Sorry for the rather long blogging absence, the wonderful season that is summer got in the way! I’ve got a seasonal blackberry recipe coming up soon, but first here’s a twist on the classic battenberg cake. Those of you have been following my blog for longer will recognise this battenberg tin.
I had seen a lemon and chocolate battenberg cake, but thought orange and chocolate was a more classic flavour combination. So I dreamed up this recipe and I think the orange curd used instead of apricot jam boosts the orange taste.
Ingredients:
175 g margarine
175 g caster sugar and more for dusting
3 eggs
175 g self-raising flour
Zest of 1 orange
Juice of 1/2 orange
2 very heaped tsp of cocoa powder
350 g marzipan
Orange curd
Method:
1. Cream the butter and sugar, then gradually add the beaten eggs.
2. Fold in the flour.
3. Divide the mixture in two equal halves and to one half add the cocoa powder and to the other add the orange zest and juice, along with a spoonful of extra flour if the mixture is looking too runny.
4. Carefully transfer to the tin, making two strips of orange sponge and two strips of chocolate, Bake on Gas Mark 4 for 30-35 minutes, until springy to the touch.
5. Leave to cool in the tin and then slice off any parts of the cake that have risen above the level of the tin, using a large serrated knife.
6. Carefully remove from the tin.
7. Arrange in battenberg formation, with a thin layer of orange curd acting as the glue (replacing apricot jam in the traditional version).
8. Sprinkle some caster sugar on your work surface, then roll out the marzipan on top of it in a rough square at least as wide as your cake and long enough to cover its four long sides.
9. Cover the long sides of the cake with a thin layer of orange curd, making sure to leave the ends clean.
10. Now the slightly fiddly step; pick up the marzipan and roll it around the cake, one side at a time and leaving a small overlap on the join. Remember the join can go on the bottom so it won’t be seen.
Tah Dah! I also decorated the cake with some chocolate stars. I made these from a simple hand-piped star of melted dark chocolate, onto baking parchment and left to set for an hour or so in the fridge.
Now I appreciate that most of you are probably reading this thinking ‘well I don’t have a battenberg tin’. But fear not, you can easily craft your own cake tin divider and then cut the two cakes in half. There’s a good example here.
The Baking Meteorologist 
This is super impressive! I must try it
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Thank you!
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