Читать книгу The British Baking Book - Regula Ysewijn - Страница 29

Battenberg cake

If you can’t find apricot kernels, use

an extra ¼ cup (20 g) of almond meal

and add a few drops of natural almond

extract or maraschino liqueur to your

homemade marzipan.

32

For 6–8 people

For the homemade marzipan

(or use 14 oz/400 g ready-made

marzipan)

¾ cup (100 g) confectioners’ sugar

½ cup (100 g) superfine sugar

2 cups (180 g) almond meal

3 Tbsp (20 g) apricot kernels

(see page 19)

1 tsp rosewater or maraschino liqueur

1 egg, beaten

For the cake

¾ cup (175 g) butter, at room

temperature

¾ cup (175 g) superfine sugar

3 eggs

1 cup + 2 Tbsp (135 g) plain white flour

6 Tbsp (35 g) almond meal

1 tsp baking powder

natural pink food coloring

3–4 Tbsp apricot jam

butter, for greasing

flour, for dusting

For a Battenberg tin

It is best to make the marzipan a day in advance. Sift the confectioners’ sugar,

superfine sugar, and almond meal into a large bowl and mix well. Soak the apricot

kernels in boiling water for 5 minutes, then remove the skins. Using a mortar and

pestle, finely crush the apricot kernels and add the rosewater or maraschino liqueur.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the egg and the apricot kernel mixture.

Use a spatula or wooden spoon to mix everything well, then use your hands to

knead the marzipan. If necessary, add a teaspoon of water at a time until it comes

together but doesn’t become sticky. Wrap the marzipan in plastic wrap and let it

rest at room temperature.

Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare the tin (see page 21).

For the cake, put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy. Add the

eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a teaspoon of the flour

with the last egg to prevent the mixture from separating.

Add the remaining flour, the almond meal, and the baking powder and mix well.

Divide the batter in half and add coloring to one half. Pour the batter into the cake

tin, keeping the colors separate. Bake in the middle of the oven for 25–30 minutes.

When the cake has cooled completely, cut out 1¼ x 1¼–inch bars from each color,

making sure they are nicely square and uniform. You can skip this step if you have a

Battenberg tin, and just trim where necessary.

Gently heat the apricot jam. Spread a little of the warm jam on the sides of the

cake bars where they will be stuck together to create the iconic stained-glass

window effect.

Roll out your marzipan to about ¼ inch thick. Brush the marzipan with the jam and

place the assembled cake on top. Trim the marzipan and wrap it around

the cake. Trim the ends of the cake for a neat finish.

The first Battenberg cake appeared in Frederick Vine’s Saleable Shop Goods for Counter-Tray and Window from 1898

and had nine panels instead of four. Presumably it became four panels when the big cake manufacturers started baking

the cake on an industrial scale in the 20th century. Mrs Marshall, a distinguished cookbook writer, publisher of her own

magazine, and owner of a store that sold cooking appliances she invented herself, gave a recipe in 1898 for a cake that

looked exactly the same but had a different name. She added flavor to her marzipan by adding maraschino liqueur.

Special Battenberg cake tins are available, and although buying a tin especially for this cake may seem extravagant, it

neatly yields four bars of cake that need only minor trimming and therefore will lead to less cake waste (if there ever is

such a thing!). I can also guarantee you will be enjoying this tin for many Battenberg combinations to come. Why not

try chocolate and vanilla?