VeganMoFo 2019 Day 12: Jaffa Cake!

Jaffa cake!
Getting the chocolate right is harder than it looks.
Thus, my chocolate isn't "right"

They're small!

Jump to the end for the recipe.

I've wanted to make Jaffa cake for a long time, I didn't even know what it was but liked the name. Turns out I should've made this a long time ago, it's delicious! It's simply sponge cake, orange jam and chocolate (think ganache). It's an English cake, small, about 3" in diameter. I found a recipe that looked good, and got to it. I really should've done a little more research before attempting this cake.

My first Jaffa cake.
Yes, I covered the sides with the orange AND chocolate.
Amateur move.

The recipe I chose is a gluten free one, another reason why I wanted to work with it. The author did say the cakes are typically smaller cakes, but I brushed that off and baked in an 8" pan the first time. My renewed desire to make this cake also came at about the same time I found myself puttering around IKEA (not really "puttering around" I mean does anyone really "putter around" an IKEA? They're huge, it's like some otherworldy shopping experience for sure). Anyway, I was in the IKEA food area looking to see if they had any accidentally vegan items besides their veggie balls, turns out they do. See what I found:

Found at IKEA!
Vegan Friendly!

Everything sounds so fancy in another language, even marmalade. It's Swedish "marmelad", and not only that it's "apelsin and flader marmelad." I grabbed this for my future Jaffa cake. Turns out it's really tasty BUT it's chock full of peel (which I also knew when I bought it). I failed to realize how this would compromise the chocolate layer. Another amateur move on my part.

I made the recipe in the wrong big pan, inappropriately covered the sides, made a mess of the top, and tasted it. Holy marmelad, it's good! That is when I decided to look a little bit more into Jaffa cake. Ut oh.... don't frost the sides. Make the top beautiful and glossy chocolate with little drag marks through them. Hm, this simply gave me reason to make another batch of the cake. This time I baked them in muffin tins. Yay! Right size. I didn't cover the sides. Yay! Unfortunately there's no way to fix the chocolate issue with all the peels in there, so live and learn.

These cakes are not allergen free. The recipe as published calls for almond flour (superfine almond meal which I grind in my Vitamix, you can too). Most times when recipes call for nut flour, its a structural issue, and I keep to the recipe, which I did here. So, this recipe has nuts. I also used soy milk for my non-dairy milk. Basically once I introduce any allergen into my recipes all bets are off and I use any vegan ingredient I want including soy as my preferred non-dairy milk of choice. What I did adhere to is keeping this gluten free. Now, if someone with Celiac came up to me and asked if this was gluten free, I'd have to say no because the marmelad didn't have a gluten free statement on it. It's an import product, I guess they have different labeling laws in Sweden. If I were making this for someone with Celiac, I would need to purchase a certified gluten free orange jam. By, the way, don't use a jelly, it will be way too runny. And if you use marmelad(e) who cares about peels, I mean it's not like we're on British Bake-off.

If you look up images of Jaffa cake on line, you will see how pretty these cakes can be. I really liked this cake, and I plan on making other versions to test other sponges. I also will choose a jam with no orange peels for my next attempt, after all we do eat with our eyes as well. Now, onto the recipe:

Gluten Free Jaffa Cake (from www.rhiansrecipes.com)

Make sure you use labled GF products if making for people with gluten allergies

Cake:

80g coconut oil (I used non-GM safflower)

115 ml unsweetented almond milk (I used soy)

1T apple cider vinegar

4T maple syrup (I used agave)

1t vanilla extract

pinch salt

75g ground almonds (you can buy almond flour if you don't have a Vitamix)

75g gluten free flour blend (I used a self mixed sorghum, superfine rice and starch combo)

1t baking powder (I use organic aluminum free)

1/4 t baking soda

Jam:

Orange variety. Get a smooth one your tops will be nice and glossy

Chocolate topping:

40g dark chocolate (make sure it's vegan and gluten free)

6T almond milk (I used soy, and honestly I used my own ganache version, not this one because it's a habit)

Preheat your oven to 350 (325 for convection).

Melt your coconut oil (if using), once melted combine in a bowl with non-dairy milk, ACV, syrup, vanilla, salt and almond flour. Whisk.

In a separate bowl, sift your flour, baking powder and baking soda. Sift it again (this is me, I double sift all gluten free products, think of air as an ingredient). Mix the ingredients into the dry. If doing this by hand, whisk extremely well, you cannot over mix gluten free flours so go to town.

Add a splash more milk if too dry (Mine was plenty wet), then pour into prepared pan.

Bake 15 minutes (me again, if you use muffin tins, check them at 10 minutes, mine were ready in 10)

Cool completely on wire rack, neatly cover top only with marmalade (marmelad if yours is from IKEA, tee hee) and pour the chocolate over the top, make those little drag marks when the chocolate starts to set. Eat.

Cake 12 in the bag. I'm working hard for you, I hope you're having some fun!

xo