Method (Cake)

1. Preheat oven to 170°C Fan (180°C) and line your Battenberg tin with greaseproof paper. Remember to leave extra to pull it out the tin.
2. Sift the the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
3. Melt the butter either in the microwave or in a saucepan on the hob until melted. Whisk together the melted butter, milk and almond extract.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk to combine. Do not over-beat the batter.
5. Using a scale for accuracy, measure out the batter then divide it into two separate bowls. Leave one batter plain, and colour the other batter with pink food gel, until you reach the desired shade, be careful not to add too much.
6. Add the coloured batter into one half of the tin, and the uncoloured batter into the other half. Spread them level then bake for 30-35 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The cakes should rise and be a light golden colour on top.
7. Once baked, remove from the oven and place the tin on a wire rack, leaving the cakes to cool in the tin for 20 minutes. Carefully lift them out onto a wire rack using the overhanging greaseproof paper. Peel off the greaseproof paper and leave them on the wire rack to cool completely.

Assemble the Battenberg

1. Once the cakes are completely cool, trim the tops and sides of both yellow and pink cakes with a very sharp serrated knife. You want them to be the exact same height and length.
2. Heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan until runny, then sieve, getting rid of any large chunks of apricots / jam.
3. Roll out the marzipan block on a lightly floured surface until around 20cm wide, then keep rolling lengthways until the marzipan is approximately 0.5cm thick. Trim the marzipan so the edges are straight (make it a large rectangle). Brush the entire sheet of marzipan with the apricot jam. Place a pink and a yellow slice side by side at one end of the marzipan, brushing jam in between to stick the sponges together. Brush more jam on top of the sponges, then sandwich remaining 2 slices on top, alternating colours to give a checkerboard effect.
4. Carefully roll the cake or lift up the marzipan to cover the cake and smooth it down with your hands (check out my video for reference). The edges should meet up once rolled. If you have a gap, stick and smooth any left over marzipan into the gaps to cover. Trim the marzipan to the length of the cakes. This will make it really neat and tidy.
5. Cut into slices, serve and enjoy!