Battenberg cake

Directions

1. Heat oven to 180C.
2. Mix the butter with the sugar until pale, in a large size bowl. Add the eggs and whisk for another 4-5 minutes. Add the vanilla paste and mix slowly one more time. In a different bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and almonds. Add to the butter mixture and combine all using spatula or hand mixer on a very slow speed. Once all combined, divide butter in two (ideally using scales to be precise) and in one of them add Alchermes. Mix until all ingredients well combined and pour into a lined baking tin.
3. In case you don’t have two 10x20cm baking tins you can use one 20×20 cm baking tin, which is more common in many kitchens. Divide the baking tin in two by putting a thick piece (a few times folded) of aluminium foil lengthways, imitating the wall of a baking dish – which is what I do and it works perfectly. Bake for 45 minutes or until baked.
4. Once baked, leave on a cooling rack to cool before transferring to the refrigerator to cool completely. This way it’ll be much easier to cut the cake, which is our next step. Use a ruler if you have to and try to make a straight cut so you get 4 ( 2 each colour cake) nice pieces.
5. Assembling the cake : place all four pieces, making sure you have one plain and one pink cake next to each other. Spread all tops with jam, turn the jam sides facing each other and glue the cakes. Repeat with the other two cakes.
6. One more time, spread the jam, this time on the top of two already “glued” cakes and place the other two on the top. Make sure you follow the pattern, one plain and one pink, when finishing assembling the cake.
7. Mix the powdered sugar with the water and Alchermes and spread over the cake. The cake is not so “firm” because it’s not wrapped in marzipan as the original recipe says but we love the rustic look of the cake and the fact that you can choose and divide the piece you want to eat first – or at least that was the way one of our friends saw it when she tasted the cake for the first time.