Tuesday, September 24, 2013

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

Linking to homestoriesatoz ; chef-in-training ; serenitynowblog



6 comments:

  1. I've got to say, I doubted you. When you stated that this was easy, I thought...we'll see. But then when I read your post I was pleasantly surprised. How cool! What a way to impress your friends. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would have been skeptical too, same birthday... hah. Well, I hope it was a terrific one. Great to see you back at foodie friday we missed your interesting recipes. This cake is no exception... gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Diane, its great to be back representing Scotland in my cooking :)

      Delete
  3. Happy Belated Birthday. This is a gorgeous birthday cake. I hope you both enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing on Thursdays Treasures. This is a feature.

    ReplyDelete

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