Jaffa Cakes. Those little morsels of joy are brimming with benefits:
- orangey
- spongy
- chocolaty
- low fat (yes only 1g of fat per disc)
- dunkable
- moreish
They even cause controversy. Several years ago the tax man tried to make us pay VAT (sales tax) on them, saying they were chocolate covered biscuits (you have to pay that tedious money-grabbing con-man tax on such an item).
However McVities argued they were chocolate covered cakes (after all they’re called cakes aren’t they?) which don’t attract VAT.
Guess who won? Why McVities. It’s rumoured they baked a giant Jaffa Cake to prove that they were just very small cakes, rather than biscuits. In your face tax man!
As an homage to that famous cake-tax stand off I decided to try to recreate that mythical event.
Luckily I had to hand the latest Good Food Magazine (the December 2025 issue – have you noticed how seasonal magazines publish so early they are completely irrelevant to the season you are actually in?). In here they had already given it a go. What a coincidence. Come to think of it maybe that’s where I got the idea from. What do you reckon?
Ingredients
Most of the ingredients needed for a mega-sized jaffa cake
For the cake
- 1 block butter, softened
- 11 oz caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 4 oz yogurt, full-fat
- 11 oz plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- zest from 4 large oranges
- 2 tbsp apricot jam
For the jelly
- 18 fl oz orange juice (the recipe says from 5 large oranges but that only gave me half of what I needed)
- 4 oz caster sugar
- 6 gelatine leaves
For the genache
- 14 fl oz double cream
- 2 bars milk chocolate
- 1 bar dark chocolate
- Zest from one orange
First make the jelly. Line a spring form cake tin (that is smaller than the one you will be using for the cake) with cling film.
Remove the zest from the oranges (tedious exercise) and then juice them.
Put the juice in a small pan with the sugar and heat until it dissolves.
Put the gelatine in water to soften.
Add to the orange and stir to dissolve. Then pour the jelly into the mould. Put in the fridge to set for at least 4 hours
Meanwhile make the cake. Add all the ingredients (except the jam) to a large bowl:
Combine with an electric whisk and pour into a lined springform cake tin (about 23cm):
Bake in a low oven (160 centigrate) for about 50 mins. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool:
Lastly make the ganache. Chop up the chocolate into small bits:
Add the chocolate to a bowl. Heat the cream until its hot to the touch. Add the cream to the chocolate and leave for 10 mins:
Now stir to mix the cream into the chocolate:
Time to put the cake together!
Slice off the top of the sponge to leave a flat surface:
Grab a glass of wine and seriously consider just drinking the chocolate:
Reconsider. Brush some melted jam onto the cake and then lay the jelly on top. Do this quickly before the jelly starts to melt.
Pour the chocolate all over the cake and then stick in the fridge to cool:
Sprinkle with orange zest and slice:
Now this particular jaffa cake had a bit of a landslip:
The jelly started to melt as soon as it got out the fridge. Add to that the warm chocolate and a big segment started sliding off the slippery jam-covered sponge. But who cares I love it when things go wrong a bit.
My hat off to you Fred, this was an awesome attempt. Kudos. It looked like a lot of work though.
And they might be small but they are definitely cakes, NOT cookies/biscuits. Proof of how stupid the taxman is.
I love that you did this.
Now that cake looks like it could keep my happy for quite a while. Very nice job.
It sounds like your tax man likes to split hairs like ours does. In our state (Massachusetts) we have a sales tax but it doesn’t go on food, clothing (except luxury), and fabric to make clothes. The fabric is where they split hairs though – if a material is designated as ‘quilting fabric’, like calico then it’s taxed because it’s assumed you’ll make a quilt even if you want to make a calico skirt. Makes you wonder who’s sitting there thinking up these rules doesn’t it?
I love these!! I tried them for the first time a few months ago. They are hard to find here unless you go to a international market . Thank you for sharing this recipe will certainly try to make it .
When I’m holiday I like seeing things like this on the shelves in supermarkets (at about 4X the price) – next to the Marmite, Heinz Baked Beans and of course HP Sauce!
You are stone mad. Great post.
Barking mate.
I LOVE Jaffa Cakes. They were my favourite as a kid and I miss them so much now that I live in the States. I can’t wait to make this giant version to get my fix! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I love Jaffa cakes and I am in complete awe that you made a giant one!
When you mention that there is only 1g of fat per disk, you were talking about the big one, yes? 🙂
Indeed of course and kudos for knowing what a Jaffa Cake is. But then of course you spent time in Wales didn’t you. They love those little biscuits. WIth mint jelly probably.
Yes, at loads in Wales 🙂 My mom grew up in Hong Kong, so I had them growing up too. Those and Quality Street candies were all over the house.
I don’t understand the tax thing. It seems like splitting hairs. However, the cake looks delicious – icing covers a lot of technical issues. As long as it tastes good a little sliding is OK. The food processors have a slew of thickeners/gums they can use to keep things from sliding on the little Jaffa Cakes.
Yes this is a bite of reality – kind of a post-apocolyptic Jaffa Cake – for when the machines and preservatives are all gone and it’s just one man and his oranges (and some processed wheat, pre-packaged butter and imported chocolate of course)
Just ANOTHER English gem of a recipe I must try! Thank you!
Only the most outrageous creations make it to this blog (unless I’m hungry in which case it’s steak and chips all the way)
Ha-ha. I’m with you on that one:)
That’s a dessert I could go for!
Yes a dessert that also goes with tea. Perfect for any occassion
Ooh this looks great! I LOVE jaffa cakes!
A firm family favourite – although to be honest this one could have been a little more firm
wow! did you patent this?….
No but I will. Excellent idea!
Wow, I’ve never seen a Jaffa Cake before, and this looks amazing! I like that yours isn’t perfect … seems less daunting that way!
I love a food creation with warts and all!
Jaffa cakes are new to me!!! Holy cow they look amazing!!
The small ones don’t kill the diet – the big ones most certainly do!
Cheers to beating the tax system! This looks like a great summer cake. I’m curious about the jelly leaves. Is it a powder that dissolves? (Jello/gelatine in the U.S. comes in powder form.) Just curious.
Its like sheets of plastic. I didn’t use enough though the jelly started to melt as soon as it got out the fridge
Reblogged this on Strawberryquicksand and commented:
REBLOGGED from Happiness Stan Lives Here. If you love jaffa cakes, you will LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe!!!!!!
Good GOD what an amazing idea! Jaffa cakes are my FAVOURITE!!!! We can get them here in either the gourmet section of Wooworths, or in ALDI as a regular line.. but YUM YUM YUM. That cake is making my mouth water. Did it taste almost as good as the McVities ones? 😀 SO sharing!
It was nearly there. The jelly needed to be much firmer – i would double the gelatine i think
I never follow the quantities on the back of the pack for jelly. I always at LEAST halve the water!
Oh Yum! Love Jaffa cakes, so this is just an amazing idea!
I love outsized stuff like this – thinking up the next one…
Wow! That looks so good it is on my try immediately list. Thanks for the recipe. Definitely a cake – so no VAT seems right.
Miam Miam!
Vous ne pouvez pas battre l’orange au chocolat!