WHAT IS A BATTENBERG CAKE?
Battenberg is a light sponge cake with different sections held together with apricot jam. The cake is covered in marzipan and, when cut in cross-section, displays a two-by-two check pattern alternately coloured pink and yellow.
The first cake was baked in 1884 to celebrate Prince Louis of Battenberg marrying Princess Victoria, Queen Victoria’s granddaughter and Prince Philip’s grandmother.
The name refers to the German town of Battenberg, Hesse, which was the seat of an aristocratic family that died out in the early Middle Ages.
In 1851 the family’s title was transferred to Countess Julia Hauke when she married Prince Alexander of Hesse and By Rhine. The Countess later became Princess of Battenberg. In 1917 the name was changed to Mountbatten.
Years ago, the Battenberg cake was also referred to as the “Domino Cake” and “Neapolitan Roll”.
To make the Battenberg cake I use the Creaming Method.
WHAT IS THE CREAMING METHOD?
The creaming method is a technique used in baking to incorporate air into a batter to provide a natural rise. In the creaming method, the fat i.e. spread/butter is beaten together with caster sugar. The process creates pockets of air that are trapped in the butter around each sugar granule.
FOLDING IN THE FLOUR. WHAT IS FOLDING?
“Fold” is the term used for gently combining a delicate mixture into a heavier textured, thicker mixture in a way that will ensure that both mixtures are properly combined, without hindering the ability of both mixtures to work as desired. Folding is to ensure that air bubbles in the lighter mixture are not burst by the heavier mixture.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
- 20cm/8″ square cake pan/tin
- Grease proof lining
- Cake or cooking spray (not olive oil)
- Medium size bowl
- Electric hand whisk or food mixer
- Spatula
- Teaspoon
- Long bread knife or cake saw
- Cake Belt
INGREDIENTS
- 125g/4.4oz unsalted spread or butter
- 125g/4.4oz caster sugar
- 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 2 drops of almond extract
- 100g/3.5oz self-raising flour
- Pinch of salt
- 50g/1.8oz ground almonds
- 2 tsp milk
- A few drops of pink or red food colouring
- 500g/17.6oz white marzipan (ready made)
- Apricot jam or Apricot glaze (basically it’s jam that’s pureed)
- Brandy (optional)
- Decoration (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1 - Prepare your Oven
- Ensure your oven rack is moved to the 2nd lowest position from the bottom
- Place your oven thermometer in the oven if you have one
- Heat oven to 160°C, 150°C fan assist oven, gas 3 / 320°F, 300°F fan assist oven
An oven thermometer is a really inexpensive piece of equipment, but worth its weight in gold.
All ovens cook at different temperatures and if you want great cakes, you need to know you’re baking at the right temperature.
Step 1 - put the shelf 2nd from the bottom and add your oven thermometer
Step 2 - Prepare your cake pan/tin
- Grease your cake pan/tin. Use your fingers to spread the insides and the bottom with baking spread. Or use baking spray if you have it.
- Line the sides of your cake pan/tin with grease proof paper
- Cut out two squares of grease proof paper for lining the bottom
- Fold each square in half and place in the cake pan/tin ensuring the folded part is in the middle. This is so that you can separate the vanilla and the pink batter in the same tin.
- Soak your cake belt in cold water, squeeze out surplus water. Wrap your cake pan/tin
Step 3 - Weigh the ingredients individually
Sieve your flour before you put it into your mixing bowl.
Tip – Always try to sieve the dry ingredients i.e., flour, raising agents, cocoa, icing sugar etc before adding it to your mixture. Sifting aerates the flour. This benefits the baking in many ways. It allows for a lighter and airy texture in a finished baked good. It also reduces any clumps of flour or raising agents in the batter.
Tip - It’s important to use room temperature eggs (not straight out from the fridge) when baking. Room temperature eggs disperse more easily and evenly in the batter. Since eggs play an important part in structure, even distribution is important for texture. Room temperature eggs bind more easily to other ingredients.
Step 4 - The Creaming Method
- Ensure the spread/butter is at room temperature. Why? If the butter is too cold, the sugar won’t be strong enough to ‘get’ the pockets of air.
- Place the spread/butter in a large mixing bowl and beat for about 1 minuten.
- Then add the sugar and beat together for about another 2-3 minutes until creamy and light in colour. You can use a stand mixer using the paddle attachment or a hand mixer.
- If there is batter up the sides of the bowl then scrape the side of the bowl and beat again.
- The batter should be light and fluffy.
Step 5
- In a separate bowl or dish beat the eggs (they must be at room temperature) and 2 drops of almond extract and beat with a fork.
- The gradually beat the eggs into the butter mixture a tablespoon at a time. By adding a little bit at a time you prevent the mixture from curdling.
Step 6 – Folding in the dry ingredients
Add the sifted flour, ground almonds, milk and salt into the batter and fold (see how to fold above) everything together with a large spoon.
Step 7 – Halve the batter mix. There are 2 ways you can do this!
1 If you’re confident - Eyeball it!
- You can eyeball half the amount of batter and scrape it into one of the divided parts of the prepared cake pan/tin. Leave the other half in the bowl.
