“I’ve got a great idea” I thought, “why don’t I make something from the Great British Bake Off every week?” What a mistake. For my first week, I attempted to make jaffa cakes. Attempt being the main word there. Several attempts in fact. And lets just say, I can totally see why they made them this weeks technical challenge.

I thought it was only right to try Mary Berry’s recipe. Wrong. I have never seen such a small amount of cake batter in my life. My jaffa cake sponge came out as flat as a pancake and I had to start again. This time using a recipe with double the amount of cake batter and without using my trusty kMix, which it turns out wasn’t quite so trusty for this recipe. There wasn’t enough cake mix and the mixer really struggled to work with it, so I would suggest mixing it all by hand. To prove how things really do go wrong, here are my pancake sponges…

My second dilemma, came in a jelly shaped form. The first hurdle was finding orange flavoured jelly in the first place! Me and my friend, Clare, found that it was sold out everywhere in town. It seems everyone was wanting to make their own jaffa cakes, either that or there was a world wide shortage of jelly! I followed the instructions on the jelly packet, instead of in the recipe and ended up with a jelly that took all day to set, and when it was set, wasn’t the right consistency. Whatever you do, make sure you only mix your jelly with 1/2 pint of boiling water, and don’t use cold water too like I did (or as the packet states). When this is done correctly, it should only take around an hour to set. I also added orange zest to my first lot of jelly and wasn’t impressed. It tastes much nicer without!

Anyway, once I had completed it all and finally (!) finished my jaffa cakes, this is the recipe I ended up with and I have to say I was actually quite pleased with the result.

Ingredients
For the sponge
1 medium free range egg, beaten
50g caster sugar
50g plain flour, sieved
a little butter for greasing the tin

For the jelly
135g pack of Hartley’s orange flavoured jelly
1/2 pint boiling water

For the chocolate topping
180g milk chocolate at 36% cocoa solids (I used Green & Blacks)

Method
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C. Grease a 12 hole cake cake tin

In a bowl, whisk together the egg and sugar until well combined.

Add the flour and whisk until it forms a smooth, creamy batter.

 

Fill your cake tin with the batter, dividing the mixture in to 12.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Then turn out and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Cut your jelly in to cubes and mix with 1/2 pint boiling water. Pour in to a shallow tray (I used a 30cm x 20cm tray). Leave to cool in the fridge for about an hour.

Using a 3cm cutter, cut 12 discs from your jelly and place one on the top of each sponge.

Next, using a pan of boiling water and a bowl on top, you need to melt your chocolate. Stir until it looks smooth and shiny. It’s important to get the right consistency before adding to your jaffa cakes as you don’t want it to be so runny it drips down the sides. Wait until it becomes a little thicker and easy to work with.

Once it’s on your cake, make some marks on top of the jelly using either a fork or a skewer. And, you’re done! Just leave them to cool so the chocolate is set.

My parents seemed to enjoy them…

So… was it a faff or would I rate it? I have to say, as tasty as they were, it was a faff and you’d be much better off buying a pack from the supermarket but if you’re looking for a challenge then you’ve definitely found one.

Enjoy! X