Homemade Jaffa cakes are a faff. There's no getting around that. And unless you have lots of tins, making individual ones can be a little lacklustre given how many you make and how quickly they are eaten compared to the time you spend making them. This got my thinking, why not make a Jaffa Cake Tray Bake? You can get a lot more portions out of the bake and it's a lot less messy! You don't have to rush making this cake and I guarantee it will go down a treat. Just like individual cakes, you will find it hard to avoid having only one piece!
Makes up to 24 pieces
Hands-on Time 30 minutes
Chilling Time +4 hours
Baking Time 15 minutes
Ingredients
4 Oranges, large
2 Lemons
8 tsp Gelatine, powdered (2 Dr. Oetker Gelatine Sachets)
225g Caster sugar
80g Unsalted butter plus extra for greasing
4 Eggs, medium
125g Self raising flour
50g Apricot jam
200g Chocolate (minimum 54%)
Fine salt, pinch
Equipment
25cm x 20cm Deep-sided tin (Brownie tin)
Clingfilm
Fine grater
Plate
Knife
Juicer
Measuring jug
Saucepan
Spatula
Scissors
Baking parchment
Microwaveable bowl
Microwave
Mixing bowl
Electric whisk
Sieve
Wire rack
Pastry brush
Palette knife
Line the tin with clingfilm. Ensuring you press it into the corners of the tin.
Grate one orange over a plate.
Halve and squeeze the juice of the oranges and lemons over the measuring jug. You need 400ml. If you are a little shy, top up with water.
Pour half of the juice into the saucepan. Add the gelatine and 100g of caster sugar.
Put the pan over a medium heat and continuously stir using a spatula until the sugar and gelatine have dissolved. Ensure the mixture doesn’t boil. Also scrape the bottom and sides of the pan thoroughly as the gelatine sticks to the pan.
Once they have dissolved, pour the mixture back into the jug. Add the zest and give a final stir.
Pour into the lined tin.
Leave the mixture to cool before placing in the fridge to chill and set. This will take a couple of hours, although you can leave the jelly overnight and pick things up the next day.
Once the jelly has set, carefully lift it out of the tin using the clingfilm. Pop back into the fridge. You may find it’s best to put it onto a baking sheet when you do this.
In the meantime preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C (Fan)/350°F/Gas mark 4.
Grease the tin with butter and line with baking parchment.
Add 50g of butter to a microwaveable bowl. Pop into the microwave for 10 second blasts until melted. Don’t be tempted to leave it in there for any longer in one go, otherwise you will have a lightly buttered microwave.
Add the remaining 125g of caster sugar to the mixing bowl along with 4 eggs.
Whisk on a high speed for 5 minutes until you have a light voluminous mixture.
Sieve the flour over the mixture and carefully fold in using a clean spatula. Gently scrape the bottom of the bowl now and then to ensure you incorporate all of the flour.
Pour the melted butter into the mixture and give one final fold.
Pour the mixture into the tin and level using the spatula. Tap the bottom of the tin onto the worktop a couple of times to remove trapped air.
Pop the tin into the oven on a middle shelf and bake for 15 minutes.
Once baked, remove and leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before transferring to the wire rack. Flip the sponge over and remove the baking parchment.
Once the sponge has completely cooled, you can get on with the assembly.
Add the jam to a clean microwaveable bowl and like with the butter, pop into the microwave for 10 second blasts until melted.
Flip the sponge over so its the right way up and brush the top with the apricot jam.
Remove the jelly from the fridge and place onto the worktop.
Pick up the sponge, flip over, and place jam-side down onto the jelly.
If there is any excess jelly, trim using a sharp knife. Eat any trimmings.
Flip the sponge the right way up.
Now onto the chocolate!
Break the chocolate up and place into a clean microwaveable bowl.
Put into the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in-between blasts until melted.
Add the remaining 30g of butter along with a pinch of salt. Beat using a spatula until thickened and spreadable.
Spread the chocolate over the jelly.
Press a sharp knife down into the chocolate and make a grid. This is so you can easily portion the cake up later when you want to serve it. Ensure you clean the knife each time you make an indentation if you want crisp lines. Don’t press the knife through the jelly.
Leave the cake at room temp for the chocolate to set. If you’re not eating it until a lot later, leave the cake in the fridge and allow to come to room temperature before serving.
Enjoy!
