Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Battenberg Up

When I read this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge, I was kind of excited that it was cake.  "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."  It’s been awhile since I’ve made a cake and I’ve been feeling the urge a little bit.  This cake was the perfect answer as although it’s small in size, it involves a lot of technique.  Perfect!

Knowing that June was shaping up to be a busy month, I had wanted to get the cake done early in the month.  That didn’t work out so well.  On the day I decided I was going to bake the cake, I took the necessary butter and eggs out of the refrigerator to come to room temperature.  There were also several other things I had decided to do that day, and the pan with the ingredients kept getting in my way.  I finally decided to remove it from the kitchen completely instead of moving it from counter to counter.  It ended up on top of the washing machine (our laundry is just off of the kitchen).  In retrospect, this was not the most brilliant idea.  Especially since there was laundry in the washer.  Once the spin cycle started, my pan vibrated right off the edge and on to the floor.  I did manage to salvage the egg that landed on the butter.


You’ve heard that story and seen that picture before – One of Those Days – and that pretty much removed my motivation for the day.  It wasn’t until about a week after returning from a visit to my dad’s before I chose to try again.  The deadline was nearing QUICKLY and I needed to allow enough time for at least one failure.  I would say I had a semi-failure, but it wasn’t enough to make me start over.

While I had read the recipe multiple times earlier in the month, when I actually started making it I failed to remember that I needed self-rising flour.  Self-rising flour is not something I use often enough to keep on hand.  Fortunately there were instructions for making your own, which is what I did.  Instead of using artificial color (which I prefer not to use) I colored my cakes with ground dried hibiscus petals and turmeric.  I got a little carried away with both.  I knew when I looked at the batter with the hibiscus that the color wasn’t going to turn out at all as I would have liked.  And then when I put the cakes in the oven, I realized I had forgotten to add the vanilla and almond extracts.  Big sigh.  It meant the cake wasn’t going to taste very good, but it wasn’t enough to make me start over.  No one looking at the photo was going to know I forgot the extracts.  But the color!  What was intended to be pink and yellow ended up being purple and gold.  Fine for high school colors, but not so great for cake.

Cutting the cakes was causing me some stress.  I am not very good at straight cuts.  To help me along, I devised my own “cutting guide”.  It took me longer to find two identical items of the appropriate size than it did to actually cut the cakes.  At least that part worked well:  Sure-Jel to the rescue.  Putting the pieces of cake together in the checkerboard pattern – not so much.  The recipe recommends using heated and sieved apricot jam to glue the cake strips together.  I didn’t have any and used some citrus marmalade instead.  Apparently my marmalade doesn’t have the same tenacity as apricot jam.  It wasn’t sufficient to convince the cake to stay together. 

The choices for the covering were marzipan, chocolate plastique (modeling chocolate) or fondant.  I had a little bit of marzipan, but not enough to cover the entire cake.  I also had some modeling chocolate but, again, not enough to cover the entire cake.  So I combined them.  

Despite a passion for things pastry, I absolutely despise confectioners’ sugar and try to avoid it whenever possible.  To roll out my marzipan/modeling chocolate mixture, I placed it between two silicone mats.  I removed the top mat and added the pattern to the covering, then put the top mat back on the flipped it over so when I rolled it around the cake the pattern would be on the outside.  In theory, it worked well.  In reality, the cake didn’t want to stick to it and the pieces tried to come apart when I rolled it. 

Being too stubborn to scrap the whole thing and start over, I got out some honey.  I drizzled a little bit in between the cake pieces that were trying to separate as well as brushing some on the cake covering.  The cake still didn’t want to stay together, but at least it was sticking to the covering. 

Some time ago I had purchased some sugar pearls that I'd not had an opportunity to use yet.  I thought they would look nice where the lines on the cake intersected.  True to the spirit of this cake, I spilled sugar pearls all over the floor while trying to open the safety seal.  I'm still finding them in odd parts of the kitchen.

All pseudo-catastrophes aside, this is what I ended up with:


With the purple and gold, it’s definiely not the attractive pink and yellow cake I imagined.  And because the extracts are missing, it doesn’t even taste very good.  I’m still glad I made it and finished it.  I hope I have time in the future to try this again.  It’s a great technique and with practice I think will produce some awesome results.  Be sure to check out some of the other results on the Daring Kitchen site.  Some of them are just gorgeous and the bakers were incredibly creative. 

For the recipe(s), visit the Daring Kitchen Recipe Archive.  I’m thinking of trying the coffee-walnut version.  I’m also thinking I should have made that one in the first place!


28 comments:

  1. I've had lots of those days in the kitchen, but your cake still looks great! And hey, my elementary school colours were purple and gold. :)

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    1. Thanks, Mary! I knew those had to be somebody's colors! :)
      Maybe I was just too excited and too confident going into this challenge - who knows? But I do want to try again. These are (or have the potential to be) such lovely little cakes!

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  2. I think you were pretty brave to stick to it till the end with good reason; your cake looks way better than mine :)

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    1. Thank you, Prerrna! I think I may have crossed the line between stubborn and stupid trying to finish this cake!

      What did you use for the quilting lines on your cake? That was the look I was aiming for, but didn't achieve.

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  3. Oh yes, I've had days like that in the kitchen... Without knowing everything that went on behind the scenes, I would say that your cake looks great. And now that I DO know the back story, I gotta say your cake looks GREAT!! ;) Sorry to hear it didn't taste as good as it looks!

