Mondrian Battenberg Cake
Ingredients
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¾ cup (1½ sticks) 175gm / 6 oz Unsalted Butter, softened & cut in cubes
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¾ cup / 175gm / 6 oz Caster Sugar
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1¼ cups / 175gm / 6 oz Self-Raising Flour
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3 Large Eggs, room temp
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½ cup / 65gm/ 2 1/3 oz Ground Almonds (Can be substituted with ground rice)
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3/4 tsp / 3½ gm Baking Powder
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½ tsp / 2½ ml Vanilla Extract
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1/4 tsp (1¼ ml) Almond Extract
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Red, yellow and blue Food Colouring, paste, liquid or gel
To Finish
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375 dark chocolate
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4 tablespoons pure cream
Directions:
Step 1 - Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/160°C Fan Assisted/Gas Mark 4.
Step 2 - Grease an 8/20cm square baking tin with butter.
Step 3 - Generously spray a tin with cooking oil or brush with butter. Take three pieces of foil and fold it over twice so that it can sit up by itself. Trim each piece to fit the length of the tin. Then take three pieces of parchment paper and fold each in half and place the foil in the divide. Place as shown above so that the foil sits up and the parchment lines the base. You need to make four divisions in this tin, the largest for the plain or cream coloured batter. Also place some parchment on any gaps and on the sides that aren't covered.
Step 4 - OR Prepare Battenberg tin by brushing the tin with melted butter and flouring.
Step 5 - In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk together the dry ingredients then combine with the butter and eggs and beat together just until the ingredients are combined and the batter is smooth.
Step 6 - Spoon a third of the mixture into the one side of the prepared baking tin.
Step 7 - Divide the remaining batter into three and place each in a separate bowl and tint them with the colours-be generous with the colours. Stir until the colour is thoroughly distributed, add more colour if needed
Step 8 - Spoon each batter into the cavities of the prepared baking tin.
Step 9 - Smooth the surface of the batter with a spatula, making sure batter is in each corner.
Step 10 - Bake for 30-35 mins until the cake is well risen, springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick comes out clean (it should shrink away from the sides of the pan).
Step 11 - Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to cool thoroughly on a wire rack
Step 12 - Once completely cool, trim the edges of the cake with a long serrated knife
Step 13 - Trim the sponges. It helps enormously if you use a Mondrian pattern as a guide which really helps when cutting up your sponges.
Step 14 - Neaten the strips and trim as necessary so that your checkered pattern is as neat and even as possible. Put them against each other so that you can see what it will look like.
Step 15 - Make the chocolate ganache by melting the chocolate in a double boiler or in a microwave and adding the cream. Stir until smooth.
Step 16 - Using an angled spatula, spread the ganache over the cake pieces to adhere them to each other. If your ganache looks like it is setting, place it in the microwave on 50% for 20 seconds to loosen it up again and keep reapplying. Then, spread the ganache over the top and sides.
Step 17 - Using a cup of warm water and a clean angled spatula, you can smooth the ganache by dipping the spatula into the water, shaking the water off and then applying firm but gently pressure buffing out any lines or creases.