“SPATULA FORCE” is a group of handful of bloggers who came together as a team to experience the various regional cuisines of both India and International. Every month a blogger comes up with a theme and host the challenge. This month the challenge was set by the very talented food blogger Binjal Pandya from www.binjalsvegkitchen.com
As you know this is the month of festival (Christmas) which is celebrating all over the world so Binjal decided to host British cuisine theme. British cuisine is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom. British cuisine has been described as “unfussy dishes made with quality local ingredients, matched with simple sauces to accentuate flavor, rather than disguise it. However, British cuisine has absorbed the cultural influence of those who have settled in Britain, producing many hybrid dishes, such as the Anglo-Indian chicken tikka masala too.
Since appearing in Christmas dinner tables in England the turkey has become more popular, with Christmas pudding served for dessert. Even it is served with stuffing, gravy, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes and vegetables, even there is so many vegetarian and vegan main dishes also available. In addition to Christmas pudding, trifle, mince pies, Christmas cake or a yule log are also popular desserts.
As i had lot many options where i could incorporate Indian spices and make something scrumptious but still i wanted to try my hands on something authentic British. Battenberg or Battenburg cake is a light sponge cake with the pieces covered in jam or custard. The cake is covered in marzipan and, when cut in cross section, displays a distinctive two-by-two check pattern alternately coloured pink and yellow. If you wanna research more on Battenburg cake then you may find this interesting http://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.in/2011/08/battenburg-cake-truth.html
Battenburg cake is said to have been invented in 1884, in honour of the marriage of Queen Victoria’s grand daughter, Victoria of Hesse-Darmsadt, to the Greman prince Louis of Battenburg. Like Coronation Chicken, created for our Queen’s coronation nearly 70 years later, it was so popular that it never went away.
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 60 minutes |
| Servings |
portion
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- 2 cups All purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- a pinch Salt
- 1 cup Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 1 cup butter Softened - / 100 gms
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Strawberry extract / essence
- drops Lemon color - few
- drops Strawberry pink color - few
- 1 cup Whipping cream
- 4 - 5 tbsps sugar Confectioners
- 1 Marzipan or Fondant - fist sized lobe
- Few silver balls
Ingredients
For decor :
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- Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together and keep aside.
- Whisk sugar and butter together till light and creamy.
- Add eggs one at a time and blend nicely with an electrical hand blender till it turns light and fluffy.
- Add the dry mix into the wet mix and fold in to make a smooth batter.
- Divide the batter into two portions in two separate bowl.
- Add vanilla extract and lemon colour into one portion and mix well.
- Similarly add strawberry extract and strawberry pink color into the other divided portion and mix well.
- Line two same size baking trays with parchment paper and pour into the two batters in the consecutive trays as shown in pic below.
- Bake both the cakes in a pre heated oven at 180 degree C for 30-35mins or till the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow it to cool first before taking out from the tray.
- Once the cake is cool completely, slice off the top and the four sides to make an equal sized rectangular of almost 10'x 3' inches.
- Now you will be having two equal sized rectangular cakes. Take the pink cake and cut it lenghth wise from the center. Similarly slice the yellow cake as well.
- Take a pink slice and a yellow slice and pink slice and attach them together length wise by applying whipping cream in the center. [take whipping cream and add confectioners sugar into it and whisk till soft peaks appear]
- Note : If you don't want to use whipping cream, you can use chocolate ganache, apricot jam or even butter cream frosting.
- Similarly do the same with the other two slices as well. Now place both pair over each other but make sure the colors should be place opposite to each other.
- Now apply whipping cream all over the assembled cake and keep aside.
- Knead handful dough of marzipan and roll out outwards with a rolling ping. Roll it big so that it covers the entire cake. I got marzipan dough from the store. If you can make fondant at home, then use that. You can check my fondant recipe at
- Cover the cake with marzipan sheet from all sides. Do it really neatly and cut the extras from the corners using a pizza cutter.
- Make light cris cross impressions on the top and decorate it with silver balls.
- You can even pipe the cake with butter cream or whipped cream frosting or can make fondant or marzipan flowers and place it on top.
- Once your cake is done allow it to refrigerate for atleast an hour before serving.
- Slice into equal pieces and serve in a pary, holiday dinner or just have it as your tea time snack.
Enjoy! if u like this recipe pls do drop a comment below and even like my facebook page.
Image inspiration Simi Jois from http://www.turmericnspice.com/
