Gluten-Free Battenburg Cake
Battenburg cake is an oblong cake in a checkerboard pattern, characterized by almonds, jam, and marzipan icing. Our gluten-free battenburg cake is perfectly balanced — delicious and impressive. You can let your imagination run wild with flavors and colors, marzipan decoration and more!
Many recipes I consulted referred to battenburg cake as “easy” – We’re here to tell you there’s definitely a learning curve to making, assembling and especially wrapping your battenburg in marzipan. We tested several recipes and methods – use our steps, read the instructions thoroughly before starting and you will be able to create a beautiful battenburg with a little practice. If your marzipan doesn’t roll, is too sticky or has other issues – don’t panic – just add more powdered sugar; re-chill; and re-role.
Our recipe includes instructions for a mostly traditional battenburg cake — yellow and pink — almond-scented and wrapped smoothly in marzipan. You can be as creative as you like however, using your favorite colors and flavorings. We prefer to make one batch of sponge, but you could be equally successful with two sponges by halving the recipe and creating – for instance – chocolate and vanilla sponges.
A ruler and some careful planning will be your best aids in creating a flawless and even cake checkerboard. Take your time and measure four equal strips. You can always trim some edges once assembled with your serrated knife.
Using plastic wrap is essential when working with marzipan. Have a bowl of powdered sugar and plenty of plastic wrap handy. Move quickly as you don’t want your marzipan warming too much or it becomes increasingly sticky and hard to work with. Our recipe includes several tips for covering your cake.
Interested in making our Game Day Battenburg? We used a mix of yellow and sunset yellow for one side of the sponge and a scant 1/2 tsp of lemon extract; and our freeze-dried strawberries and green food coloring for our other sponge (Notre Dame fans in our household!). We used our extra marzipan to create decoration for the top of our cake as well — mix in food coloring by hand, chill briefly and then fashion to your heart’s content!
This Gluten-Free Battenburg will be a total crowd-pleasure – it’s delicious and super impressive. Try your own and let us know about your creations!
Find our Easy Vegan Marzipan Recipe HERE for this gluten-free battenburg cake
(If you prefer to make this cake non-gluten-free, you can use regular all-purpose flour plus the baking powder and salt in the same amounts; or, use 100 grams self-rising flour and omit the baking powder and salt)
Gluten-Free Battenburg Cake
Equipment
- 8×8 square cake pan
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 heaping tbsp freeze dried strawberries, minced (optional)
- 125 g unsalted butter softened
- 125 g caster sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 100 g gluten-free all-purpose or cake flour we used Blends By Orly Sydney blend but any all-purpose blend will do
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 50 g almond flour
- 2 tsp milk or dairy-free milk
- food coloring
Jam
- 4 tbsp apricot jam
- 1 tsp water
Marzipan
- 1 batch Easy Vegan Marzipan (see our recipe)
Instructions
Make the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease your 8×8 pan with butter, then line the bottom with parchment. Create a foil divider to create two separate but equal compartments in the pan. (The cake batter will be thick and not runny). Re-grease over the parchment and foil
- To make the sponge, cream the butter in a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater. Scrape down the inside of the bowl.
- Add the sugar a couple of tablespoons at a time, mixing well between each addition. Scrape the bowl again, then mix on medium for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy.
- In a small bowl combine your flour, baking powder and salt to essential create a self-rising flour blend
- Now, break your eggs into a separate bowl, add your extract and whisk together. Beat slowly into butter mixture, a tablespoon at a time, adding in some flour after the first couple of additions to keep the mixture from curdling (be watchful and go slow – use flour to temper the butter-egg reaction)
- Whisk in the remainder of the flour, a good pinch of salt, and the almond flour into the bowl. Add 2 tsp of coconut or other milk and stir until just combined.
