The return of the bake of the month

 

Having been very remiss about not posting any bakes since March I thought it was time to put that right.

To make amends how about a fabulously moist chocolate cake with a chocolate topping? Your very own jaffa cake....

My version of a jaffa cake has orange syrup added to it as soon as comes out of the oven. I know what you’re thinking – won’t this make the cake heavy. Normally it would but not if you start off with a very light sponge.

To make this very light sponge I’m not going to tell you how much flour, butter/margarine or sugar to use. Don’t worry this isn’t a Bake Off technical challenge!!

To determine the weight of the other ingredient you first have to weigh the eggs. Take your eggs, still in their shells and put them on the scales to find out how much they weigh. This recipe is using three eggs but it will work exactly the same for two eggs, four eggs etc.

Let’s say my three eggs weigh 6 ¾ oz’s (I’m an old fashioned girl so always work in oz’s but you could use grams instead). Measure out 6 ¾ oz’s of self-raising flour, margarine/butter and caster sugar. No matter what the eggs weigh, always use the same weight for the flour, margarine/butter and sugar

 Jaffa cake

Ingredients:

• Margarine/butter
• self-raising flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• caster sugar
• 3 eggs (large)
• 1 large orange, grated

Topping:

• The juice of half an orange
• 2oz/50g caster sugar
• 2oz/50g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Method:

• Line a 1lb loaf tin. I use Lakeland’s cake liners but you could use baking parchment.
• Pre-heat oven to 180º c/Gas Mk 4. Fan oven 160ºc.
• Weigh the eggs, still in their shells. Whatever the eggs weigh, that’s the amount you’ll need for the flour, sugar and butter/margarine.
• Put the sugar and butter/margarine into a bowl. Sift the flour along with the baking power into a bowl, and then add the three eggs.
• Beat well until everything is combined and mixture is smooth, to the point that it will drop off your spoon.
• Pour the batter into the loaf tin and level the top.
• Bake for 40 – 45 minutes until golden brown. To check to see if it’s cooked gently press the surface of the cake with a finger. If it springs back it’s done.
• Just before the cake has finished cooking, put the orange juice and the caster sugar into a microwavable cup and microwave on HIGH to dissolve the sugar. You could do this in a small pan if you like. I just think the microwave is much quicker.
• As soon as the cake is cooked take a cocktail stick and pierce the top of the cooked cake all over. Carefully spoon the orange syrup over the cake and leave in the tin to cool completely. Don’t worry if there are pools of syrup on top of the cake, it will sink in.
• When the cake is completely cold melt the chocolate in the microwave on Medium for 1 – 2 minutes, stirring the chocolate every ten seconds after one minute has passed. Again you could do this over a pan of hot water but make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl.
• Spoon the chocolate over the cake, letting it dribble down the sides and leave to set.