Battenburg Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line the base and sides of a 20cm square tin with baking parchment (the easiest way is to cross 2 x 20cm-long strips over the base). To 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 the mix comes together smoothly. Scrape into the tin, spreading to the corners, and bake for 25-30 mins - when you poke in a skewer, it should come out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling while you make the second sponge.
• For the pink sponge, line the tin as above. Mix all the ingredients together as above, but don't add the almond extract. Fold in some pink food colouring. Then scrape it all into the tin and bake as before. Cool.
• To assemble, heat the jam in a small pan until runny, then sieve. Barely trim two opposite edges from the almond sponge, then well trim a third edge. Roughly measure the height of the sponge, then cutting from the well-trimmed edge, use a ruler to help you cut 4 slices each the same width as the sponge height. Discard or nibble leftover sponge. Repeat with pink cake.
• Take 2 x almond slices and 2 x pink slices and trim so they are all the same length. Roll out one marzipan block on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar to just over 20cm wide, then keep rolling lengthways until the marzipan is roughly 0.5cm thick. Brush with apricot jam, then lay a pink and an almond slice side by side at one end of the marzipan, brushing jam in between to stick sponges, and leaving 4cm clear marzipan at the end. Brush more jam on top of the sponges, then sandwich remaining 2 slices on top, alternating colours to give a checkerboard effect. Trim the marzipan to the length of the cakes.
• Carefully lift up the marzipan and smooth over the cake with your hands, but leave a small marzipan fold along the bottom edge before you stick it to the first side. Trim opposite side to match size of fold, then crimp edges using fingers and thumb (or, more simply, press with prongs of fork). If you like, mark the 10 slices using the prongs of a fork.
• Assemble second Battenberg and keep in an airtight box or well wrapped in cling film for up to 3 days. Can be frozen for up to a month.

Steps:

• For the cake batter: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Turn an 8-inch square baking pan into a Battenberg pan: first, fold a long piece of foil onto itself a couple of times to a create a foil barrier to divide your pan in half, making sure that the barrier is at least the height of the pan or even a little more. Then, spray the pan and each side of the foil with cooking spray (to help the parchment stick) and line each half of the pan with two overlapping pieces of parchment paper, one going widthwise and one going lengthwise, with enough overhang to come all the way up the sides and then some. Get your scissors out and trim the parchment so that it lays nicely and doesn't curl around the corners and make you go crazy. Sorry, I know this is a lot of parchment paper (I reuse parchment all the time!). Okay, set this aside.
• In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder, then lightly stir in the salt and set aside. In a large measuring cup, whisk together the heavy cream and sour cream and set aside.
• In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream together the butter, coconut oil and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each and periodically scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Reduce the mixer to medium-low and add the dry mixture and cream mixture in 3 alternating additions, mixing until 80 percent combined.
• Divide the mixture in half. In the first half, add a few drops of yellow food coloring and fold in the sprinkles as you mix until the batter is combined. Pour into one side of the pan and use a small offset spatula or a spoon to carefully spread it out evenly. In the second half of the batter, add a few drops of red food coloring and fold it in as you mix until the batter is combined.
• Pour into the other side of the pan and use a small offset spatula or a spoon to carefully spread it out evenly. Bake until the tops of the cakes are browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs on it; begin checking for doneness at 45 minutes. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then use the parchment wings to lift them out of the pans and onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Level the cakes and trim off the sides if they're uneven. Halve each cake crosswise to yield 4 equal rectangles that are as wide as they are thick (measure the thickness of the cake once it's leveled, then turn your ruler 90 degrees to measure that same amount on top of the cake and score with an accordion pastry cutter). Enjoy a bite of cake scraps and set these aside.
• To assemble: Knead the marzipan with the blue food coloring to get your desired color, dusting with powdered sugar if it gets too sticky. On a silicone mat (or a big piece of parchment or a counter dusted with powdered sugar, but I strongly recommend a silicone mat so that you don't get powdered sugar all over what will eventually become the outside surface of the marzipan), roll the marzipan out into a rectangle that's about 7 1/2 inches wide by 13 inches long, dusting the top with powdered sugar as needed to prevent sticking, and rolling in a scattering of sprinkles at the end. Trim the edges so they're straight. Brush all over with a thin layer of jam and place a rectangle of pink cake at one end. Brush the exposed surfaces with a thin layer of jam. Squish a rectangle of sprinkle cake right next to it and brush the exposed surfaces with a layer of jam. Stack the other two rectangles of cake on top, brushing with jam, to form a checkerboard pattern. Carefully roll it onto its side, pressing the marzipan all over so that it sticks, then continue to roll until the cake is covered. Trim off any excess marzipan, then decorate with additional marzipan decorations as desired.
• Wrap in firmly plastic wrap and let set in the fridge for a couple of hours. Let come to room temperature and enjoy!

