English Battenberg Cake

== Description ==
Contributed by Catsrecipes Y-Group
== Ingredients ==
* 1 cup butter
* 1 cup castor sugar, extra fine white sugar, fruit sugar or take regular sugar and blend in blender until it is fine
* 2 cups self rising flour
* ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
* 2 to 4 tablespoons milk
* 2 tablespoons apricot jam
=== Almond paste ===
* 1 cup confectioners' (icing) sugar (4 ounces)
* ½ cup castor sugar (extra fine white sugar) (4 ounces)
* 1⅓ cups ground almonds (8 ounces)
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice
* a few drops almond essence
* 1 egg, lightly beaten 
== Directions ==
# Heat the oven to fairly hot 375°F.
# Prepare a 9 x 6-inch cake tin by cutting a piece of heavy aluminium foil the exact length of the base, but 2 inches wider than the width.
# Fold a pleat in the middle so that the foil lies quite flat on the bottom of the tin and the pleat stands up, forming a wall which divides the tin into two oblongs of equal size.
# With a wooden spoon, beat the butter and sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl, until the mixture is very light and creamy.
# Add the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition, along with 1 tablespoon of flour.
# Stir well to mix.
# Fold in the remaining flour and the vanilla essence.
# Mix in a little milk, if it is necessary, to make the batter of a consistency that will drop easily off the spoon.
# Pour half the cake batter into one half of the prepared cake tin.
# Mix the cocoa into the rest of the batter, add a spoonful of milk, if necessary, and pour it into the other half of the tin.
# Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
# When the cake is cooked, set it aside to cool.
# While the cake is baking, make the almond paste.
=== Almond paste ===
# Sift the icing sugar and the castor sugar together into a medium-size mixing bowl.
# Mix in the ground almonds.
# Add the lemon juice, almond essence and enough beaten egg to bind all the ingredients into a paste.
# Sprinkle your working surface with a little icing sugar and put the paste on it.
# Knead the almond paste until it is smooth.
# Be careful not to over-knead as the paste will become oily.
# Remove the cake from the tin.
# Trim the two halves to equal size and cut each in half length ways.
# Spread the side of one piece of white cake with the apricot jam and place a brown piece next to it.
# Spread jam on top of the two halves.
# Repeat with the other two halves of the cake, alternating the white and brown, and place on top of the jam covered layer to form a checker-board pattern.
# Press gently together.
# Spread the remaining jam over the top and the sides of the cake.
# On a lightly sugared board roll the almond paste into an oblong large enough to encase the whole cake.
# Wrap it round the cake, trimming the edges to leave the ends of the cake uncovered.
# Crimp the top edges to make a border and, with a knife, score a criss-cross pattern on the top.
# Keep the cake in a tin with a tight fitting lid for two days before serving. 
__NOTOC__
Category:Cathy's Recipes
Category:English Desserts
Category:Cake Recipes
Category:Almond meal Recipes