Giant Battenburg

We’ve had a bit of a celebration in our house this week. One that even made me crack open the oven. Millie went to GB trials in Bristol the weekend before last and was offered a place on both the Junior and Senior GB Synchronised Swimming Squad for 2018. She has worked so hard & it is so lovely that her hard work & talent has paid off for her. I knew I didn’t have much time but still wanted to bake her something to let her know how proud we are of her. A normal size Battenburg just wouldn’t have been enough so a Giant Battenburg it is. (Also handily fits in with my entry for #BakeoftheWeek this week too!) Unfortunately, Millie wasn’t feeling too great on the day. Just a cold but she still felt and looked rotten so she wasn’t up for showing her face on camera.

The actual cake and decoration was really easy to make. Even the flower on the top and around each side didn’t take very long either. Marzipan is brilliant for sticking to itself so only a tiny bit of boiled water was needed as ‘glue’. I just used a leaf cutter and a small flower cutter.

The key to getting your cake a really vibrant colour is to use gel food colouring. The liquid food colours will wash out when the cake is baking. To get the vibrant pink, I used a red gel colour as you would need loads of pink to get the contrast.

Making the famous Battenburg Chequered Pattern

• Trim off the edges around the sides of each cake. Place the 2 cakes directly on top of each other to make sure each cake remains the same size.
• Trim away any area on top of the cake that has risen more than the other bit. I wasn’t too precious about trimming each piece of cake to the same height and depth as it was only us eating it.
• Cut both of the cakes lengthways into 4 even pieces.
• Start from the right hand side, place one length of cake.
• Brush apricot jam around the side and the top.
• Place the alternative colour cake next to it and on top.
• Repeat with the jam and keep adding alternate colours of cake until you get the pattern.
• Brush more jam on the top of all 4 pieces of cake and around the side.
• Roll out marzipan to a depth of 1-2cm depending on how much you like the taste.
• Trim away any rough edges and flatten down with a smoother or your hand if you do not have a smoother.

GIANT BATTENBURG

Serves	8+
Prep time	25 minutes
Cook time	30 minutes
Total time	55 minutes
Meal type	Dessert, Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Serve Cold

INGREDIENTS

• 350g Butter
• 350g Caster Sugar
• 6 Medium Eggs
• 350g Self Raising Flour
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 250g Smooth Apricot Jam
• 750g Natural Marzipan

NOTE

The cake can be frozen before the marzipan is added

DIRECTIONS

1.
Line 2 x 8″ Square Cake tins with baking parchment & preheat the oven to 180C
2.
Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and well combined
3.
Add the vanilla and eggs (one at a time). Use a spatula to clean down the sides of the mixing bowl so all the mixture is combined
4.
Stir in the flour using a figure of eight movement. Do this slowly & gently so as not to knock out all the air you have beaten in
5.
Separate the mixture in half – I weigh it for accuracy. Colour one half of the cake mixture with the red gel colouring
6.
Pour the mixtures into the 2 cake tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clear
7.
Leave to cool then cut into 4 segments for each cake (More instructions above in the post on decorating the battenburg)