The Daring Baker’s Challenge: Battenberg Cake

So last month, while I was perusing the internet for other foodie blog inspiration, I discovered The Daring Kitchen. To quote the website, “The Daring Kitchen is the home of The Daring Bakers and The Daring Cooks. The premise of both groups is to create one recipe each month, given to us by a monthly host. We all create the same exact recipe and then post about it on our personal blogs on a designated date.” How awesome is that?!? So I decided to join The Daring Bakers.  Each month I will be challenged with a new recipe that will most likely be outside my comfort zone. When I got my first challenge a few weeks ago, I felt like a baking superhero, which is kind of their theme. In addition to my superhero status, my first challenge was to create a Battenburg Cake  to coincide with The Queen’s 60th Jubilee. For those of you who don’t already know, I am obsessed with the British Royal Family, especially Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. I even took the day off from work to watch the entire Royal Wedding of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, so this Battenburg Cake challenge was right up my alley.

The first Battenberg cake was made to celebrate the marriage of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Victoria, to husband Prince Louis of Battenberg.It’s traditionally flavoured with almond and has the signature Battenberg markings, that is, the yellow and pink squares (said to represent the four princes of Battenberg). The strips of sponge are glued together using jam (normally apricot) and the whole cake is covered in marzipan. Sometimes the edges are crimped and the top is patterned with a knife.

My Battenburg Cake below was actually my second attempt. My first attempt turned out perfectly fine until I started working with the marzipan. I had ordered it online since it is quite difficult to buy it in large amounts where I am located. Unfortunately, it started to crumble and tear as I tried to roll it out. It was also almost yellow in color and did not pop as well as the white fondant used in my second attempt. I did go with the traditional Battenburg recipe of the yellow and pink squares, but there were other options on the The Daring Kitchen website that included coffee and walnut and even a Rubix’s Cube recipe. All the recipes given had explicit step-by-step instructions and pictures to allow for baking success. All in all, I had a wonderful time with my first challenge and recommend The Daring Kitchen to anyone who loves being in the kitchen as much as I do!

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.