Battenberg cake (which used to go by a variety of names including ‘chapel window cake’) is now made commercially with just four alternating squares of pink and yellow sponge, with the whole thing wrapped in marzipan. The original recipe, though, had nine squares. Tradition has it that the cake was invented (and named) for the wedding in 1884 of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Victoria. There’s some doubt about whether that’s actually true, though, and the first published version of the recipe (with nine squares) didn’t appear until 1898.
