I love Jaffa Cakes. They remind me of childhood trips to see my Granny and Grandpa, where there was always a packet or two of these little gems to be found in the larder, as they were Grandpa Jack’s favourite biscuits (although technically they’re classified as cakes!). Living in India we don’t get to have them very often – probably a good thing for our waistlines! However, the other day the Domestic Prince said he really fancied a Jaffa Cake and since we didn’t have any in our stash of goodies, I set about trying to make them. I came across a recipe for them by Simon Rimmer and as the Domestic Prince will tell you, I can’t just follow a recipe, I need to tweak it to make it mine. So this recipe is a tweak of Simon’s.
Makes 12
Ingredients
For the sponge base
- 40g of caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 50g of plain flour
For the jelly layer
- 1 pint of orange jelly mix (I used the Cloudy Orange one from Marks & Spencer)
- 2tbsp of orange marmalade (Tiptree is my favourite)
For the topping
- 175g of 70% dark chocolate
Method
- Make-up the jelly according to the instructions, adding in the 2tbps of marmalade and pour into a greased baking tray to form around a 1cm layer. Pop in the fridge to set.
- Pre-heat the oven to 170C.
- Lightly grease a 12 tin muffin tin.
- Put the eggs and sugar into a glass bowl and whisk until they’re combined. Put some water into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Suspend the glass bowl over the boiling water, ensuring that it’s not touching the water. Whisk the eggs and sugar over the boiling water for around 5 to 6 minutes, until they form a thick, moussey-like consistency.
- Sift the flour into the egg and sugar mixture.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 muffin wells and put in the oven for 8 to 9 minutes, or until they are pale and golden on top.
- Leave to cool completely.
- Once the jelly is set, cut 12 small discs out and place on top of the cooled sponges.
- Chop the chocolate up into small pieces and melt in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water, making sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the boiling water.
- Pour the melted chocolate over the jelly and sponge and leave to set.
Domestic Princess tips
- If you don’t have access to packet jelly, you can make your own using orange juice and gelatine. One gelatine leaf is required for approximately 100ml of liquid.
- If you want to make these more child-friendly, leave out the marmalade and use either a combination of milk and dark chocolate, or just milk chocolate.
They are truly divine and dare I say it, maybe a bit nicer, more luxurious than the shop bought ones!
Normal blogging service will resume on Monday.
With much love
The Domestic Princess
xoxo
