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1
Preheat the oven to 160C fan/170C/gas mark 4.
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2
Grease the Battenberg tin really well with butter, then coat it with flour.
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3
If you have no Battenberg tin, see step 3.
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4
If using a square cake tin, grease and line it with non-stick baking parchment.
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5
Fold a pleat down the centre of the parchment (it should look like an upside-down T shape) and use the parchment to divide the tin into two halves.
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6
Pulse the pistachio kernels in a food processor until very fine.
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7
Alternatively place them in a bag and hit them with a rolling pin until finely crushed.
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8
Weigh your empty mixing bowl and make a note of it.
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9
In the mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy; this takes about 5 minutes in a kitchen mixer fitted with a paddle, or a little longer with a hand mixer.
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10
Slowly add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar, along with 1 tablespoon of the flour, mixing all the time until incorporated.
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11
Fold in the remaining flour until well mixed.
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12
Weigh the mixing bowl and subtract the weight of the empty bowl.
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13
You can now work out how much mixture you have.
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14
Place half of the mixture into another bowl.
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15
Fold the ground pistachios and a hint of green colouring into one half of the mixture until well blended and evenly coloured.
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16
Add the rose water (or vanilla essence) and a hint of the pink colouring to the other half of the mixture and fold in until well blended and evenly coloured.
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17
Place the pink mixture in one half of the tin and the pistachio mixture in the other half.
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18
Bake for 3035 minutes until well risen and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
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19
Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin.
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20
Lightly dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out the marzipan to about 3mm thick.
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21
You need a piece about 35 x 25cm to cover the cake.
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22
Remove the two sponges from the tin.
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23
Cut each sponge in half lengthways.
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24
Gently warm the strawberry jam in a small pan or the microwave.
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25
Use the warmed jam to stick together the four strips of cake to make a chequerboard effect.
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26
Trim one long side of your marzipan straight, using a ruler and knife.
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27
Brush the top and sides of the assembled cake with jam and place upside down on the straight edge of your rolled-out marzipan.
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28
Brush the bottom of the cake with jam and now roll the cake over until completely covered in marzipan.
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29
Trim away the excess marzipan and trim the ends of the cake using a sharp serrated knife.
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30
Place on your presentation plate and enjoy.