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Using a double layer of foil, make a barrier down the center of a 20cm square tin (or use a battenberg tin), then line each compartment with 2 pieces of baking parchment. Put all the cake ingredients except the food colouring in a large mixing bowl and blend with an electric hand whisk until smooth. Tip half the cake mixture into one side of the tin. Quickly mix the food colouring into the remaining cake mixture. When you have a smooth and vivid pink colour, scrape this mixture into the other side of the tin, then spread both mixtures to the edges of their sections. Bake for 25-30 mins until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 15 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Place the cakes on a chopping board and trim the sides of each one to give you a straight edge. Cut each one in half lengthways to give you 2 pink and 2 plain rectangular sponges, using a ruler if you want to be really exact. If the sponges are a little taller than they are wide, trim some sponge from the tops as well - this will ensure you have a perfect square when you come to assemble the cake.
• Heat the apricot jam in a small pan or the microwave, then sieve it. Lightly dust a work surface with a little icing sugar, then roll out a quarter of the marzipan to a rectangle roughly 20 x 10cm. Brush the surface with the warm apricot jam, then place 1 plain sponge and 1 pink sponge side by side on top, brushing the middle of the cakes with a little jam to stick them together. Brush the top of the cakes with more jam, then place the remaining sponges on top, with more jam in between, in a chequerboard pattern.
• Roll out the remaining marzipan to a rectangle roughly 20 x 25cm. Brush any remaining jam over the outside of the assembled cake. Using a rolling pin to help, lift the marzipan over the cake. Smooth it over the top and sides, and press gently into the corners so it wraps the cake tightly. Trim any excess marzipan about 1cm from the sides of the cake, and trim a thin slice off either end to neaten. To finish, crimp the marzipan around the base by pinching with your finger and thumb.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line the base of 2 x 18cm round sandwich tins with baking parchment.
• Start with the almond sponge: put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk until the mix comes together smoothly. Weigh the mixture and spread exactly half into each tin. Bake for 30 mins - when you poke a skewer into the middle, it should come out clean. Cool in the tins for 15 mins, then carefully turn out onto wire racks to finish cooling while you make the second sponge.
• Clean the tins, then grease and line as above. Beat together the butter, sugar, flour, ground almonds, eggs, vanilla, rose water and milk as above. When smooth, beat in a little pink food colouring, bit by bit, until you get a nice colour - it will fade a little during baking, so you can go slightly stronger than you want the finished sponge. Weigh, divide between the tins and bake as above. Cool in the same way.
• Once the sponges are cool, cover gently and chill for 30 mins - this will make cutting them easier and neater.
• Unwrap the sponges and, if they have domed in the centre, trim to flatten. Cut a 6cm diameter circle out of the centre of each sponge (a 6cm biscuit cutter is ideal, or make yourself a paper template) and set aside. Then cut a 12cm diameter circle from the centre of each sponge by tracing a knife around a plate of the same diameter (or use another paper template). So from each sponge you should end up with a 6cm circle, a 12cm ring and an 18cm ring.
• Swap the middle rings of the almond sponges with the middle rings from the rose sponges, and fit the cut pieces back together. Handle the sponges very gently, to avoid cracking or crumbling up the edges too much. You should end up with 4 sponges that look like targets.
• Heat the apricot jam to melt, then sieve and stir in the rose water. Brush some over the top of one of the sponges and top with an alternating sponge. Repeat to stack up all the layers. Sit the cake on a serving plate or cake stand.
• Dust your work surface with a little icing sugar and roll out your marzipan until big enough to cover the cake (use a piece of string to measure the cake; see tip below). Brush some more jam all over the top and sides of the cake. Use your rolling pin to lift up the marzipan onto the cake, then ease it down the sides, pressing to stick. Trim the marzipan from the base, then decorate the cake as you like. Cut into wedges and serve with tea. Will keep for three days in an airtight container.