Mandarin Jaffa Cakes

My Englishman loves Jaffa Cakes, the biscuit that enjoys a cult-like following in the UK. It’s mandarin season, so I’m giving Mandarin Jaffa Cakes a whirl.

Found on supermarket shelves across Britain, everyone has their own way of eating Jaffa Cakes (a little like how Kiwi’s religiously devour Mellowpuffs) but one common consumption method is to nibble around the edges cracking off the chocolate with ones teeth, flipping it over to bite off the chocolate covered orange in one movement, then devouring the remaining biscuit in a final gulp.

McVities ‘Jaffa Cakes’ by name was, with all intents and purposes, considered by many as a biscuit: a crunchy biscuit base with an orange flavoured jelly topping, covered in dark chocolate.  In the 1990’s however, it was battled in court whether it was in fact a biscuit or a cake. Why? Chocolate covered biscuits incurred a VAT tax, yet chocolate covered cakes didn’t.  The base never did return to its crunchy self, but into a soft sponge. The argument? Allegedly that a cake goes hard when left out of the biscuit tin, and a biscuit just gets softer.

My Englishman has never really gotten over it.

While I promised him I couldn’t painstakingly recreate his favourite, I would endeavour to bring some Jaffa back into his weekend. So, with the mission to create a jaffa inspired cake/biscuit with more crunch than sponge…..I reached no further than our mandarin tree. To be fair, my recipe doesn’t resemble a Jaffa Cake at all (well, certainly not the McVities original) however I did bring in citrus zing and dark chocolate!

Regardless, my efforts were received with loads of ‘mmmmmmm’ and, after three Jaffa Cakes consumed in quick concession, it was agreed that I did something right. I used 72% Whittakers Dark Chocolate, so I strategically knew it would get a few stars!

I took the opportunity to experiment with gluten-free flour as was pleasantly surprised! Using Edmonds Gluten-Free flour, the ‘squeaky flour’, my mini cakes held together firmly with a crunchy top, as hoped.  Baking for a shorter period will make for a moister ‘muffin like’ option, if that’s what you’d prefer.

Mandarin Jaffa Cakes

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time:  50 minutes

Ingredients

• 5 mandarins (satsuma)
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 125g butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups gluten free flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 100g dark chocolate pieces
• 100g dark chocolate, melted (to garnish)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 170°C.
2. Remove any remnants of the green stem, wash mandarins and pat dry. Cut in half and puree the satsumas (which are the seedless mandarins), skin on. This helps retain the tasty oil within the skin itself. Transfer into a large bowl.
3. Add caster sugar, melted butter, eggs (at room temperature) and beat together. Fold in gluten free flour and baking powder until well mixed, then finally fold in dark chocolate pieces. I used the food processor on ‘ice crusher’ mode to get them into random chunks – perfect. The mix will be quite firm.
4. Scoop a tablespoon into muffin tins (half fill). Intentionally I didn’t want to overfill the muffins so they were moist and doughy, rather wanted them firm and crunchy. Bake for 50 minutes, or until cooked by testing with a skewer. Remove from oven, transfer to cooling rack and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
5. Melt additional dark chocolate (heat chocolate pieces in a metal bowl resting over a small pot of boiling water). When melted and smooth, drizzle over Jaffa Cakes. Allow another 30 minutes to dry, then consume!

Just a ‘heads-up’, if you are ever caught short of caster sugar in your pantry as I was, remember you can easily make your own. With a few pulses of your blender, white sugar is transformed into caster sugar before your very eyes. Here is how to make your own caster sugar.

P.S: I LOVE getting emails: “I love this recipe! I altered it to 10 mandarins and 250g choc and made it a cake. It’s super moist and sweet and doesn’t need icing. Freezes fantastically.”

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