Cooks Joy » Jaffa Cakes

Jaffa Cakes

Posted By Vardhini On February 3, 2012 @ 10:00 am In Baking,Cakes / Muffins,Christmas,Dessert,Gallery | 7 Comments

This is the first post for “The Gourmet Seven” and we have chosen the theme to be chocolate. It is apt as this month chocolate plays a good role

. Jaffa cake is basically a small cake with a jelly layer followed by a chocolate layer. I had a very good experience making this cake and like many other recipes I made this twice !!. The reason was that I could not click pictures the previous day since it became dark and by next day some of the cakes cracked a little and was not photogenic

. They were perfectly fine to eat though.

Making it twice helped me in understanding how to add the chocolate layer and I have added tips below. The first thing that attracted me towards this recipe was the jelly. I know this would be a surprise to a few, but I have not tasted jelly until now. So that made this recipe even more exciting. The soft cake and jelly paired with the hard chocolate was different and tasty. Sprinkles added some color to the cakes.

Getting the jelly out was another fun part. After trying out various methods to cut pieces out, I finally decided to just use a spoon to draw a circle and scoop it out. It does not need to be a perfect circle. You just need the jelly in the middle. Off to the recipe. Recipe adapted from BBC-Food Recipes.

Another look.

Cake base with chocolate and jelly on top. I am loving how the sprinkles are shining in the background.

Ingredients – Cake
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

Sprinkles for decorating

Ingredients - Jelly Layer

4 oz jello mix pack (I used a 6 oz packet and followed packet instructions that used 2 cups BOILING water and 2 cups COLD water)

Ingredients - Chocolate Layer

7 oz dark chocolate

Tips – For helping with the chocolate layer

1. Keep the size of the jelly circle smaller than the cake so the chocolate slides down and has a base to settle.

2. If chocolate does not fall off the spoon, time to warm the chocolate.

3. Add chocolate to jelly like applying frosting. Pouring it went hap hazard for me at times.

4. Place the cake with jelly in 2 or 3 plates and keep only one plate outside at a time and pour chocolate on top. The other plates need to be refrigerated. This will help the chocolate to set soon. Since the jelly is cold and chocolate is warm, it gets a bit tricky. Act fast and refrigerate to help the chocolate hold on to the jelly.
5. If the chocolate just slides down the jelly when you pour, let the chocolate cool a bit. (Not too much that the chocolate hardens.

Method – Preparing Jello from Mix (I followed the instructions on the packet.)
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.

Add the jello mix.

Mix well.

See how clear it becomes.

Add 2 cups COLD water to it.

Pour it into plates and place in refrigerator for about 4 hours or until firm.

Method - Cake
Bring some water to a boil in a vessel and simmer. Place another vessel in it. The base of this vessel on top should not touch the water. This is the double boiler.

In a double boiler take eggs and sugar.

Beat the eggs and sugar for 4 – 5 minutes until it becomes pale.

See how pale and fluffy it is.

Add the flour.

Beat to combine. When the batter is ready remove the vessel from the double boiler.

Grease a muffin pan and pour the batter in it. The batter will seem less, but fill all 12 holes with a little of the batter. I filled all the holes with a little batter first and then went back and filled the ones that seemed to have less. The cake does not expand a whole lot.

Place in a preheated 350F oven for 8 – 10 minutes until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Jelly has set. Cut small circles of the jelly using a cookie cutter or with a spoon. The circles should be slightly smaller than the cakes.

Place the jelly over the cakes. The first time I made it, I cut the jelly the same diameter as the cakes and that made the chocolate to just slide down on the sides. The second time I cut them smaller than the cakes and that helped.

Time for the next layer. Melt chocolate in a double boiler.

Allow the chocolate to cool a little and then using a spoon spread the chocolate over the jelly. Allow the chocolate to set and the cake is ready. Refer to tips above on adding the layer of chocolate.

I tried for quite sometime to get the jelly shown properly in the picture, and thankfully the sun showed some mercy on me and I feel this clearly shows the layers.