Battenberg cake with rose and pistachio recipe

This Battenberg cake puts a Persian twist on a classic tea time treat. This splendid cake has a royal heritage and is thought to have been created in 1884 for the marriage of Princess Victoria to Louis of Battenberg. We think this classy Battenberg cake would look elegant at any royal wedding, but with its quirky flavour combination would also fit in at a luxurious afternoon tea, or equally it's just perfect with a cup of tea with guests. The marzipan roses look impressive but once you get the hang of it are simple to make and you will soon be embellishing all of your bakes with these beautiful little blooms.

Ingredients

• 100g lightly salted butter
• 160g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, separated
• 100g ground almonds
• 60g plain flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 50g pistachio, ground to a fine crumb in a food processor
• 2 drops rose essence
• A few of drops of Pink and green food colouring, we used Dr. Oetker

To decorate

• 150g marzipan, coloured green
• 50g marzipan, coloured pink
• 100g strawberry jam

You will need:

• 21.5x 15.5cm Battenburg tin with the base lined with baking parchment
• Small round cutter
• Leaf shaped cutter

Method

1. Heat the oven to170C fan/ Gas 5. Cream butter with the sugar until pale, mix in the egg yolk the fold through the flour. Whisk the egg white to medium peaks and fold through the mixture in 3 inclusions. Put half (about 200g) of the mixture into a bowl and fold through green colouring, pistachio and 25g of ground almonds. Fold the pink colouring, rose essence and remaining almond through the other half of the mixture.
2. Pour the green batter into 2 quarters of the tin and the pink into the others, smooth the top and bake for 25 mins. Run a knife around the edge and carefully remove the sponge from the tins then cool on a wire rack, once cool trim so you have 4 neat equal pieces.
3. To assemble: warm the jam and spread a thin layer to stick four sponges together. Roll out the green marzipan to 35cm long and as wide as the cake, spread the remaining jam onto the outside of the cake and wrap the marzipan around it, trimming the edges. Cut out leaves from the remaining green marzipan. Roll out the pink marzipan and cut out circles to create petals. Make a small ball for the centre of the flower and wrap the petals around it. Use the flowers and leaves to decorate the Battenberg cake.