Thursday, June 28, 2012

Battenburg Cake - Daring Bakers Challenge June 2012


This Month's DB challenge was the Battenburg cake!! Since the time it was announced, almost-teen has been obsessed with it and claims that this is the best thing that has happened to her this summer. For those of you who are not aware of it, she is quite - very - obsessed with Britain - and that's an understatement. As for where it comes from, well.... she happens to be an ardent Harry Potter fan! She's reread Harry Potter some obnoxious amount of times until I threatened that if I saw her with Harry, he will be thrown out. Now Harry has been taken over by the history of UK ....and no one is complaining anymore. And with this new Britain-related obsession, she's spent countless hours perfecting her British accent, which has come a long way.... So now you get the picture.... the timing could not have been more perfect. A tea party - along with the royal cake was some English tea and a good book about the Queen. 

*The cake has royal beginnings - the chefs of the British Royal Family were introduced to the German style of cake making during Queen Victoria's reign. This included the use of bright colors and marzipan. The first Battenberg cake was made in that German style to celebrate the wedding of Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, and was named after her husband, Prince Louis of Battenberg

It’s traditionally flavoured with almond and has the signature Battenberg markings, the yellow and pink squares (said to represent the four princes of Battenberg). The strips of sponge are glued together using jam (normally apricot) and the whole cake is covered in marzipan. Sometimes the edges are crimped and the top is patterned with a knife.

Thanks to Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

There were just too many choices - you could pair any two flavors and marry them into this exotic royal treat. After a lot of thinking and no pressure (*cough cough*) from a certain someone, I was told - sorry, I made the original pink and yellow with marzipan. I substituted lemon curd for apricot jam and lemon flavor for almond flavor. It was fit for royalty, to say the least!!




Ingredients
¾ cup (1½ sticks)  Unsalted Butter, softened & cut in cubes
¾ cup fine Sugar
1¼ cups  Self-Raising Flour 
3 Large Eggs, room temp
½ cup  Ground Almonds (Can be substituted with ground rice)
3/4 tsp  Baking Powder
½ tsp Vanilla Extract in the pink batter
1/4 tsp zest of lemon
Red Food Colouring, paste, liquid or gel
To Finish
1/2 cup lemon curd
1 cup /  8 oz Marzipan, natural or yellow




Preheat oven to 350F or 180C

Grease an 8”/20cm square baking tin with butter

Line the tin with parchment paper, creating a divide in the middle with the parchment (or foil)

OR Prepare Battenberg tin by brushing the tin with melted butter and flouring
Whisk together the dry ingredients then combine with the wet ingredients in a large bowl and beat together just until the ingredients are combined and the batter is smooth. Divide the batter into two equal parts.
Add the lemon zest to one half and spoon it into one side of the baking dish.
Add a few drops of red food coloring to the remaining batter, stir until the colour is thoroughly distributed. Add the vanilla extract
Spoon the pink batter into the other half of the prepared baking tin
Smooth the surface of the batter with a spatula, making sure batter is in each corner (otherwise you will have an uneven cake which will be hard to construct)
Bake for 25-30mins until the cake is well risen, springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to cool thoroughly on a wire rack
Once completely cool, trim the edges of the cake with a long serrated knife
Cut each coloured sponge in half lengthways so that you are left with four long strips of sponge.
Neaten the strips and trim as necessary so that your checkered pattern is as neat and even as possible. 
Warm the lemon curd and use it as a glue to make a checkered pattern. 



Dust a large clean surface with icing sugar and roll the marzipan in an oblong shape wide enough to cover the cake. It was not easy to work with marzipan under the humid condition.
Brush one side and top of the checkered cake structure with the lemon curd. Now move the cake to the side it has been glued and do the same for the other 2 sides. 
Trim off the ends of the cake (the small, square ends) with the excess marzipan to reveal the pattern.
With a serrated knife make the pattern on the cake.
Decorate as desired, I used edible pearls and made some roses from marzipan.  




*Wikipedia Print Friendly and PDF

38 comments:

  1. Ohhh lovely!!
    The pics, the cake, the rose, the decoration .. all perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow its so perfect.....yum yumm...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow. Looks so soft spongy and delicious !

