Scottish Recipes - Battenberg Cake

Did I ever tell you that the Hubs and I share a birthday?

Did I ever tell you the little story of when we met years ago, one of the great big questions he asked me was when my birthday was, I told him and then he said "me too" !

Now for some reason, instead of thinking wow this is cool, we have the same birthday, I thought, wow, he is being creepy, why is he pretending to have the same birthday as me, lol

It has been a long standing joke with us, but really it's kind of nice having a birthday with him, I mean no-one can ever forget the others, so there is plus right there

So it was our birthdays this past weekend, and I made Mr Tartan Tastes a cake we cannot find here in Texas, but one that he loves and misses from home

the Battenburg Cake

A battenburg is a rectangle cake made of two colours (pink and yellow cake) and placed like a checked pattern, covered in marzipan

It looks fancy but it is actually quite simple to make

You will need

175g/6oz Butter
175g/6oz Fine Sugar
3 Eggs
175g/6oz Self-raising flour
grated rind of 1 lemon
some drops of red food colour
2 tablespoons of lemon curd (or apricot preserves)
450g/1lb Marzipan
sugar for sprinkling

battenburg ingredients

• Set oven to 180C/350F

• Grease a 8" square cake tin and divide down the middle with parchment/grease proof paper

square cake tin

• Cream the sugar and butter together in a bowl until fluffy

butter and suagr

• Gradually beat in the eggs

add the eggs

• Add the flour and fold in until well mixed

cake batter

• Split the mixture equally into two bowls 

• In one, add the lemon rind, in the other add the red food colour until it turns pink

yellow and pink cake

• Put mixtures separately into the two halves of the tin, bake for 35-40 minutes until risen and done

two cakes one pan

• Leave on a wire rack to cool

yellow and pink cake

• Trim and cut into 4 long strips, 2 of each cake

cake strips

• using the Lemon curd or apricot preserves, sandwich the pieces together alternating the cake in two layers

battenburg

• roll out the marzipan into a thin layer big enough to cover the cake on all 6 sides

• Cover the outer sides with Lemon curd and wrap the marzipan around, pinching the edges together

• Sprinkle the top with sugar

battenburg cake

• Serve in slices

battenburg cake

This cake is light and fluffy and tastes so delish with the almond flavor of the marzipan, go on give it a try

Angela

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