I have been hearing about Jaffa Cake from my kids for a few years. They have been wanting me to make some for a while and I keep agreeing, then I forget to buy the marmalade or something else comes up.
Jaffa Cake is a store-bought treat that you can buy in England. Some call it a cookie and others call it cake. In my opinion, it's kind of both because it's the size of a cookie and the texture is like a very airy yellow cake. Whatever you choose to call it…IT is good! LOL
Yogscast is a gaming channel that is from England and this is where my kids have learned of this delicious treat. Could I make it at home was my question?
I found very few recipes from scratch. VERY FEW! I basically had to take the few instructions and ingredients and mesh them together and HOPE that it all turned out okay. Most sites encouraged you to buy sponge cake, cut them into your shapes and then add the marmalade and chocolate…BORING!
If you follow my directions you should have a successful batch. The key to success is the first part in making the batter over a warm bowl. Secondly, don't over bake them. Know your oven. Use good marmalade and chocolate.
Good luck with making the Jaffa Cookies and let me know how yours turn out!
Recipe: Jaffa Cake
4 large eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of flour
Marmalade
Dark Chocolate, for melting and topping
Preheat oven to 325.
In a large pot, add hot water. Find a bowl that fits inside of this pot large enough to hold about 4 cups of batter.
In the large bowl, add your eggs. Let them sit for 5 minutes to warm up. Add your sugar.
Using a hand mixer, mix the eggs and sugar for 3-4 minutes. This is an important step because you are making the bubbles for the sponge cake. Your eggs should be very frothy and lemon in color.
Sift your flour TWICE. Remeasure your flour to equal a 1/2 cup and sprinkle all over your egg/sugar batter. CAREFULLY mix in the flour. You do not want to break down your bubbles.
I used three sizes of pans and they all worked. A cupcake pan, a mini cupcake pan, and an 8in spring foam pan…you choose.
Whichever pan you use, lightly butter. With a teaspoon, add the batter to the bottoms of your pan. This does bake and rise, so you want to use just a little bit, enough to cover the bottom. Remember it's kind of like a cookie.
The cook times are all different for the three size pans you use:
Cupcake or Muffin pan…bake for 12 minutes
mini muffin pan…………bake for 8 minutes
8in spring pan…………..bake for 20 minutes
When you remove the pans from the oven, have a rack ready to transfer the cakes too. I used a sharp knife and gently went around each one to help them come out of the pan. You will notice that they hold their shape really good and are springy.
Once they have cooled, add the marmalade to each top. I used a knife and frosted the marmalade on.
Melt your chocolate. I use the double pan method. The mini muffin's I was able to hand dip and the rest it was easier to frost the chocolate with a knife.
Put the cookies/cakes in the fridge to set. ENJOY your homemade Jaffa Cookies..or cakes..or..YEAH.
NOTE: If you let the cakes/cookies sit out over night they are even better and more authentic to what you get in the package. The exposure to the air allows the spongy cake to dry on the outside a bit giving you this cookie-cake-biscuit texture that is absolutely to die for!
Pictures for each step and more are below!