powdered sugar, for dusting surface when rolling marzipan

Method

1. 1

   Heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / Gas 4. Line the base and sides of a 20cm square tin with baking parchment (use two 20cm strips crossed over the base).

2. 2

   Make the almond sponge: put the butter, sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and almond extract in a large bowl. Beat with an electric whisk until smooth. Scrape into the tin and bake for 25–30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

3. 3

   Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

4. 4

   Line the tin again as before. Make the pink sponge using the same ingredients and method but omitting the almond extract. Fold in the pink food colouring. Scrape into the tin and bake as before. Cool completely.

5. 5

   Heat the apricot jam in a small pan until runny, then pass through a sieve. Trim two opposite edges of the almond sponge and well-trim a third edge. Using the sponge's height as your guide, cut 4 equal-width slices from the well-trimmed edge. Repeat with the pink sponge.

6. 6

   Take 2 almond and 2 pink slices and trim to the same length. Roll out one block of marzipan on a surface dusted with icing sugar to just over 20cm wide and about 0.5cm thick.

7. 7

   Brush the marzipan with apricot jam. Lay a pink and an almond slice side by side at one end of the marzipan, brushing jam between them, leaving 4cm clear at the end. Brush jam on top, then lay the remaining 2 slices on top, alternating colours for the checkerboard effect. Trim the marzipan to the length of the cake.

8. 8

   Carefully lift the marzipan and wrap it smoothly around the cake. Leave a small fold along the bottom edge before pressing it to the first side. Trim the opposite side to match the fold, then crimp the edges with fingers and thumb or press with fork prongs.

9. 9

   Repeat steps 6–8 to assemble the second Battenberg. Store in an airtight box for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to a month.