Mandy of
What the Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the
Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes
to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.
This cake –
especially its traditional yellow and pink checkered pattern – looks very
girlish and (as Mandy has noted) makes one think of Alice in Wonderland.
Despite its “cartoonish” appearance the cake was actually created in 1884 as a
wedding cake for Princess Victoria and Prince Louis of Battenberg; the yellow
and pink squares representing the four princes of Battenberg.
I was
impressed by the look of the cake and decided not to change it. I only played a
little bit with the flavours – added some orange zest to the batter and “glued”
the stripes of sponge with the strawberry ganache. The outer part of the cake
is covered with orange jam and wrapped in home-made edible “cover”. A few
pieces of decoration – and here’s a cake from the Wonderland. Welcome to tea at
Madhatters’!
