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180g butter, at room temperature
180g caster sugar
3 eggs
90g self-raising flour
90g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp fine salt
Zest of ½ a lemon
1 tsp rose water
Dab of pink gel food colouring
750g white marzipan
200g apricot jam
Heat the oven to 170°C and line the tin with baking paper, including the sides. Cut a piece of foil the width of the tin, fold in half, then set like a tent in the centre of the tin – this is to create two separate sections in which to bake the two different sponges.
Place the butter and caster sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, and cream until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing until smooth after each addition, then add the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined.
Decant half of the cake batter into a separate bowl. Add the lemon zest to the first bowl, and mix to combine. Add the rose water and a dab of food colouring to the second bowl and mix until the colour is even. Scrape both mixes into the tin – one in each side – spread into an even layer and level the surface, then bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre of each sponge comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. The battenburgs are easier to cut and assemble the day after baking.
When you are ready to assemble the battenburgs, carefully trim the edges and surface of each cake so you have an even, sharp-edged rectangle. Check that both cakes are the same height, carefully levelling off the taller if needs be.
Measure the height of each sponge, then cut stripes in the same width lengthways – you should be able to get six strips of each colour, enough to make three individual battenburgs.
Assemble them one at a time, taking two stripes of each colour to make each cake. Roll out a third of the marzipan to just a few mm thick on a large sheet of clingfilm, working to get this approximately the same length as the cake strips. Warm the apricot jam in a pan. Using a pastry brush, brush a thin coating of jam on each of the long sides of each stripe of cake, then assemble in a two-up, two-down chequerboard arrangement.
Brush the rolled marzipan with jam, then carefully set the cake on top of it. Carefully use the cling film to roll the cake in marzipan, cutting away any significant excess and then wrapping the coated cake in the clingfilm. Reserve any marzipan that is not jammy or cakey to use on the other battenburgs. While the cake is wrapped, gently push the sides to ensure you maintain sharp edges and a square shape.
Place in the fridge to chill for a few hours, then discard the cling film and neatly slice each end to cut away any excess marzipan or uneven cake and create a sharp, chequerboard face to the cake.
Repeat to make the other two cakes.
From the Magazine
Also by Lucy Burton
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