I have never heard of battenburg before, so searching the web I found this! I am waiting for it to cool. Tea anyone?
Is this a standard acrossed the pond, I am really ingorant of all this, but I am learning so much!


225g (8oz) Almond Paste
110g (4oz) Butter, softened
110g (4oz) Caster Sugar
110g (4oz) Self Raising Flour
50g (2oz) Ground Rice
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
3-4 tbsp Apricot Jam
½ tsp Baking Powder
Almond Essence
Red Food Colouring

Pre-heat oven to 170°C: 325°F: Gas 3.
Grease and line an 18 cm (7 inch) shallow square baking tin with buttered greaseproof paper.
Whisk together the butter and sugar until light and creamy.
Add the beaten eggs gradually with a little of the flour.
Fold in the remaining sieved flour, ground rice, flour, baking powder and a few drops of almond essence.
Spoon half the mixture into one half of the prepared baking tin.
Use a strip of buttered greaseproof paper to create a barrier.
Add a few drops of the red food colouring to the remaining mixture to turn it a rich pink colour.
Spoon into the other half of the tin, smoothing the surface.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until well risen and is springy to the touch and has shrunk slightly in the tin.
Turn out and cool on a wire rack.
When cool, trim the edges and cut lengthwise into four equal parts.
Place the jam into a saucepan and heat gently to melt.
Brush a the portions of cake with the jam to stick them together, to form a chequerboard effect.
Roll out the almond paste into a rectangle, long enough to wrap around the cake.
Brush the outside of the cake with jam.
Press the almond paste around the cake, dampening the edges lightly to form a neat join at one of the corners of the cake.

Bit confused about the ground rice - what's all that about?? I'm sure Mr Kipling's don't have rice in them. And I do tend to overdose on the teeny weeny mini battenburgs that usually live next to the cherry bakewells in Tesco's...yuuuummm.

I think Battenburg is often made with ground almonds, thus not requiring almond essence. Ground rice and ground almonds hold moisture inside a cake, it's how come a good battenburg doesn't dry out.

I'm salivating thinking of the cake.... Do let us know how it turned out?

Oh, and almond paste? Is that an Americanism for marzipan?

Adding the rice tends to shorten the mix. You can use cornflour to do the same thing in pastry. [Not sure about cake mix.]
Another reason that a good Battenberg doesn't dry out is that it quickly becomes a late Battenberg. cause it gets et all up before it has time to dry out.

This is a very valid culinary technique. If you make good cakes, they rarely have time to dry out. Top hole

Marzipan and almond paste are basically made of the same ingredients. The difference between the two is the amount of almonds used in proportion to other ingredients. Usually marzipan consists of about 30 % of almonds and 70 % of sugar. Being more pliable than almond paste, it is more suitable for rolling out and modeling. Almond paste consists of 50 % of almonds and 50 % of sugar. Higher almond content gives it a stronger flavour than marzipan.

When I've acutally made marizipan, I've used a recipie that starts with almond paste.

Well personally I think the point of battenburg (esp in the book) is that a) it has to be shop bought - I've never seen a home-made version b) it isn't very nice even if you do like marzipan.

I appreciate this thread, as I am American and had never heard of Battenburg cake. I have never seen it in any store here. I gather there are those who love it and those who think it's awful? I'm not a big fan of marzipan (that we do have here), so I suspect I wouldn't like it. If it's going to be cake, let it be chocolate, is my motto.
Is there some sort of joke I'm not getting about the fact that Thursday's Mom is turning out all of these Battenberg cakes and serving it to people throughout the novel?
Karen

Definitely going to try that one.

Thanks for the recipe.

I don't get the whole Battenberg thing either!What's so good about it anyway?Actually I think the only reason all those fictional people like it is because they have no sense of smell.All that marzipan is bound to turn you off cake forever,and that is never a good thing.Where did the Battenberg idea come from?Does anybody know?Coz I'm sure you'll agree that Double fudge cake is a much tastier(and sinful) offering.

---the proof's in the tasting---