British Food and Travel

With its harlequin sponge and marzipan wrapping, Battenberg (or Battenburg) cake is a firm teatime favourite in the UK. It is also surprisingly easy to make. As for where it originated, that’s not quite so easy.

Battenberg cake is made from alternating pink and yellow sponge squares, covered in jam and surrounded by a layer of marzipan. It is thought to have originated during Queen Victoria’s reign; some say it was created to mark the wedding of her granddaughter, Princess Victoria, to Louis of Battenberg in 1884. History buffs may know that they changed their name from Battenberg to Mountbatten in 1917.

However, the term Battenberg cake doesn’t seem to have appeared in print before 1898. Other contemporary recipes called it by various names, including Domino Cake, Neapolitan Roll, and the rather charming Church Window Cake. Nevertheless, it has been the Battenberg name which stuck, and more than a hundred years later it still has place of honour on the cake table.

Battenberg Cake

As mentioned, this cake is much easier to make than you might first think.

175g/6 oz butter, brought to room temperature

extra butter for greasing

175g/6 oz caster sugar

3 eggs

175g/6 oz self-rising flour

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

red food colouring

6 tbs apricot jam

1 lb marzipan

icing sugar

Heat the oven to 190C/375F/ Gas Mark 5.

Lightly grease an 8 inch (20 cm) square baking pan. Take a large piece of baking paper and fold it to create a rise in the middle. Line the baking pan with the paper so that the rise effectively separates it into two smaller baking pans.

Cream together the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and vanilla. Then spoon half of the mixture into a separate bowl – for precision, we recommend measuring it on a scale. Add some red food colouring to one of the bowls, and mix thoroughly.

Spoon the batters into the prepared tin, plain on one side, pink on the other. Bake for about 25 minutes.

Leave to cool for about five minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack.

Once the sponges have cooled completely, it is time to assemble the cake.

Place the apricot jam in a pan and warm over a low heat. Sieve the warmed jam to remove any lumps.

Place the two sponges one on top of the other and trim the edges until they are the same size. Cut in half lengthways so you have four long rectangles of sponge. Brush jam along the edges of the sponge and fit together in a checkerboard pattern. Brush all over with jam.

Roll out the marzipan on a little icing sugar and then carefully wrap around the sponge layers. Trim the marzipan to fit, and seal on the underside of the cake.