First, before I get onto Battenburg Cake, I just wanted to thank everyone who joined me on Sunday for the Live Bake Along of Custard Cream Cake. If you want to check out the replay follow the link below for all the details.
I was a little scared by the whole thing, as it’s been a long time since I went live online. But, I got on with it, and thankfully wasn’t a complete jibbering mess.
Battenburg Traybake
Now, onto Battenburg Traybake. What do you picture when you think of Battenburg Cake? I bet it has something to do with square of pink and white almond cake, stuck together with almond buttercream and wrapped in apricot preserve and marzipan.
Yeah, but do you know what a faff it is to make a Battenburg Cake? Unless you have patience and the ability to fold baking paper with origami precision to get 4 long square cakes out of 1 baking tin, I suggest you give this a go instead.
This Battenburg distills down all the key parts of a classic Battenburg, but is much easier to make. It’s pink and white, its almond cake, its got apricot preserve and almond buttercream.
I didn’t add marzipan to mine, but if you really love a bit of the almondy paste, then maybe make some marzipan decorations to place on top.
There are ingredient and technique noted after the recipe.
Coming soon on Recipes from the Cake Shed and The Baking Club
Battenburg Traybake Recipe
This recipe will make a 7” x 11” Traybake, or 2 x 7” round layers
Battenburg Cake Ingredients
160gms Oil
200gms White Sugar
4 UK Medium Eggs
0.5tspn Almond Extract
3tbspn Milk
175gms Plain Flour
2tspn Baking Powder
50gms Ground Almonds
Pink food Colouring
Frosting and Topping Ingredients
125gms Butter
250gms Icing Sugar
0.5tsp Almond Extract
Boiling Water
4tbspn Apricot Preserve
Battenburg Traybake Instructions
Preheat your oven to 150c fan, 170c, 325f, GM3.
Grease and line your baking tin(s).
In a large mixing bowl using an electric whisk, or in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the oil and sugar together.
Add the eggs, almond extract and milk, and mix on medium until light, fluffy and increased in size.
Add the flour, ground almonds, and baking powder and hand mix into the wet ingredients until there are no dry lumps left.
Pour a third to a half of the mix into another bowl and gently mix through 2 to 3 drops of pink food colouring.
Pour the natural coloured cake batter into the baking tin
Spoon over the pink cake batter, and using a knife gently swirl the 2 batters together. Don’t mix them together, just swirl gently, or you will just end up with a paler pink batter rather than 2 distinct colours.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cake is well risen, and a skewer placed in the centre comes out clean.
Leave in the tin for 10 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool fully.
Whilst the cake is cooling prepare the buttercream.
In a large bowl with an electric whisk, or in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy.
Add the icing sugar and almond extract and mix on slow until everything is just incorporated.
Turn the mixer to medium and mix until light, fluffy and smooth. If you are having trouble getting your buttercream smooth add a dribble of boiling water and mix.
Once the cake is cooled you can decorate. I spread the apricot jam over the top of the cake, before spreading the buttercream and texturing with a palette knife. But you could do it the other way round and add the jam on top of the buttercream. Whichever you find easiest.
If you want to add the marzipan element to this cake, maybe roll some simple marzipan balls, or cut some flowers out of rolled marzipan and decorate the top.
Ingredient Notes
Oil
I used a rapeseed oil as it is flavourless and won’t effect the taste of the cake. Use whichever oil you feel most comfortable with.
If you are a more traditional baker and prefer to bake with butter or baking spread, use 200gms instead of the oil.
Sugar
I used granulated white sugar. Use either caster or granulated sugar, whichever you have.
Eggs
I used UK Medium eggs, but large will work as well.
Milk
I used dairy milk, but you can use a plant based alternative if you need this cake to be dairy free.
Flour
I always use plain flour with baking powder added. This is gives better control over the rise of your cake. However, if you only have self-raising flour use it but reduce the baking powder to just 0.5tspn.
If you need this cake to be gluten free you can swap out regular flour with Gluten Free Flour and Baking Powder. I would recommend using Xanthan Gum to the manufacturers instructing to get a better structure.
Almonds
Use ready ground almonds or almond flour. Ground almonds are widely available in UK supermarkets.
Food Colouring
Use a gel food colouring or an oil based food colouring. In order to get the pink colour the colouring cannot be a natural colour. Natural food colourings do not bake well and you may lose the colour once the cake is out of the oven.
Butter for Buttercream
Use a block butter (not from a tub for buttercream as the fat content will ensure it has better stability.
If you require this cake to be dairy free you can use a plant based block butter as an alternative.
Cake Construction
I made this for The Cake Shed so needed to be able to package it. I therefore topped the cake with the apricot preserve and then buttercream, allowing it to crust before packaging. After I made the cake I realised I probably should have warmed the apricot preserve a little as it would have been easier to spread. It would also have soaked into the cake a little.
If I was making this cake as a layer cake I would have filled with the buttercream and apricot preserve in a similar way I would if it was a Victoria sandwich.
Storage
This cake will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
This cake is also suitable for freezing. Wait for the buttercream to crust before double wrapping in cling film. The cake can be frozen for up to 3 months, but for best results only freeze for 1 month.
To defrost remove from the freezer and allow, fully wrapped on a wire rack. Don’t unwrap the cake until it has come back to room temperature.
Pro-Tip
This cake has so many uses. Not only can it be baked as a traybake, it can also be baked in round or square layers and made into a layer cake. This cake is perfect for birthday or wedding cakes and is stable enough to be decorated with sugarpaste. It’s a great alternative to a regular vanilla cake.
