Battenberg Cake ~ Daring Baker Challenge 2

I ve made so many cakes before.But all of them have been one bowl or simple ones until now. I ve not had the nerve to ice a cake till now.Let alone make a post of it. I mean i did frost one and it was beautiful and all that but somehow,i knew i could do better.So, this month when the daring baker challenge was announced, i was both excited and a lil scared. I wanted to try the cake real bad but at the same time, so many things about this cake daunted me. Like the chocolate plastique for starters.I wont say this s a great attempt but then even though slightly run of the mill, the cake boosted my confidence like hell. And that s why i thought i m definitely posting my cake!
    So what s battenberg cake? I sure had not heard of it before this challenge. And i must say it was quite a challenge!When Oggi couldnt make it to host this month s challenge, Mandy of What The Fruit Cake 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. I must say she made the whole thing a lot simpler for us and i m so in love with that chocolate plastique that she gave us.She even suggested a combination of flavors. Thanks Mandy! Well, off to the cake now.

 I must tell you all that this requires some amount of planning and a lot of patience.The reason why my cake looks a lil badly finished is because the pink half broke into two when i was turning it out from the tin and i had a very difficult time assembling the cake. So this cake s all about patience and slow down actions! You cant make this snappy!

Prep Time: Under 30 mins for the cake
             Under 30 mins for the chocolate plastique
Cook Time: 30 mins for the cake
             Under 20 mins to knead the plastique
             Under 20 mins for the assembly
Makes an 8″X6″ cake
(Because i dint have enough butter to make buttercream, i used jam.But in case you are using chocolate plastique, your best bet is some butter cream icing.I really wanted to take pics of the tin and the prep of the cake but i was so short on time that i couldnt.I ll make the cake sometime again and repost the pics.Until then, just enjoy the finished pics :))


What You Need?

For The Cake:

Butter softened and unsalted ¾ c
Castor Sugar ¾ c
Self Raising Flour 1 and ¼ c
Eggs 3 large at room temperature
Almonds ground ½ c
Baking powder ¾ tsp
Vanilla extract ½ tsp
Almond extract ¼ tsp
Pink food coloring liquid or paste or gel a little

For The Dark Chocolate Plastique

Cooking dark chocolate 200g chopped coarsely
Liquid glucose syrup or corn syrup 4 tbsp

Special Equipment:

Battenberg cake tin or an 8″X8″ cake pan divided into two with the help of parchment.

To Finish:

Any fruit jam ½ c and some more

How To Divide The Cake Tin?

You Will Need:

Butter paper or parchment paper.
Tin foil

Fold a sheet of tin foil several times to reinforce the divide.
Now, fold the butter paper into half and insert the folded tin foil in the fold.
Now, grease the pan with butter and place the parchment paper with the tin foil in between.
The butter will help glue the paper onto the pan.
Your battenberg tin s ready.

How To Make The Plastique:

In a double boiler,melt the chocolate until glossy and shiny.
Let it cool for about 5 mins.
Now, add the corn syrup or liquid glucose syrup.
The chocolate will seize up immediately.
Now, in a sealable bag, place the chocolate mixture, spread it evenly and leave it overnight or leave it in the fridge to set for about 2 hours.

How To Make The Cake:

Preheat the oven to 180C.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Now, add the eggs, vanilla, almond extract and whisk until the mixture is light and just combined.
At this stage, add in the flour and whisk until well combined.
Now, divide the batter into two.
In one half, add the food color and mix well.
Now, place the pink batter in one half of the tin.
And the yellow batter in the other half.
Bake for 25 to 30 mins till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
Let it cool completely before you turn the cake out.
Now, trim the edges of both the cakes and cut them into 2 vertically.Make sure all the strips of the same size to get an even finish.
You will have 4 vertical strips of alternate colors now.
On a large cutting board, place the cake strips.
Heat the jam on high in the microwave for 1 and ½ minutes.
The jam would have become liquid now.
Spread the jam on the sides of the cake strips.
Combine one pink strip and yellow strip this way.
Now, spread the jam on the top of the cake strips.

Combine the other two strips in the same fashion like you did the first two strips.
Place the combined two strips over the first two strips making sure that the pink strip is over the yellow strip and the yellow strip s over the pink strip.The objective is to get an alternate checkered pattern in the cake.
Now, remove the chocolate from the sealable bag and start kneading the chocolate on a surface coated with powdered sugar,
It will break in the beginning but as it warms up and will become pliable.
Knead until you get a dough like structure out of the chocolate.
Now, roll out the chocolate plastique into a thin sheet of rectangle.
Spread the jam over the chocolate well so that once you place the cake, it will stick to it and stay firm.
Now, place the cake on one end of the chocolate rectangle and start rolling the cake making sure that the chocolate covers the cake well.

Now, trim the broad ends of the cake a little bit to get an even finish.
A battenberg keeps well for 2 to 3 days. Dont put it the fridge as the chocolate hardens up and the cake becomes a lil crumbly. Keep it in an airtight container and enjoy a slice whenever you breeze in and out of the kitchen.And at that rate, you neednt even be contemplating storage.Just saying though !