Battenberg cake

noun

Bat·ten·berg cake ˈba-tᵊn-ˌbərg-

variants or Battenburg cake

ˈba-tᵊn-ˌbərg-

chiefly British

: a rectangular cake that is usually covered with marzipan and that is assembled from two differently colored sponge cakes so that a slice of the cake has a checkered pattern

… checkerboard Battenburg cakes coated with marzipan …—

Toronto Star, 18 May 2005

… the retro pink and yellow checker board Battenberg cake is delightfully finger sized.—

Marketwire, 29 June 2010

Word History

Etymology

probably after the Battenberg family, a morganatic branch of the ducal house of Hesse-Darmstadt, members of whom established careers in Britain or married into the British royal family (after Battenberg, a town in Hesse, Germany)

First Known Use

1903, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of Battenberg cake was in 1903

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Battenberg cake.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Battenberg%20cake. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

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