CarlyCoos Cakes

Battenburg Cake

For the almond sponge:
175g very soft butter
175g golden caster sugar
140g self raising flour
50g ground almonds
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 medium eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

For the pink sponge:
175g very soft butter
175g golden caster sugar
140g self raising flour
50g ground almonds
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pink food colouring

To assemble:
200g apricot jam
2 x 500g blocks white marzipan

Preheat the oven to 180'c/Gas Mark 4 and line the bases and sides of a 20cm square cake tin with baking parchment.  

To make the almond sponge put the butter, sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and almond extract in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until the mixture comes together smoothly.  Scrape into the tin ensuring you spread it into the corners and bake for 25 - 30 minutes (a skewer inserted in the middle should come out clean when it is cooked.)  Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the pink sponge line the tin as before and mix together all the ingredients for the pink sponge, then scrape into the tin and bake and cool as before.

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 from the well trimmed edge use a ruler to help you cut 4 slices the same width as the height of the sponge.  Repeat with the pink sponge.

Take 2 almond slices and 2 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, the keep rolling lengthways until the marzipan is roughly 0.5cm thick.  Brush all over with the apricot jam then lay a pink and almond slice side by side brushing jam inbetween to stick the sponges and leaving 4cm clear marzipan at the end.  Brush more jam on top of the sponges then sandwich another pink and almond slice on top, alternating colours.  Trip the marzipan to the length of the cake.

Carefully lift up the marzipan and smooth over the cake with your hands (trim if necessary.)  Then assemble the second battenberg cake the same way.