Battenburg, battenberg. How on earth do you spell it? Anyway the theme for this month's We Should Cocoa challenge, as hosted by Choclette, was marzipan. I love the stuff. Originally I thought of doing a chocolate stollen but for some reason I just didn't fancy it today, so a chocolate battenburg it was.
Normally I'd have split the mix in half after creaming the butter and sugar and adding the eggs, and added flour to one half and a mixture of flour and cocoa to the other. However I thought that I should probably use proper chocolate in the spirit of the challenge, so I made the whole basic batter, split it in half and added melted chocolate to one half. I don't like it much, I have to admit. I just don't love this cake (although the vanilla bits are lovely!), and for that reason I'm not going to write the recipe, because I don't want anyone to make one of my recipes and be disappointed. Saying that, my husband has gleefully stuffed a slice of it into his mouth and given me a very enthusiastic thumbs up, so perhaps I'm just a bit hard on myself.
I like the little flowers! I made them from the marzipan offcuts with a flower press tool I bought at the Country Living Spring Fair.
So this is my entry and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what everyone else does, because marzipan isn't the very easiest ingredient to pair with chocolate so it should be interesting!
This cake is so pretty - the spring flowers are a nice touch. I have a recipe for the challenge - just waiting for a bundt tin I've ordered to arrive.
ReplyDeletenice work!... I am still yet to make my marzipan but I think i'll do it at some point over the weekend... not going to try anything nearly as complicated as this cake though... looks stunning!
ReplyDeleteLooks great and I love the decoration too, very pretty. I've not posted my recipe yet becasue it tasted so bad it had to get flung in the bin. Such a waste I know! I'm sure if I had followed your lead I'd have made something at least people could eat lol.
ReplyDeleteThis battenburg looks gorgeous, I think you're being too hard on yourself! I want to participate in this month's event but I may have left it a bit too late.. I've got just tomorrow to make my dessert and post it. I'll do my best to make the deadline!
ReplyDeleteIt looks wonderful so it's a shame it didn't meet your expectations. I love the decoration.
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