Battenberg Cake

Battenberg Cake

Battenberg Cake

Ingredients

• 175g unsalted butter, (softened) 
• 175g caster sugar 
• 3 eggs, (lightly beaten) 
• 175g self-raising flour 
• 2tbsp milk 
• Red food colouring
• 150g apricots glaze 
• 2tbsp icing sugar 
• 350g almond paste

Method

1. Grease a 20 x 15cm Battenberg cake tin with butter. Use enough to cover the base and sides. Cut another piece of baking parchment as long as the tin. 
2. Fold the paper in half along its length – so it's just over the height of the tin. This last bit of paper will keep the two colors of sponge separate as they bake.
3. Heat the oven to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy – this should take about 10 minutes.
4. Gradually beat in the eggs. Fold in the remaining flour along with enough milk to give a soft dropping consistency. Divide half the cake mixture between 2 sections of the tin. Tinge the remaining cake mixture pink with food coloring and spoon into the remaining two sections of the tin.
5. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until firm to the touch. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. It's a good idea to bake this cake the day before assembling as it firms up and is easier to handle.
6. Trim both halves of cake so they are the same size. Cut each piece in half down their length so you have 2 long strips of each colour.
7. Warm the apricot glaze. Lay a strip of pink cake on a board and brush the top and sides with the glaze; put a plain strip alongside it and brush with more glaze in the same way. Finish with the other two strips on top, so you have a coloured checkerboard affect.
8. Roll the almond paste on a surface dusted with icing sugar to a 20cm x 30 cm rectangle. Put the cake at one end of the oblong and encase with the almond paste.
9. Serve at tea time.