    ReplyDelete
  4. This looks really Royal, too tempting & great clicks

    http://shwetainthekitchen.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Simi, this is what I was hoping my cake would look like - it's so beautiful! And it sounds delicious as well.

    (I have to admit I really did laugh out loud at almost-teen perfecting her British accent. I'm guilty at having done the same thing at a similar age.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. lovely. definitely its THE cake fit for royalty.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It looks so gorgeous! I am ready for an afternoon cup of tea now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for stopping by my site.
    Your cake is just beautiful - I really love the pink roses you made for decoration.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a lovely, refreshing cake. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey Simi,thats a beautiful cake..how did u feel like cutting it?? and its comes out so perfect the pattern,yummy yum ..Awesome bake & great efforts!

    Ongoing Events at(Erivum Puliyum)-
    1. The Kerala Kitchen(June'12)

    2.EP Series-Basil OR Cardamom

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your cake is absolutely beautiful! I'd love to try this fun technique:@)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Looking awesome cake, very soft n spongy. Beautifully presented n appealing color, nice...

    ReplyDelete
  13. That looks very pretty! and lol... almost-teen is a fan of HP... so am i! (actually my sister more than me...) but i like the imagination and creativity that's gone into it, and hence...! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow Sii what a lovely cake. Truly elegant and beautiful color.

    Cuisine Delights
    My Monthly Event - Spotlight:Curries/Gravies".

    ReplyDelete
  15. beautifully decorated awesome cake. love this

    ReplyDelete
  16. very beautiful and lovely colours ... awesome cake
    Noel collections

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi simi,
    Beautiful battenberg and your clicks are great too. Love the roses on the top. Great presentation!
    Anuja

    ReplyDelete
  18. Looks absolutely divine and mindblowing.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The photos are absolutely dreamy--a perfect tea party with fancy cake. It sounds like it was the perfect challenge for you and your daughter!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Your cake looks great! Looks like it you got a perfect rise out of the batter in the oven! Love the colors - truly stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Your Battenberg looks great! You got the squares beautifully even which seemed to be quite a challenge in itself for a lot of DBers :)

    I'm glad your "almost teen" enjoyed it too :D

    Happy baking!

    ReplyDelete
  22. What a perfect example of the Batternberg - just devine :) Cheers from Auckland New Zealand

    ReplyDelete
  23. wow.. Great job Simi. Its perfect and awesome. Really loved it.
    First time here and am a happy follower of u. :)

    - Sarika

    ReplyDelete
  24. Oh, wow... one of the prettiest cakes I have ever seen! I know it must taste delicious too! Lovely :)

    So nice stopping by to say Hi!
    Kindly, Lorraine

    ReplyDelete
  25. Oh my god.. if it were me I would not cut such a beautiful cake... I would recommend framing a photo of this and hanging in your kitchen :-)happy to follow you.. do join my site when you get a chance

    ReplyDelete
  26. wow! absolutely loved the cake...Baked to perfection and great clicks.


    Home Made Recipes

    ReplyDelete
  27. this is one of my favourite cakes that I grew up with! I'm still trying to perfect an English

    ReplyDelete
  28. Your Battenberg is classic and beautiful! I love the roses on top - tres jolie!

    ReplyDelete
  29. I'm not a baker. At all :( But this cake looked so pretty, I had to say it :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. That looks absolutely stunning! Our roses are demolished too - told my hubby this is the last year of roses - as many beautiful flowers our there as roses - they do invite Japanese beetles by the hundreds!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Oh my what a lovely cake. Loved that colour and texture.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Gosh such a gorgeous cake and the colours are adorable! I wouldn't dare to eat the cake for any reasons..

    ReplyDelete
  33. This cake looks divine. I first had a Batteburg Cake in London for Afternoon Tea. It was heavenly. Bookmarking.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to browse. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. Hope you enjoy your stay :))

hugs!
simi

Related Posts with Thumbnails
 
SITE DESIGN BY DESIGNER BLOGS