We are all, from time to time, tempted to try something new, at least I hope so… Last weekend we felt very adventurous so we decided to try making Jaffa Cakes. We knew that it would be time consuming and not so straight forward but still, it was something we wanted to try.
We searched the net for our perfect recipe but we couldn’t find one. We didn’t want to use any gelatine, so we decided to make stuff up as we went along.
Hmmm, it didn’t work out as we planned.
We finished the process and created 12, no, scrub that… 11 Jaffa Cakes… actually no… We baked 11 bases but ate one base as a test subject; so in the end we only made 10 Jaffa Cakes.
The process wasn’t as complicated as we first thought, but we did hit a few problems along the way.
All our bases stuck to the baking tray, we had to almost “chisel” them out.
Solution: Better greasing of the tin or bake them in muffin cases.
Our bases were cooked but tasted rubbish and didn’t even look the part.
Solution: Work out some better recipe and stick to it when the end product is perfect, this one was not; this should fix both the taste and the looks problem.
Our filling was way too powerful. We used Christmas Marmalade with Cranberries from Mackays, which we thought would be perfect and it possibly would have been if we hadn’t put half of the jar into just 10 Jaffa Cakes.
Solution: Use much less marmalade
Our filling kind of melted a little once we started pouring hot chocolate on top of it.
Solution: Place your half made Jaffa Cakes in the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill and firm up a little bit. Once you take them out to pour chocolate over them, the chocolate should set much faster, and then straight back into the fridge till fully set.
So you see, cooking and baking is a journey… with a giant learning curve… we tried something new and it didn’t really work out, but we did indentify the problems and we will try again… let’s hope next time everything will go according to plan.
So for now, I don’t have a Jaffa Cake recipe to share with you. Once we try again (and again if needed) and produce the perfect homemade Jaffa Cake then I will share it with you.
Did you have any kitchen related epic failures lately?
Ahh such a shame, they look divine!!!
Definitely worth another shot, I guess they’re tricky, not quite biscuit, not quite cake. Cheeky things!
Great idea, and practice makes perfect they say!
They certainly look great. At least you know where you went wrong and can change your recipe for next time.
I love this recipe, because you have managed to find every mistake I would make and fix it for me, so I might have a chance of getting it right, thanks for that! 🙂
I’d never even think to make Jaffa cakes, it’s a shame they didn’t work out this time but next time I bet they’re be awesome!
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Wow I have to make Jaffa cakes. They are my hubby’s favourite biscuit (or is it a cake? )
That looks really good. Haven’t tried that one before. Would love to try it one of these days.
I love love love jaffa cakes, never thought of making our own. Have to try this
These looks Delicious! Thank you for the details including the solution to the problem. I might try this with my kids.
they look amazing! I would never even attempt to make Jaffa cakes so well done.
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Well I don’t know about the taste but from a readers point of view they look flippin scrumptious! Definitely work on that recipe cos if they look like this and taste amazing too you could get yourself a line in a supermarket with any luck!! 🙂 xx
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