2019 KEEN YOUNG COOK FINALIST: MAYA RAVINDRAN

Maya's Magnificent Battenberg Bazaar

"I decided to make Battenberg because it's great to have at afternoon tea. It's also such a simple recipe and has a gorgeous structure. I extremely like the checkerboard pattern between the two colours. Finally, I love the almond flavour and the rich taste of the marzipan!

Ingredients

• 175g golden, caster sugar

• 175g softened butter

• 3 large eggs 

• 140g self-raising flour

• ½ tsp baking powder 

• ½ tsp vanilla extract 

• ¼ tsp almond extract 

• 3 tsp pink food colouring

• 500g marzipan 

• 200g apricot jam 

​

​Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/ gas mark 4 and line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment. Make a pleat in the centre to separate the two sides of the tin.

2. Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, the vanilla and almond extract in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until the mixture comes together smoothly.

3. Next, put half of the mixture in another bowl and fold in the pink food colouring. Then, put the mixture into the tin - the pink in one size and the normal in the other. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

4. Cool the cakes for 10 minutes before rolling out the marzipan and heating the jam. Half each cake and layer them on top of each other in a checkerboard pattern sticking them together with the jam. Then, wrap the marzipan around the cake.

5. To finish, decorate with raspberries and using a fork, poke small squares in the marzipan. 

​