There are 3 parts...a fatless sponge, orange jelly, and chocolate. The sponge is simple...I do it every week, though doing it with a small volume was slightly trickier. The jelly was OK, though when I do them again (for work on Tuesday) I'll add more gelatin for a thicker set, and possibly add a little less water. I think that the jelly in jaffa should have a bit of a chew to it...this was set more like a desseert jelly. Finally, the chocolate was piped over, then smoothed with the back of a teaspoon.
They are still setting downstairs, but I've had one...and they taste like a jaffa cake! Success!
I was tempted to do the sponge similar to a macaron, by piping a circle, but chickened out and went with the bun tray.
I did the same sequence as the contestants were recommended to do on the show (jelly, sponge, chocolate).
Jaffa Cakes - Recipe
Jelly Ingredients
- Juice of 1 orange (about 120g)
- Zest of 1 orange
- 35g caster sugar
- 50ml water (maybe add a little less for a firmer jelly)
- 3 sheets of gelatin
2) Line a small baking tray with tin foil, making sure there are no holes, and the base is flat.
3) Put the juice, water and sugar in a small saucepan, and gently bring to a simmer
4) Remove from the heat
5) Wring out the gelatin sheets, and stir into the orange mixture until dissolved
6) Pour the jelly into the lined tray, and place in the fridge/freezer to set
Sponge Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 25g caster sugar
- 25g self-raising flour (sifted)
- Butter (to grease)
2) Grease a 12-hole bun tray with the butter
3) Put the egg and sugar in a medium sized bowl
4) Using a hand mixer, whisk until at the "ribbon stage" (where if you lift the whisks out, a trail is left on the surface)...this will take 7-8 minutes. The mixture volume is too small to use a stand mixer really.5) Carefully fold in the sifted flour, keeping as much air in the mixture as possible.
6) Split the mixture evenly between the 12 bun indents. It's about 1 large teaspoon each hole. handle the mixture carefully, as you want to keep as much air in it as possible.
7) Place in the oven for ~4 minutes. They will cook quickly, so keep an eye on them. As soon as they start to pull away from the sides of the bun tins, they are done.
8) Remove from the oven, and turn out onto a wire rack to cool
Chocolate Coating
- 100g plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
2) Once it is melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly
3) Transfer it to a small piping bag (this makes it easier to get an even coverage when you are assembling)
Assembly
1) Once the jelly has set, pick a circle cutter that is about 2/3rds of the diameter of your sponges
2) Cut 12 circles of jelly, and using a knife/palette knife place each one in the middle of a sponge
3) Pipe chocolate around and over the jelly
4) Smooth the chocolate with the back of a teaspoon. You can, once the chocolate is a little cooler, do a set of ridges on top.
5) Leave to set
Update
So I did a couple more batches, playing around with the recipe a bit. using 70% dark chocolate gave much better results (you were able to get a thinner coating on). I also used pure orange juice, more gelatin, and added the zest of the orange into the jelly as well. I've updated the recipe above.Finally, for a bit of fun I made a giant one...and then ate it!