Cake #25 - Battenberg Cake

Monday Mood Cake - "Girly" Battenberg Cake.

After a nice weekend with a friend, girl friend, I still felt girly on Monday. Seeing and touching numerous princess dresses in numerous shops (like in the Disney Store in Dublin where my friend looked for a dress for her 5-year-old daughter) made me feel a little sad, too (in a good way, though - you know what I mean), because my younger princess just turned 12 and has a good while been interested in teenage stuff rather than princess dresses. At her age I still played with my Barbies.

Inside we can still be princesses. As long as we like. And what the best, we can always bake and eat as many pink and glittery cakes as we like. Even when I am in an old folks home I would love to eat pink cake - mashed, maybe, but still pink and glittery. 

Darn, now that I write this, I remember recently buying some edible gold dust and I could have sprinkled some on this cake! Better save it in case they run out of glitter in the old folks home as the golden olden years may come sooner than I ever can imagine.

Battenberg Cake

250 g butter

300 ml granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla sugar

3 eggs

500 ml plain flour

1,5 tsp baking powder

100 ml cream

1 tsp red food colouring

Raspberry jam

300 ml icing sugar + 2 tbps water

Red food colouring (or red and blue to make the icing purple)

Marshmallows, sprinkles, gold and silver pearls, gold dust...

1. Heat the oven to 190 degrees C (375 F) and grease and flour (I use dried and ground breadcrumbs) two loaf pans.

2. Mix together the dry ingredients.

3. Cream together butter and sugar.

4. Add eggs and mix well.

5. Add the dry ingredients and cream.

6. Divide the dough in half and colour the other half with red food colouring to make it pink.

7. Pour the dough into the loaf pans.

8. Bake in the oven for 35-30 minutes until solid in the middle.

9. Let cool completely on a rack.

10. Remove the loafs from the pans and cut off the crust except leave on the ones to be the bottom of the cake.
11. Cut the loafs into long rectangles of equal size. I was able to get 9 to make it a 3 x 3 cake.
12. Take 2 tbsp of raspberry jam, add 2 tbsp of water and heat up in the microwave for 30 seconds or so, then mix well. This will be the "glue".
13. "Glue" together your rectangles and press the cake gently but firmly on each side to make the parts stick together.
14. Mix the icing of icing sugar, water and food colouring and spread evenly on the cake.
15. Garnish with "girly stuff" and enjoy in a girly company wearing a crown! (a Burger King one will suit fine)