Foodies rejoice - The Great British Bake Off makes its long-awaited return this week, with 12 hopefuls aiming to showcase their skills in order to be crowned the UK's best amateur baker . Each week, there's a different theme that the bakers must honour, whipping up delicious treats for judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith to enjoy. Week one is all about the cakes, with the contestants being challenged to whip up mini Battenberg loaves - a classic British treat that has been a teatime staple for years.
And if you want to whip up your own to enjoy whilst you tune into the show, you might be surprised at how easy they are to make. The 'easiest ever' recipe was created by BBC Good Food and involves a light and fluffy dual-coloured sponge all wrapped up in a delicious marzipan coating. This classic chequerboard cake may look complicated to make, but is actually a lot more straightfoward than you'd expect.
Taking 30 minutes to bake, it's the perfect sweet snack for preparing ahead of The Great British Bake Off's return tonight. Here's everything that you need to make this recipe , which serves eight. Before you start, you'll need a 20cm square cake tin or a Battenberg tin and some baking foil to help you divide up the different colours of sponge.
'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 1⁄2 tsp baking powder 1⁄2 tsp almond extract pink food colouring For dec.