Gluten-Free Battenberg Cake

I mentioned this a while ago. I told my cousin that, as her birthday present, I'd make her a birthday cake (it's so difficult to find good gluten free cakes that are fit for a birthday). Any cake you want, I said. She asked for the one type of cake I'd never even heard of: a Battenberg cake. Apparently it's a very common feature at afternoon tea. After some research I discovered that it's a less almond-y, checkerboard version of an Italian (or rather Italian-American) tricolor cake. They are traditionally pink and white, filled with a thin layer of apricot jam, and covered with untinted marzipan that is scored in a diamond pattern.

My first thought was if the cake is dyed pink, why isn't the marzipan? Also, if the cake is pink, why is it apricot jam not raspberry? And then I thought, why don't I just do it my way? So I did. It's still a Battenberg, but a bit prettier and a bit tastier (if you like raspberry jam more than apricot.)

The real challenge was in getting the cake right. I tried a couple cake recipes (with regular flour) to find the one I liked the most. I ended up with my favorite Martha Stewart white cake. White because it takes color best and that recipe because it's quite sturdy so I didn't have to worry about it falling apart during the cutting and stacking process. The next challenge was making it gluten free. Since I wanted the cake to be really good, I didn't mess around with different gluten free flour mixes. I made my mom bring a bag of cup4cup (hands down the best and easiest gluten free flour on the market) from the US with her since they don't sell it in the UK.

I made two quarter sheets of the cake, one plain, the other with a few drops of pink gel food coloring. I dyed the marzipan with the same food coloring. I assembled it checkerboard like with jam sticking the pieces together and holding the marzipan on. I trimmed the ends and scored the marzipan (with the back of a knife) as is typical. Then I decided that, since it was a special occasion, I'd make some marzipan roses for the top.

My cousin, and the whole family, loved it. As did I. Admittedly it's not my favorite cake, but that's not the lack of gluten as much as the lack of frosting. Considering, though, it was moist enough (between the cake and the jam) and quite flavorful because of the marzipan. It was quite a success and, I hope, a good birthday present.