Battenberg Cake, Orange, Vanilla

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CAKE
  • 115g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus a little extra for greasing
  • 115g caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 115g self-raising flour, sifted
  • 50g ground almonds
  • Few drops Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
  • Few drops orange food colouring
  • Few drops Star Kay White Orange Extract
TO DECORATE
  • 4 tbsp orange marmalade, sieved and gently warmed
  • A little cornflour, for dusting
  • 350g marzipan
  • 1 egg white, beaten
Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas 3. Assemble the tin, making sure the dividers are firmly in place. Lightly grease the base and all the sides with butter and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs, a little at a time, beating after each addition until well incorporated. Fold in the sifted flour and ground almonds until well mixed and then divide the cake mix evenly between two bowls.

Add a few drops of vanilla extract to one bowl, and a few drops of orange food colouring and orange extract to the other, and mix until well incorporated. Spoon the vanilla mixture evenly between two of the sections in the cake tin. Repeat with the orange mixture.

Using a small palette knife, make sure the mixture goes all the way into the corners and is perfectly level on top. Bake for 25 minutes or until well risen. The cakes are ready when a skewer inserted into the centre of each comes out clean. Remove the tin from the oven and leave the cakes to cool completely in the tin.
Once completely cool, loosen the edges of the cakes with a clean palette knife. take away the dividers and thoroughly carry every cake onto a clean board employing a spatula if required. certify all of the cakes area unit constant height, and if any area unit slightly taller merely trim them down employing a saw-toothed knife.

Using a pastry brush, brush one vanilla and one orange cake with warm preserve everywhere the perimeters, however not the ends. Stick these 2 cakes to every different lengthways. Repeat with the 2 remaining cakes, then place the vanilla cake on prime of the primary orange cake and therefore the orange cake on prime of the primary vanilla cake to make a chequerboard impact.

On a surface gently dusted with cornstarch, roll out 300g of the marchpane till it measures approx. 25 x 35cm. rigorously carry your Battenberg cake into the centre of the marchpane and wrap it tightly round the sponge, gently pressing the cut edges to seal. flip the cake the other way up to cover the seam of the marchpane beneath. employing a sharp knife, trim off every finish of the marzipan-wrapped cake to neaten. Discard the trimmings.

Roll the remaining marchpane into eleven balls and stick them to the highest of the cake with the leftover preserve. employing a clean pastry brush, brush the highest of the cake with albumen and toast it terribly slightly with a cook’s burner or beneath a preheated medium grill to grant the normal cooked impact.