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    1. Thanks, Korena. I don't think it would have been so bad if it had only been ONE of those days - but two of them was just plain rude! The taste was slightly better the next day, but mine also turned out quite dry. Just one more reason to try again!

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  4. Those were my college colors (University of Washington)! Your cake looks great - those sugar pearls are really pretty even though they made a mess of your kitchen!

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    1. Go UW! Laura, if you ever have occasion to make an alumni battenberg, you now know how to achieve those colors. :) I'm actually chuckling about the sugar pearls as I forgot to tell my husband I spilled them and he's found a few - under his feet!

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  5. Haha, love your post! There's not a single baker who can say he/she hasn't had one of those days. And I have to cheat and use a wire cake leveler when leveling cakes. I haven't quite gotten that down yet either. Nonetheless, it still looks good!

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    1. Thanks, Kelly! I know I can't be the only one to have those days, but it sure feels like it at the time! I have a wire cake cutter, too. At the time I told myself I didn't want to spend time looking for it, but that probably would have been quicker in the long run. Hindsight 20/20 and all. :)

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  6. Despite all the challenges you had to face, your cake turned out perfect. The colors look great. I'm not a fan of arificial colors either.

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    1. Thank you, Olguta, that's very kind of you. Had those been the colors I wanted, I would have been quite happy with them. At least I learned hibiscus has a lot more coloring strength that I thought!

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  7. Your Battenberg cake version is so cute!
    I just love the flavors and colors combination

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    1. Thank you, Inbal. I had hoped my cakes would turn out more like yours, which are so beautiful!

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  8. i think the cake looks perfect. Infact I love the idea of natural color, how creative. I see the jacket is nice and snug on the cake. :))
    i remember the first time i made challah - it was like rock after all the hard work - the only thing I cld do with it was use them as weights:)))hehe!! almost teen doubted and said "mom even mold will refuse to grow on it " i think she is right !! I can relate to how you feel. i think after you make a better version you'll feel better....:))
    Btw how do you get the html code for the daring baker logo on your blog? i searched on the site and cld not find so thought i will just ask you.

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    1. Thanks, Simi! I would like to experiment more with natural colors - and learn how to use them more accurately.
      Almost teen makes me laugh - "mold will refuse to grow on it" - that's priceless!
      You know, I don't think I used an html code for the picture. If I remember correctly I downloaded the image, but when I looked, I can't find from where on the site. There were several images: the one I have, the one with all of the characters and then one for each individual character. I'll have to keep looking and see if I can find where those were.

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    2. :)) she is funny !! She's right no mold on it yet, but there is always hope . We have kept the bread just to see if she is right !! Lol ya u got it right we r a crazy family .


      Thxs let me know when you solve the mystery :)))

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    3. I found it, Simi! Log in and go to
      http://thedaringkitchen.com/badges
      and you'll find all of the different images you can use.

      I'm going to be curious about how long the challah lasts. :)

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  9. Wow! That really turned out incredibly well. I never knew that you could make your own self-rising flour! And cutting the cake with your homemade cake leveler was a great idea. My layers always turn out incredibly uneven when I cut them. I will be trying that soon.

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    1. Katie, you were on my mind when I was thinking about different flavor combinations for the cakes. I think a Battenberg with chocolate and peanut butter cakes would be awesome! I know my cake leveling skills will never improve without practice, but I just hate to waste that much cake in the process. Sometimes by the time I'm done "leveling", my 2-inch layer is down to 3/4-inch and still isn't even!

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  10. We often say "All's well that ends well" and I certainly think that applies to your Battenburg - the result is stunning and we would have never known what went on behind the scenes.Thanks for visiting my blog. Cheers from Auckland New Zealand.

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    1. That's a very good way to look at it, Heather! The behind the scenes wasn't pretty, but that's where the lessons are learned. :) A friend of mine tells me that New Zealand is beautiful and I must add it to my wish list of places to visit. A girl can dream!

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  11. So did the gold side taste like tumeric? I have to say I am impressed with the dried flowers/tumeric idea but wonder how it would effect the flavor. Anyway, your cake is beautiful even if you don't think it tasted so good... Best, Sandie

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    1. Thank you, Sandie. I truly believe my cakes tasted poorly because I was remiss in adding the extracts. Whoever thinks vanilla is "plain" should try baked goods without it! As for the turmeric, I could taste it just slightly; but I use turmeric frequently and am familiar with the taste. I'm not sure someone who wasn't would notice it much. I'm quite fond of the flavor of hibiscus having become enamoured with hibiscus tea in Egypt. It's a unique, but pleasant, flavor, a little more lemony than floral. I do recommend it, but also admit to sentimental bias as well!

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    2. The cake is absolutely beautiful! As for those days in the kitchen - they're universal and awful. I sympathize completely.

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    3. Thanks, M! I didn't think my experience with the cake was nearly as amusing as I do now. Fortunately, those days are few and far between!

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  12. I think that the final photo definately hides any assembling difficulties you might have had and the extremely clean cut shows your meticulous work. As for the jam, personally I decided to make a change by using leftovers such as my dried apricot cream mixed with cream cheese which worked really well as a connective component as well as the easy water ganache. Overall, great job!! :)

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    1. Thank you! I can't imagine trying to make the cuts for your intricate Celtic knot design - I would go crazy I'm certain. It would have been better if I had used some of the leftover buttercream or ganache I had in the refrigerator to keep my cakes together. It probably would have improved the taste as well!

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What do you think?