- Transfer the entire mixture into a bowl atop a kitchen scale and weigh the cake mixture only. Remove half the mixture in weight back to the mixing bowl. Color your separate cake mixtures however you like. For this recipe we used pink and yellow food coloring to get the traditional battenburg look. If you are using the freeze-dried strawberries, mix these into the pink side (or one side)
- Spread your mixtures into either side of the cake pan being careful to level the top and get batter to the edges. I found a flexible rubber spatula plus small cake spatula to be most helpful with this
- Bake your cake for 20-25 minutes or until edges just start to turn golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. The cake should spring back lightly when pressed. My cake takes about 20-21 minutes and the temp inside is about 190 F at completion
- Set the tin on a wire rack and run a round bladed knife around the edges to loosen. Let sit until barely warm, then remove cake sides to the cooling rack until room temperature. Your cake must be completely cool before proceeding
Assemble the Cake
- To assemble the cake, place on a cutting board. Using a large serrated knife two 1 1/2 inch-wide long strips from each color (essentially you are trimming the edges. Now cut off the ends to create 4 strips total that are the same in length. You should now have two long yellow strips of cake and two long pink strips of cake (or your colors)
- Heat your apricot jam and water briefly and stir to combine. Place one yellow strip of cake on a clean cutting board and brush jam along one long side with a pastry brust. Place one pink strip up against this yellow strip, "gluing" them together with the jam. Now brush the tops of each strip of cake. Place your other pink strip atop your bottom yellow strip. Brush in the inside edge with jam and place your last yellow strip next to this, gently pressing the cake together. You are creating a checkerboard effect. If your cake is not even on the ends, just use your serrated knife to even up.
Cover the Cake
- Make our Easy Vegan Marzipan. Be sure to chill for 20-30 minutes in cling film coated with powdered sugar and make sure mixture is not sticky. Place a large piece of plastic wrap on a cutting board or silicone baking mat. Coat with powdered sugar. Please your marzipan on the plastic wrap. Dust your rolling pin with powdered sugar and roll out your marzipan into an approximate 8 x 10 inch rectangle or larger — Make sure you measure your cake to make sure how large your marzipan needs to be. Your marzipan should be thin — check our photos to see the thickness
- Quickly brush your assembled cake with jam over the top and long sides (you may need to reheat your jam). Work quickly so that your marzipan does not become too warm and leave the short ends bare
- Lift your assembled cake with your hands or with a long spatula or cake spatula and place it in the center of the marzipan in the proper direction, horizontal to long side
- Gently lift the plastic wrap out and up, pressing your marzipan up one side of your cake and around the top (which will be the bottom eventually). Quickly smooth on sides and top. Repeat for the other side and press your marzipan seem together. Smooth and then flip your marzipan onto this bottom seem. Immediately refrigerate for at least 10-15 minutes. Once chilled slightly, you can remove the trim the edges, cutting off any extra marzipan
- Use any extra marzipan to create your top decorations, coloring with food coloring if desired. See our college football cake for inspiration!
- Keep cake wrapped in plastic wrap and chilled until ready to server. Remove 15 minutes before serving and slice to serve
Notes
- This is my method for achieving this cake — to me, battenburg is a weekend bake. I set out the butter in an airtight container on the counter the night before. In the morning, I bake the cake so it has time to cool. Later, I cut and assemble the cake. Only then do I make the marzipan. Once it chills, I roll out; then quickly brush the top and sides of cake with jam, and get to wrapping. This method works well for me but it’s a several hour bake so plan accordingly
- Get creative with your battenburg! See our college game day version as well! You can also mix in flavors to your cake sides like we did with our freeze dried strawberries and lemon extract or leave them to be almond-scented only
- We set our butter out the night prior to come to room temp in a sealed container. Unless you have several hours to wait, this method works well
- To get eggs to room temp quickly, put eggs in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes
- To make this cake non-gluten-free, use regular all-purpose flour plus the baking soda and salt; or use 100 g self-rising flour and omit the baking powder and salt
Nutrition
