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Hello and welcome to the 2024 Great British Bake Off bake along! I’ve been doing this on and off over on my Instagram for years, but this year we’re going the whole hog and doing a bake along here on Substack. I’ll be sharing a Bake Off inspired recipe every week, I won’t be sticking to any particular challenge, I’ll just be baking whatever I fancy, if there’s a week when I don’t love anything they’re making I might skip it but so far I’m getting good vibes from this series. This will come with a temporary shift in scheduling, I’ll be posting my bake along posts on Fridays so that if you fancy joining in the bake along you’ll have the recipes in time for the weekend.
Signature
Ok, let’s start off with a quick episode rundown. For the signature bake the bakers had to make a loaf cake, I love challenges like this, they’re simple, to the point, and the bakers can go as crazy or as basic as they like. Personally, at this stage of the competition, I think it’s best to do something simple but done well, with plenty of time to decorate but I think the desire to do something impressive got the better of a lot of the bakers this week. A lot of the loaf cakes looked pretty good, my favourites were Illiyin’s cinnamon roll loaf (even though I can’t stand it when Paul does a handshake) and I liked the concept of Dylan’s sticky rice cake, it was a shame he forgot the yoghurt because that sponge looked dense.
Technical
If you know me at all you’ll know that I was thrilled to see Battenberg make an appearance. What I wasn’t thrilled about was the tragic lack of jam in those Battenberg, buttercream in Battenberg should be a crime and that’s a hill I’m willing to die on. All of the bakers struggled with this somewhat, Battenberg can be fiddly, especially mini ones but after reading this post you’ll be a pro. If you fancy a bigger project I have a recipe for a 16 square raspberry & tarragon Battenberg which you can read here.
Showstopper
Hyper realistic cakes aren’t really my thing but I think we all need to take a second to appreciate the masterpiece that was Sumayah’s duck cake, without a doubt one of the cutest cakes I’ve ever seen. I’ve never actually made a hyper realistic cake, the closest I’ve come is my Easter Lamb cake, I have a tutorial on my carrot cake post, this was such a fun bake, it’s been on my “to re-make list” for ages.
Alright, let’s get onto today’s recipe, Battenberg! We’re making blackberry and pistachio Battenberg but really you can use any nut and fruit combination you like. Let’s do a quick run-through of our components:
Sponge - for this recipe we’re making a base mix and then splitting it in two so that we can flavour half of it with pistachios and colour the other half pink. You can either use roasted or raw pistachios, raw produce a nicer colour but roasted have a deeper flavour so I’ll leave it up to your discretion. I baked my sponges in 8” square tins, the tin doesn’t matter too much as long as it’s around that size. The pink sponge will dome slightly more than the pistachio, don’t be alarmed by this!
Jam - I’ve included a jam recipe but feel free to use a store-bought jam instead to save a bit of time, or change out the fruit, I also love raspberries and plum with pistachio. It’s not essential but I include pectin in this recipe for an extra thick jam, thicker jam means that we can squeeze more in-between each layer and I’m all about that jam:sponge ratio. Regardless of whether you’re using store bought or homemade jam, I would recommend blending it, it makes it much easier to spread evenly and get clean slices.
Marzipan - making your own marzipan is surprisingly easy, it does contain raw egg whites so if you’re squeamish about that, just use store bought instead. I used a combination of almonds and pistachios but you can use all pistachios if you’d like a really strong flavour, I just can’t afford to be using pistachios willy-nilly in this economy.
Blackberry & Pistachio Mini Battenberg
Equipment - Blender/food processor, stand/hand mixer, food thermometer (not essential), ruler.
Ingredients - Makes 10 mini Battenberg
Sponge Base
110g butter
35g neutral oil (or pistachio oil if you have it)
270g caster sugar
1/4tsp fine salt
Zest of 1 lemon
180g eggs (3-4 eggs, you can always add a yolk and save the white for the marzipan)
1tsp almond extract
Pistachio Sponge
Green food colouring
60g pistachios
80g plain flour
1tbsp cornflour
1.75tsp baking powder
75g whole milk
Pink Sponge
Pink food colouring
Purple food colouring
100g plain flour
35g ground almonds
1tbsp cornflour
1.75tsp baking powder
75g whole milk
Blackberry Jam
400g blackberries
160g caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4tsp pectin powder mixed with 1tsp caster sugar (optional)
Pistachio Marzipan
200g pistachios
200g ground almonds
200g icing sugar
100g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
50-60g egg white/about 2 whites
1/2tsp almond extract
Icing sugar to roll
Method - Sponge
Grease and line 2 square 8” tins.
