“A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.”
Benjamin Franklin
This cake has grand beginnings. It was actually created as a wedding cake for royalty. The first Battenberg cake was made to celebrate the marriage of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Victoria, to husband Prince Louis of Battenberg. It’s traditionally flavoured with almond and has the signature Battenberg markings, that is, 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. This traditional Battenberg recipe comes from Mary Berry’s “Baking Bible”.
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.
So many choices, so much more confusion! We have a mini Queen of England at home, the dieting diva who has a strong dislike for walnuts and pistachios much to my dismay. The newly turned 13 teen is simpler to handle in food matters as he is more adventurous with his palette. MasterChef helps! Thankfully coffee is something we all agree on, so coffee was in!
Thank you Mandy, and thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the delightful Battenbergs our other daring bakers have squared up!!
Recipe: Coffee Vanilla Chocolate Chip Batterberg
Summary: A simple, stunning and delicious traditional British cake. Adapted from Coffee and Walnut Battenberg from Mary Berry on the BBC Food website
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves: 8+
Ingredients:
- Cake
- ¾ cup / 175gm unsalted butter, softened & cut in cubes
- ¾ cup / 175gm caster sugar
- 1¼ cups / 175gm self-raising flour {see notes on how to make your own}
- 3 large eggs, room temp
- ½ cup / 65gm ground almonds {or ground rice}
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3 tsp / 15 ml milk
- ½ tsp / 2½ ml vanilla extract
- 1½ tsp / 7 gm instant coffee powder
- 3 Tbsp / 25gm mini dark chocolate chips
- Coffee Buttercream
- ½ cup / 115gm unsalted butter
- 2 cups / 225gm powdered sugar
- 1 tsp / 2 gm instant coffee
- 1½ tsp milk or cream
- Dark Chocolate Plastique To Finish
- 200gm Good Quality Dark Chocolate (70% Cocoa content)
- ¼ cup / 60ml Light Corn Syrup / Glucose Syrup
Method:
- Cake
- Preheat oven to moderate 180°C
- 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) – Tip: See photos or watch video above for detailed instructions
- Whisk together dry ingredients (except chocolate chips and coffee) and combine with the wet ingredients in a large bowl (except vanilla and milk) and beat together just until the ingredients are combined and the batter is smooth
- Spoon half the mixture into a separate bowl and stir in the vanilla, 1½ teaspoons milk and chocolate chips.
- Spoon the chocolate mixture into the one side of the prepared baking tin
- Dissolve the coffee in the remaining 1½ teaspoon milk and add to the remaining batter, stir until just combined
- Spoon the coffee 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
- Bake for 25-30mins until the cake is well risen, springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick comes out clean (it should shrink away from the sides of the pan)
- Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to cool thoroughly on a wire rack
- Because it’s such a thick batter I find that if you spread the batter so that it’s higher at the edges, when it bakes it helps rise without as much of a curved surface
- Once completely cool, trim the edges of the cake with a long serrated knife
- Cut each sponge in half length ways 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.
- Coffee Buttercream
- Combine the buttercream ingredients together and mix until combined.
- Dark Chocolate Plastique
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water, stir occasionally. {I used the microwave}
- Once completely melted, remove from heat and allow to cool a bit
- Stir in corn syrup / glucose syrup, it will seize up almost immediately, just keep stirring until mixed and it comes away from the side of the bowl
- Transfer chocolate into a seal-able bag, spread the chocolate out then seal the bag. Leave overnight or refrigerate for about 2 hours until completely firm
- Turn out from the bag and knead on a surface dusted with powdered sugar, at first it will just break , but as you knead, it will warm up and start to become pliable
- Knead until it’s pliable enough to roll out or mould, 5 – 10mins
- To Finish
- Spread a thin layer of buttercream onto the strips of cake to stick the cake together in a checkered pattern
- Dust a large flat surface with icing sugar then roll the plastique in an oblong shape that is wide enough to cover the length of the cake and long enough to completely wrap the cake
- Spread the top of the cake with a thin layer of buttercream
- Place the cake on the plastique, buttercream side down
- Spread buttercream onto the remaining three sides
- Press the plastique around the cake, making sure the join is either neatly in the one corner, or will be underneath the cake once turned over
- Carefully flip the cake over so that the seam is under the cake and score the top of the cake with a knife, you can also crimp the top corners with your fingers to decorate
- Neaten the ends of the cake and remove excess plastique by trimming off a small bit of cake on both ends to reveal the pattern.
- Note: How to make your own self raising flour: 1 cup Self Raising Flour = 1 cup / 115g All Purpose Flour + 1 ½ tsp Baking Powder + ¼ tsp Salt (omit salt if there is salt in the recipe) sifted together
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