Make Battenberg cake

Make Battenberg cake recipe

 

Serves 12-16

You will need:

  • 300g unsalted butter, softened
  • 300g caster sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 300g self-raising flour
  • 60ml milk
  • 1 tsp pink food colouring
  • 100g apricot jam
  • 400g marzipan
  • Icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Grease and line a 23cm square cake tin. Fold a 23cm square of foil into a thick strip. Place this down the middle of the tin to divide it in half.

2. Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Use a handheld mixer to beat together until light and fluffy.

Make Battenberg cake recipe

3. Add the eggs one at a time and mix, adding a little flour as you go to avoid the mixture curdling.

Make Battenberg cake recipe

 

4. Add the remaining flour and fold into the mixture. Add the milk and combine.

Make Battenberg cake recipe

5. Pour half the cake mixture into a second bowl. Add the pink food colouring to one of the bowls and stir well until you have the desired colour.

Make Battenberg cake recipe

6. Pour the pink cake mixture into one half of your prepared tin and the plain mixture into the other half. Bake in the over for 30-40 minutes until springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Make Battenberg cake recipe

 7. Roll the marzipan, as thin as you can without breaking it, on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar.

8. Trim the cakes so they are the same size, then cut both cakes into quarters lengthways.

Make Battenberg cake recipe

9. Put the apricot jam in a small saucepan and heat gently until it becomes runny.

10. Place one of the pink slices of cake onto a clean surface and brush one side with the jam. Place a plain cake slice next to it on the jam side and gently push together.

Make Battenberg cake recipe

11. Brush the top with more jam. Place a plain slice of cake on top of the pink cake and vice versa to create a checkerboard effect. Brush the outside edges with more jam.

12. Trim the prepared marzipan so that it is slightly larger than the assembled cake. Wrap it around the cake, using a little jam to seal the edges together. Trim the excess marzipan

Make Battenberg cake recipe

13. Reroll the excess marzipan and repeat steps 10 to 12 with the remaining cake slices.

14. Slice evenly and serve.