Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Grease and prepare the divided cake tin.

Put the butter into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Whisk in the sugar a little at a time. Beat thoroughly until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Break the eggs into a separate bowl, add the almond extract and beat, then gradually beat into the butter mixture a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add a tablespoon of the self-­rising flour with each of the last two additions of egg to prevent the mixture from curdling.

Sift the remaining flour, salt and ground almonds into the bowl. Add the milk and carefully fold everything together with a large metal spoon.

Add the pink food colouring a few drops at a time to half the cake batter.

Bake the coloured and uncoloured sponges for 20–25 minutes until the sponges are well risen.

Set the cakes on a wire rack to cool

When cold, set the sponges on a flat surface. Cut to make four strips of cake - two pink and two yellow. Trim all the strips so that the short sides are exactly square as they may have risen unevenly.

Knead the marzipan until it is soft and flexible, then roll it out to a 20 x 30cm rectangle.

Heat the apricot jam with 1 tablespoon of cold water then push it through a sieve to make a smooth puree. Brush one long side of a sponge strip very lightly with jam and set it jam-side down on one short side of the marzipan rectangle. Brush the three other long sides of this piece of sponge with jam.

Repeat with the other strips.Arrange them on the marzipan.

To finish the cake, brush the top and long sides of the cake with the apricot jam (gently re-warmed), then wrap the marzipan neatly around the cake, leaving the checkerboard ends visible. Press the marzipan join to seal it (it should be along one bottom edge).

Dust with powdered sugar to serve.