Battenberg cake

Battenberg or Battenburg is a light sponge cake with variously coloured sections held together with jam and covered in marzipan. The cake, when cut in cross section, displays a distinctive two-by-two check pattern, alternately coloured pink and yellow. The chequered patterns on emergency vehicles in the UK are officially referred to as Battenburg markings because of their resemblance to the cake. Charles Nevin wrote in The Independent: “Battenberg cake is exemplarily British. The first cake was baked in 1884 to celebrate Prince Louis of Battenberg marrying Princess Victoria, Queen Victoria’s granddaughter and Prince Philip’s grandmother.” Early Battenbergs had as many as 25 squares, and food historian Ivan Day states that the simplified four-panelled cake occurred when large industrial bakers such as Lyons began producing it. Bakers construct Battenberg cakes by baking yellow and pink almond sponge-cakes separately, and then cutting and combining the pieces in a chequered pattern. The cake is held together by jam and covered with marzipan.

Source: Wikipedia