Chocolate Pandan Battenberg Cake

Ingredient	Method
Chocolate Plastique: 255 grams Chocolate Plastique	Take the chocolate plastic out of the refrigerator.  It will be hard as a rock. Leave it on a counter for 30 minutes to soften slightly.
Cake:  200g all purpose flour 3 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 170g granulated sugar 55g ground almonds 170g unsalted butter, very soft 3 A eggs Flavour: ~60g  chocolate chips, melted + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract ~1/2 tsp pandan extract+1 tsp apito pandan	1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Then add sugar and ground almonds. Whisk the dry ingredientns together. 2. Mix butter and eggs on medium-high speed into step 1 until just combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl a few times with a spatula. Try to avoid over-beating the batter. 3. Divide batter into two portions: 1 mix with melted chocolate and 1 mix with pandan extract. 4. Place each batter in one side of the 7" prepared pan and spread evenly (Fold a piece of parchment paper to create a divider down the middle of the pan, and trim it to fit). Bake at 180˚C for 30 minutes, until the cakes spring back when pressed lightly with a finger and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it. 5. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn them out on to a rack to cool completely. To speed up the process, place them in the fridge or freezer (makes them easier to trim into shape).
Ganache: 70g dark chocolate coins, melted 25ml milk 1.5 tbsp butter	1. Over medium-high heat, bring the milk to a boil. 2. Pour the hot milk over the chocolate and butter and let it sit for a minute, then whisk until melted and smooth. Chill the ganache until thickened.
Assembly When the cakes are completely cool, trim the top of each to make it flat. Stack the cakes and trim the long edges to make them even. The cross section of the cake should be as square as possible. Cut the cakes in half to give you four long square strips, two of each flavour. Using the chocolate ganache, stick one green and one chocolate strip together. Repeat with the remaining two strips. Spread one double-strip with ganache and place the second double-strip on top, making sure to position it so that you have a checkered effect when viewed from the end. Press firmly so that everything sticks together and place the cake in the fridge to set while you roll out the chocolate plastique. Remove the chocolate plastique from the plastic bag and place it on a silicon baking mat. Begin folding and kneading it. It will be very stiff and crumbly at first, but keep going and the warmth from your hands will eventually turn it into a pliable mass. This may take anywhere from 5 – 15 minutes. Once it is soft enough, begin rolling it out into a rectangle slightly larger than 8″ x 14″. It will probably be quite hard to roll, so use your hands to gently stretch the chocolate plastique as well. When it is the desired size, choose which side is prettiest (ie, smoothest) and put that side facing down. Trim one short edge so that it is straight. Spread one quarter of the remaining ganache over the top of the cake, then place the cake, ganache side down, on the chocolate plastique, about 1 1/2-inches away from edge that you trimmed straight. Spread the remaining ganache over the exposed three sides of the cake. Using the silicon mat, roll the chocolate plastique around the cake, pressing firmly to adhere it to the sides. To finish the bottom of the cake, cut off the excess chocolate plastique to form a neat seam. Place the cake, seam side down, on a cutting board and chill for about an hour to set. When the cake has set, use a large knife to trim off the ends to expose the checkered pattern of the cake. Cut into slices to serve.