So Lawrence could barely sit unaided until recently and now all of a sudden it’s action stations. Yesterday I rescued 2 remote controls, a Lego helicopter, a calculator, two mobile phones, a box of tissues, a nappy (unused), another baby, 3 plastic Octonaut toys, a laptop, a Hot Wheels track, a whisk, a rolling pin, 2 wooden spoons and some post from Lawrence. He’s one of ‘those’ babies. He’s wonderfully exhausting.
So what with all this racing about, I need Jaffa Cakes. Homemade ones. With a LOT of dark chocolate. Here we go…
I made a video with the Scoff folks to show how to make these homemade jaffa cakes. You can see the vid on my YouTube channel and also the Scoff one. You can watch it below too.
Lots of great recipes like this in my book, Recipes from a Normal Mum, out now… on Amazon, The Works, at Waterstones, WHSmith, The Book Depository and many smaller outlets.
One year ago: Carrot & almond layer cake and Pecan & hazelnut granola and Banana & toffee muffins and Lemon drizzle loaf
Two years ago: Lemon animal biscuits and Oatmeal & fudge cookies and 5 ways with the humble Victoria sponge
Three years ago: Octonauts cupcakes and Walnut, fudge and fleur de sel biscuits
Four years ago: Mutter paneer and Hot cross biscotti
Homemade jaffa cakes
Makes 12
Ingredients:
For the jelly:
• 15g castor sugar
• 3 gelatine leaves
• 200mls orange juice (fresh or from a carton, but check it’s unsweetened)
For the cakes:
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 25g castor sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 25g plain flour
For the topping and assembly
• 12 tsp marmalade
• 140g dark chocolate
• 1 tbsp olive oil
Make the jelly by heating the sugar, gelatine and 100mls of the orange juice on the hob on a low heat until dissolved. Remove from the heat and add the rest of the orange juice. Pour into a baking tray/container about 20cm x 20cm so that the jelly is about 1cm thick. Chill for 2 hours until set.
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Grease a non-stick fairy cake tin with melted butter. Make the cakes by placing a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, being careful not to let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Use a handheld electric mixer to beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla for about 5 minutes until the mixture is pale and fluffy and the volume has increased by about 5 times. Be very careful not to let the cord come into contact with the heat.
Remove from the heat and sieve the flour over the batter. Fold in carefully with a metal spoon, then equally divide the mixture between the 12 holes of the tin. Give the tin a sharp tap before baking for 8 – 10 minutes in the oven until just beginning to brown and a skewer comes out of the middle cake clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the tray.
Melt the chocolate and oil in the microwave in short bursts or using the bain marie method, then stir and leave to cool a little – otherwise the jelly will melt if you add hot chocolate to cold jelly. Place the cakes on a wire rack with some newspaper underneath. Pop a teaspoon of marmalade on each cake, then take a cutter (or sharp knife) and cut circles of jelly slightly smaller than the cakes (you will have some jelly leftover) and place on top of them. Pour the chocolate over the top carefully and leave to set in the fridge or somewhere cool.
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