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C/340°F(convection).
Cream the butter, oil, sugar, lemon zest and salt together until pale and fluffy.
Gradually add the eggs and almond extract, scraping down the bowl occasionally.
Divide this mixture between two bowls, you’ll need around 290g per bowl, make sure to divide it evenly.
For the pistachio mix, add a touch of green colouring to the base, it always gets darker during the bake so don’t go crazy with the food colouring.
Combine the pistachios and all of the dry ingredients in a blender/food processor and blitz until the pistachios are very finely ground.
Fold in half of the dry ingredients followed by half of the milk, repeat, being careful not to over-mix.
Pour into a lined tin and level out.
Use the other half of the base mix to make the pink sponge.
Add a touch of pink and purple colouring to the base, it always gets darker during the bake so don’t go crazy with the food colouring.
Sieve the dry ingredients together then fold in half followed by half of the milk, repeat until you have a nice smooth mix.
Bake both sponges at 170°C/340°F for 25-35 minutes, mine took exactly 30 minutes but it will vary oven to oven.
Method - Blackberry Jam
Combine everything but the pectin mixture in a medium pan.
Bring to the boil and then reduce to low/medium, it should be just bubbling.
Once boiling, shower in the pectin/sugar mixture and stir.
Simmer for around 15 minutes until the temperature reaches 104°C, if you don’t have a thermometer, just put a spoonful on a plate, it should set and form a skin within a few minutes.
Blend to get rid of any large lumps and then set aside until ready to use.
Method - Pistachio Marzipan
Combine the pistachios, ground almonds, icing sugar and salt in a blender/food processor and blitz until the pistachios are very finely ground.
Add the caster sugar, almond extract and 2/3 of the egg whites and blend until it forms a firm dough, adding more egg whites if necessary.
Tip it onto the worktop and knead it until it comes together, you can add more icing sugar or egg whites if needed.
Clingfilm until ready to use.
Method - Assembly
Trim both of the sponges so that they are completely flat and as even as possible, I like to trim both the top and the bottom so that you’re left with the fluffiest sponge without any brown edges. After trimming, my sponges were around 2cm high.
Spread a thick layer of jam over one of the sponges and top with the other.
Trim one edge and then measure the total height of the two sponges together.
Cut the sponge into slices, the slices should be the width of 1/2 of the total height, mine was 4cm high in total so I measured 2cm slices, see GIF below, this part is kind of hard to explain!
Lay the sliced pieces out flat (as pictured) and spread a layer of jam on half of them.
Top with the un-jammed slices, making sure to flip them to you have a checkerboard design. This process can get a bit messy and crumby but don’t worry.
Once you have all of your logs ready, set them aside and start rolling the marzipan.
Using about 1/5 of the marzipan per log roll out a rectangle, the marzipan should be nice and thin, mine was about 2mm thick.
Make sure it’s not stuck to the bench, then trim the rectangle so that the width is the same length as one log (7.5”/19cm if using an 8” tin), and the length is the same as the circumference of the log plus about 1cm wiggle room. To work out the circumference just take the height and multiply it by 4. So mine was 4cmx4cm=16cm+1=17cm.
Spread a thin layer of jam all over the marzipan rectangle, leaving a very slight gap around the edges.
Place a sponge log on the very edge of the marzipan and roll up.
Trim off any excess and repeat until you’ve covered all of your logs.
Using a serrated knife trim the ends off each log and then cut in half and there you have it! Your mini Battenberg!
If you’re finding that the marzipan is getting sticky, you can roll them in caster sugar to help with this.
This is more of a fiddly bake but you just have to embrace the process and have fun! And the best bit is that after all of your hard work you can enjoy your delicious Battenberg! Let me know what your thoughts were on Bake Off and I’ll be back next Friday for biscuit week!