Battenburg Recipe

Ingredients

• 100g salted butter, at room temperature
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 free range eggs
• 50g ground rice or semolina
• 100g self-raising flour
• ½tsp baking powder
• Ruby red colour paste (from any cake decorating shop) - supermarket red food colour will work
• A few drops of rosewater

To finish:

• 5tbsp apricot jam
• 1tbsp water
• 225g almond paste/marzipan
• Icing sugar, for dusting

You will need:

• 6x8 inch Battenberg tin (available online)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 150C/gas mark 2. Grease and line the Battenburg tin.

2. Beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, ground rice, flour and baking powder until smooth. It's quite a dense mixture, which will make a firm cake that holds together well. Lightness and fluffiness isn't the aim with this sponge

3. Divide about half the cake mixture between 2 sections of the Battenburg tin. I use a piping bag for neatness, but a spoon will also do. Add soem red colour to the remaining cake mixture - you want it a deep pink colour - along with the rosewater, and pipe or spoon into the other 2 sections

4. Bake for about 25 minutes or until springy to touch. Turn out on to a wire rack and cool. Trim the edges

5. Put the apricot jam and water into a pan and bring to the boil. Using a pastry nrush, brush the cake strips liberally with the hot jam, then stick them together so you have a pink and white sponge at the bottom then vice versa at the top

6. Sprinkle a sheet of greaseproof paper with icing sugar and roll out the almond paste into an oblong shape long enough and wide enough to accommodate the sponge. Brush the almond paste with jam, roughly where the sponge will go so that all sides will be covered. Put the sponge on top of the brushed jam and, using the greaseproof paper, roll the sponge up with the almond paste. The paper helps to get a nice neat finish. Trim the edges, and your beautiful Battenburg is made