Homemade Jaffa Cakes

Jaffa Cakes are everyone's favourites. They're even better when you have made them yourself! This recipe is absolutely delicious and definitely 10 times better than shop bought Jaffa cakes.

Gather Ingredients

For this recipe you will need:
(Makes 12 Jaffa cakes)
FOR THE ORANGE JELLY
•60g caster sugar
•Peel from 1 large orange
•3 sheets of platinum grade fine leaf gelatine
•100ml of freshly squeezed orange juice
FOR THE CAKES
•50g browned butter,cooled
•60g icing sugar
•20g plain flour
•40g ground almonds
•1/4 teaspoon of finely grated orange zest
•2 egg whites
TO FINISH
•120-150g dark chocolate, chopped

Equipment Needed

12 hole muffin tin

small square of greaseproof paper

whisk (electronic or hand it doesn't matter!)

orange zester

fine sieve

normal sieve (sifting the icing sugar and flour)

small saucepan x2

measuring jugs

mixing bowl (cake mix)

teaspoons x2

18 cm square tin or one similar (for the jelly)

cling film (lining the jelly tin)

spatula

heatproof bowl and saucepan that the bowl can sit on (heating the chocolate)

cooling rack (when assembling and putting on chocolate)

knife (cutting out jelly circles)

orange juicer (100ml of orange juice for the jelly)

Anything else that you might think is handy! :)

Brown the Butter

Place the butter in a small sauce pan over a low-medium heat. Once the butter has started to melt swirl it around and place on the heat once more. Keep swirling the melted butter around every once in a while as the color starts to turn from yellow to tan then tan to brown. Take the butter of the heat when it is a rich brown color and has a rich nutty smell to it. Use a fine sieve and strain into a small dish. Browning butter gives it more flavor and adds to the taste of your cooking.

To Make the Jelly

Combine the sugar and orange peel with 120ml of water in a small sauce pan. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half.

Make the Jelly 2

Meanwhile line a 18cm tin with cling film. Place the gelatine sheets in a bowl of cold water and soak for 5 minutes NO LONGER!
Remove the syrup from the heat and strain into a measuring jug. Squeeze as much water as possible out of the gelatine leaves and stir them into the warm syrup until dissolved. Stir in the orange juice and then strain and tip into the lined tin. Chill for 2 hours or until firm.

Making the Cakes

Preheat the oven to 190*/170*fan/gas mark 5.
Measure out 30ml of the browned butter and set aside. Use the remaining brown butter to grease a 12-hole muffin tin.
Sift the icing sugar and flour into a bowl then whisk in the ground almonds and orange zest. Add the egg whites and the cooled 30ml of browned butter. Whisk to make a thick batter.

Cooking

Divide the batter between the muffin tin holes and bake for 9-12 minutes until the cakes are lightly golden and firm to touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin completely.

Assembly

When the cakes are cool place them on a cooling rack or chopping board. When the jelly has set, cut out 12, 4cm in diameter disks And place them of top of the cakes. If you don't have a cutter that is 4cm size then cut out a circle of carboard and cove it in tinfoil and use it as a template.

To Finish

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of barely simmering water and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes. THIS IS VITAL AS YOU DONT WANT THE JELLY MELTING AS YOU PUT THE CHOCOLATE ON. Carefully spoon 1-2 teaspoons of melted chocolate over the top of each jelly disk, coating the top of each cake. Leave to cool completely then enjoy! :)