Battenberg Cake
A classic British Battenberg Cake with soft, moist almond sponge in a pink-and-plain checkerboard pattern, sandwiched with apricot jam and wrapped in marzipan. Made in an ordinary square cake tin - no special Battenberg tin required.
PRINT RECIPE
Servings: 10 slices
INGREDIENTS
For the Cake
- 175 g Soft Margarine (or Butter) (at room temperature; plus extra for greasing)
- 175 g Caster Sugar
- 3 Free-range Eggs (at room temperature)
- 50 g Ground Almonds
- 140 g Self-raising Flour (see Self-raising Flour note below)
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- Pink Food Colouring (gel food colouring preferable)
For Decorating
- 100 g Apricot Jam
- 400 g Marzipan
- Icing Sugar (for dusting)
EQUIPMENT
- Sharp Knife
INSTRUCTIONS
For the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C for fan-assisted ovens, Gas Mark 4 and 350°F). Grease a square 20×20cm (8×8 inch) tin with some extra margarine/butter. Set aside while you prepare the
greaseproof paper divider. - Take a piece of
greaseproof paper around 20×40cm (8×16 inches), fold it in half, then fold it back on itself to about 5cm (2 inches) to create a pleat in the middle -this will act as a centre divider in your tin. Place thegreaseproof paper in your tin and fold the excess up the sides. Set aside. - Need a visual? You'll find step-by-step photos showing how to divide the tin in the full recipe post.
- In a large bowl, cream together the margarine/butter and sugar until light and fluffy in both colour and texture.
- Add the eggs one at a time, ensuring each is mixed through before adding the next. Don't worry if the mixture appears to curdle - this will remedy itself once the
ground almonds and flour are added. - Add the
ground almonds and mix through. Sift in the flour and baking powder, and gently fold to create a thick batter. - Spoon half the mixture into a separate bowl and add a few drops of pink food colouring. Mix until well combined - don't go too dark with food colouring, as the colour will intensify as it bakes.
- Spoon and spread the uncoloured batter into one side of your prepared tin and the pink batter into the other.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes in your preheated oven, until risen, golden in colour, and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin until cool enough to touch, then remove the cakes from the tin (using the
greaseproof paper liner to help) and place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
For even sponges, you can weigh the batter evenly between the bowls.
To Construct & Decorate
- Start by levelling the tops of each sponge with a bread knife. Next, stack the sponges on top of each other and trim the edges until they are square and even. Finally, cut through both sponges lengthways to get 4 square and evenly-sized strips of sponge cake.
- Warm the apricot jam before brushing the inside edges of the sponge strips, then sandwich the contrasting colours together to create the checkered square look of a Battenberg. Set aside on a chopping board while you prepare the marzipan.
- On a clean, crumb-free surface, lightly dust some excess icing sugar before rolling out the marzipan into a rectangular shape around 40×20cm (16×8 inches) - it should be large enough to wrap around your cake lengthways, with the checkerboard pattern at each end exposed.
- Brush the remaining apricot jam over the marzipan before placing your cake on top, next to the edge of the marzipan. Wrap the marzipan around the cake by rolling the cake across the marzipan and pinching the marzipan ends together once they meet. If you have a large amount of overlap where the marzipan meets, you can trim it with a sharp knife, keeping the join tight and neat.
- Gently smooth the marzipan with your hands to neaten it up, before trimming the ends to expose the checkered pattern. Serve in slices.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion but these, unfortunately, won't always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
RECIPE NOTES:
Egg Size: When it comes to eggs, I always buy mixed-weight free-range eggs. Generally, egg size doesn't make a huge difference in most baking, unless you are using sizes that lean towards the extremes. If you're unsure which eggs to use, I recommend medium eggs in the UK, which are roughly equivalent to large eggs in the US. That's what this recipe has been tested with.
Self-raising Flour: Don't have self-raising flour? For this recipe, simply whisk together 140g plain flour (all-purpose flour) with 1¾ tsp baking powder, plus the additional 1 teaspoon of baking powder the recipe already calls for. For full instructions, cup conversions and answers to common questions, see my Self-raising Flour Ingredient Guide.
Tried this recipe?
Tag @bakingwithgranny or use the hashtag #bakingwithgranny!