Or
2 Weigh the batter
- We’ve already worked out the weight for you. Place an empty bowl on your scale and ensure it’s reset to zero (don’t include the weight of bowl!!!)
- Now scrape approx. 260g of the batter onto the weighing scale. (This should be half of your batter).
- Scrape it into one of the divided parts of the prepared cake pan/tin.
Step 8 - Make half the batter pink
- Add a drop of pink food colour at a time to the batter in the bowl. Gently mix well until the batter is pink and has no streaks, but do not beat! If you beat it, you will knock the air out of the batter.
- Then scrape the pink half of the batter into the other half of the divided section of the cake pan/tin.
- Carefully spread each portion so that the surface is level and the corners are evenly filled.
Tip – The pink sponge half will lighten as it bakes!
Step 9 – Bake
Place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes (30-35 if you have a cake belt around your tin) until the sponge has risen well.
How do you know when the sponge is cooked?
- It should be springy when gently pressed
- The edges pull away from the cake pan/tin
- Use a skewer to check. Open the oven door. No need to get the cake out.
Insert the Skewer into the middle of the sponge.
If the skewer comes out clean, it’s done.
If it comes out gummy or with crumbs clinging to it, the cake needs more time in the oven. Reset your time for another 5 mins.
Tip This does take some practice. But if you use the above tell signs along with sticking to exact weight of ingredients, recipe and instructions then there’s less chance of your sponge going wrong.
Whatever you do DON’T open the door to have a sneak peek or test the cake until it is near its baking end time and you notice the tell signs. Early peeking will cause your sponge to sink/collapse. Been there!
Step 10 – Leave to cool
- When cooked place the pan/tin on a cooling rack. If you do not have one place it on a protective mat or on top of your hob
- Cool for about 30 mins or until the pan/tin is cool enough to touch
- When cool enough lift out each sponge very carefully as the sponges are quite delicate. Leave to cool on a cooling rack or chopping board to cool completely
Step 11 – The Jam
- Heat the apricot jam with 1 tablespoon of cold water or to add a little ‘je ne sais quoi’ try using Brandy!!!!
- Mush together until smooth. Take out any large lumps. We don’t want lumps under your marzipan!
Step 12 - Assemble the cake
- Leave the sponges on grease proof paper then place on a chopping board for support
- Trim all the cakes so that the sides are exactly square as they may have risen unevenly
- Place the pink and yellow sponge of top of each other
- Now cut each sponge in half lengthways using a serrated bread knife to make four even strips; two pink and two yellow
Next, we ‘stick’ the strips together:
- (1st strip- pink) Brush very lightly with jam on the top and one long side
- (2nd strip-yellow) Now brush very lightly with jam on the top and one long side place it touching next to the pink strip
- (3rd strip-yellow) Place the strip onto of the pink strip and brush lightly with jam on the side
- (4th strip-pink) place it on top of the yellow strip
- You will now have created the familiar checkerboard pattern.
Step 13 – The Marzipan
- Make sure your worktop is tidy, clean and free of crumbs
- Dust it lightly with icing sugar
- Knead the 500g white marzipan for a minute so that it is supple
- Dust worktop again if it needs it
- Roll it out the marzipan to approx. 20 x 30cm / 8”x 12” rectangle. After each couple of rolls lift the marzipan and dust underneath so the marzipan doesn’t stick to the worktop
- Trim the marzipan with a sharp knife to create straight edges to the size and shape of the rectangle
- With a pastry brush, brush the jam in a rectangle shape in the middle of the rolled-out marzipan - the rectangle should be the approx. width and length of the cake.
- Lift the assembled cake with a large fish slice and gently place it on the jam in the middle of the rolled-out marzipan
- Brush the top and long sides of the assembled cake with the apricot jam
- Carefully lift and wrap the marzipan neatly up the side and over half of the cake
- Repeat the other side
- Press the marzipan joins together to seal them. Note that the checkerboard ends are left open and visible
- Gently smooth the marzipan with your hands or better still with fondant smoothers (if you have them)
- Trim the ends of the sponge and marzipan to achieve clean and neat checkerboard ends
Step 14 – Clean up the finished cake
You may have icing sugar over the cake board and Battenberg cake. I always like my cakes to have a neat and tidy look, so I use a dry pastry brush to brush off the excess icing sugar that’s on the cake board and cake.
Then I like to very lightly (and I mean very lightly) brush brandy over the marzipan, which dissolves the icing sugar.
If you don’t want to use brandy you can use vodka or water.
Finished !!!! The cake can be left as it is ‘just stunning’ or it can be decorated if it’s a celebration cake.
Interesting fact!
The large chequered patterns on emergency vehicles in the UK are officially referred to as Battenburg markings because of their resemblance to the cake.
CONCLUSION
A Battenberg cake can be decorated in various ways, such as marzipan balls, marzipan fruits, chocolate ganache truffles, gold sugar sprinkles or gold dust. Even light decorating can turn a simple Battenberg into a celebration cake. You can also personalise or theme the Battenberg by using a different food colouring.
I love making this cake for very good friends of mine who just adore marzipan!
Enjoy!