An English classic! This Battenberg cake features light, checked sponge sandwiched with apricot jam and wrapped in thick almond marzipan. It’s a lovely birthday cake and pairs beautifully with a cup of tea. This recipe makes two cakes — it’s actually easier to bake two small square sponges than try to force two colours in one tin. You can freeze one if you don’t want both right away.
Homemade Battenberg is a treat — the first cake usually disappears before you’ve finished your tea, so making two is sensible. I once tried splitting a square tin with foil to bake both colours at once, but the batter seeped through. Making two tins is simpler and less messy.
📋 What do we need?
Make sure you have plenty of confectioners’ sugar for rolling and dusting, and a jar of apricot jam to glue the sponge and marzipan together.
🔪 How to make this Battenberg
Full recipe and detailed steps are in the recipe card below.
The sponge is a straightforward batter of butter, sugar, self-raising flour, ground almonds, baking powder and eggs, with a touch of vanilla and almond extract. Divide the batter into two bowls and tint one yellow and one pink. Bake each colour in a 20cm x 20cm square tin.
After baking, trim the edges and cut each cake into four long fingers about 20cm long by 5cm wide. Assemble the checkerboard pattern, brush with warmed apricot jam and wrap in rolled marzipan dusted with confectioners’ sugar.
- Roll one marzipan block on a surface dusted generously with confectioners’ sugar. It should be a little more than 20cm wide and about 40cm long so it can wrap around the cake.
- Brush the centre of the rolled marzipan with warmed apricot jam, lay a yellow sponge finger on top and brush its side with jam.
- Stick a pink finger to the yellow one. Brush the top with jam and place the remaining two fingers on top to form a checkerboard.
- Spread jam on the rest of the marzipan, fold the sides up tightly and press the seam to seal. Trim excess marzipan from the top.
- Trim both ends of the cake for a neat finish. Save the trimmings — they’re the baker’s treat.
- Repeat for the second cake. Turn cakes over so the seam is underneath, dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar and serve.
PRO TIP: Trim the ends for a clean finish and keep the offcuts for snacking.
Serve with a nice cup of tea.
🍲 More fantastic Cakes and Treats
Cakes & Desserts
Raspberry and White Chocolate Loaf Cake
Cakes & Desserts
Chocolate Cherry Cake
Cakes & Desserts
Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake with Sticky Whisky Glaze
Cakes & Desserts
Rhubarb and Amaretti Cake
Cakes & Desserts
Fruity Tea Loaf
Cakes & Desserts
Cherry and Almond Cake
Stay updated with new recipes!
Subscribe to the newsletter to hear when I post a new recipe. I’m also on YouTube (new videos weekly) and Instagram for behind-the-scenes stories and photos.
Battenberg Recipe
Ingredients
NOTE – this recipe makes two Battenberg cakes!
- 360 g very soft unsalted butter (1 1/2 cups)
- 350 g golden caster sugar (2 cups minus 4 tbsp) — superfine if you can’t get golden
- 280 g self-raising flour (2 cups + 2 tbsp)*
- 100 g ground almonds (1 cup)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 6 medium eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/8 tsp yellow food colouring gel
- 1/8 tsp pink food colouring gel
Also:
- 2 x 500 g blocks yellow or white marzipan
- 300 g apricot jam (about 3/4 cup)
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar for rolling and dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (fan). Line two 20cm x 20cm square tins with baking parchment.
- Place the butter, sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and almond extract in a stand mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
- Divide the batter into two equal portions. Add yellow colouring to one portion and pink to the other, adjusting for a vibrant colour.
- Spoon each coloured batter into its own tin, smooth the tops and bake 25–30 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Roll one block of marzipan on a surface dusted with lots of confectioners’ sugar to about 40cm long and a little over 20cm wide.
- Heat the apricot jam until runny. Trim the cake edges and cut each sponge into four even fingers.
- Brush the centre of the rolled marzipan with jam. Place a yellow finger on the marzipan, brush the side with jam and press a pink finger to it. Repeat to build a checkerboard of four fingers with jam between layers.
- Spread jam on the remaining marzipan, fold the sides up tightly around the sponge and press the seam to seal. Trim excess marzipan from the top and slice off the ends for a neat finish.
- Repeat with the second cake. Turn cakes seam-side down and dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Notes
*Self-raising flour: If unavailable, use 2 cups all-purpose flour plus 3 tsp baking powder and include the extra 1 tsp baking powder listed in the ingredients.
Food colouring: Gel or paste colourings give stronger tones that don’t fade during baking.
Storage: Wrap leftover cake in baking parchment and store in an airtight box at room temperature for 2–3 days, or freeze in an airtight container for up to a month.
Source: This version is adapted and simplified from a BBC Good Food recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is an approximation.
This post was first published in August 2016 and updated in August 2021 with new photos, video and tips.
Some links on the original site may be affiliate links, which can support the publisher at no extra cost to you. Nutritional information is approximate.