'Easiest ever' Battenberg cake recipe to enjoy during The Great British Bake Off

Get ready, baking enthusiasts - The Great British Bake Off is back on our screens this week, with 12 hopefuls vying to prove their prowess and be named the UK's top amateur baker.

Each episode brings a new challenge that the contestants must take part in, creating mouth-watering delights for judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith to sample.

The first week is all about cakes, with the bakers tasked with crafting mini Battenberg loaves - a quintessential British treat that has been a staple at teatime for generations. And if you fancy making your own to munch on while you watch the show, you might be pleasantly surprised at how simple they are to create.

READ MORE: Make a loaf cake worthy of a 'French bakery' with simple tip as Great British Bake Off returns

The 'easiest ever' recipe was whipped up by BBC Good Food and features a light, fluffy two-tone sponge encased in a tasty marzipan shell, reports the Express.

This traditional chequerboard cake may appear complex to construct, but it's actually much more straightforward than you'd think. With a baking time of just 30 minutes, it's the ideal sweet treat to prepare ahead of The Great British Bake Off's eagerly anticipated return tonight.

Here's everything you need to whip up this recipe, which serves eight. Before you begin, ensure you have a 20cm square cake tin or a Battenberg tin and some baking foil to help separate the different coloured sponges.

'Easiest ever' Battenberg cake

Ingredients - for the cake

• 175g really soft butter
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 50g ground almond
• 140g self-raising flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp almond extract
• pink food colouring

For decorating

• 100g apricot jam
• icing sugar, for dusting
• 500g pack white marzipan

Method

Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Use a double layer of foil to create a divider down the middle of a 20cm square or Battenberg tin, then line each section with two sheets of baking parchment. Combine all the cake ingredients, excluding the food colouring, in a large mixing bowl and mix with an electric hand whisk until you have a smooth batter.

Pour half the cake mixture into one side of the tin, then stir the food colouring into the remaining cake mixture. Once you've achieved a bright pink hue, spoon this mixture into the other side of the tin, ensuring both mixtures reach the edges of their respective sections.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean, then allow to cool for 15 minutes before moving to a wire rack. When cooled, place the cakes on a chopping board and trim the sides of each one to achieve straight edges. Cut each one lengthways to yield two pink and two plain rectangular sponges.

Warm the apricot jam in a small pan or microwave, then strain it. Lightly dust a work surface with icing sugar, then roll out a quarter of the marzipan to a rectangle roughly 20 x 10cm. Brush the surface with the warm apricot jam, then position one plain sponge and one pink sponge side by side on top, applying a bit of jam in the middle of the cakes to bind them together.

Apply more jam on top of the cakes, then place the remaining sponges on top, with additional jam in between, to create a chequerboard pattern.

Roll out the leftover marzipan into a rectangle approximately 20 x 25cm. Brush any remaining jam over the exterior of the assembled cake. Use a rolling pin to assist in lifting the marzipan over the cake, smoothing it over the top and sides, and gently pressing it into the corners.

Trim off any excess marzipan about 1cm from the cake's sides, and cut a thin slice off each end to tidy up. To complete, crimp the marzipan around the base by pinching it with your finger and thumb.

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