Directions

For the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 165°C.

2. If you haven't done so already, whisk up your egg whites to soft peaks.

3. Add all the other cake ingredients to the egg whites and gently mix with a spatula. If you're making two different coloured sponges, pour your mixture into two separate bowls. To be exact, you could weigh the mixture.

4. Once separated, add your food colouring to the mix. Make sure this food colouring is meant for baking and not just icing - I use Lakelands Food Colouring Paste and need 1/8 tsp in half of the cake mix.

5. If you don't have two equal size bread tins and want to make coloured sponges, fold a sheet of foil or greaseproof paper to create a wall that divides the brownie tin in half.

6. Line the base of your tin(s) with greaseproof paper.

7. Pour the cake mix into your tins and bake for approx. 30 minutes.

For the jam:

1. In a non-stick saucepan, add the berries and a splash of water - just enough so that you can cook them. Add the sweetener.

2. Gently simmer until fully cooked - this usually takes around 10 minutes.

3. Once cooked, blitz the jam until smooth and then pour the jam into a sieve to remove any seeds. You may need to do this twice. Removing the seeds is optional.

4. Refrigerate the jam until chilled.

For the marzipan:

1. Place all of the ingredients in a bowl, beat it all together until it forms a doughball.

2. Knead until smooth, wrap in cling film, and refrigerate.

Cake & jam part 2:

1. Once the cake has cooked, allow to cool completely.

2. For the ultimate battenberg, you don't want to see any golden crusts (oh no... you'll have to eat them!). Cut each coloured sponge into two long rectangles, and then trim the crusts until the rectangles are equal size.

Now to add the jam.

1. Start with two different coloured rectangles of sponge. Spread some jam on one long side of the sponge, then stick together. Repeat this with the other two rectangles

2. Now spread the jam on top of the first two rectangles and place the second two on top, so that the colours alternate.

3. Finally, spread the jam on the top of the cake. This will become the base that sticks to the marzipan.

Marzipan part 2 & construction

1. Roll out the marzipan on greaseproof paper or a silicon mat. You may need to use a sheet on top too if it's particularly sticky. You could also add some more ground almonds to the dough, if needed, to stop it being so sticky. And you could also sprinkle some ground almonds onto your work surface, to stop it sticking (I used a little sweetener as an alternative and sprinkled some on my rolling pin too). The marzipan needs to be large enough to cover the entire cake.

2. Once rolled, place the jam side of the cake in the middle of the marzipan sheet.

3. Spread more jam on the other three sides of the cake.

4. Gently bring the marzipan up, sticking it to the sides of the cake. Ideally, you want the ends of the marzipan to meet at the centre of one of the sides. This side will be the bottom of the cake when serving.

5. Gently pinch the corners of the cake and run your fingers along the corners, creating a nice sharp edge.

6. Finally, cut the ends of the marzipan & cake to create an even finish. More cake and marzipan to eat!