British Jaffa Cakes

By
Elaine Lemm
Elaine Lemm
Elaine Lemm
Elaine Lemm is a renowned British food writer, classically trained chef, teacher, and author with over 25 years of experience writing about British food and cooking.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 09/6/23
Jaffa cakes recipe

 The Spruce

Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 9 mins
Set Time: 45 mins
Total: 74 mins
Servings: 12 servings

The traditional Jaffa cake is something of a British icon. Known as biscuits in Britain and called cookies in the United States, these treats have a layer of sponge topped with a sweet orange jelly and finished off with plain chocolate (semi-sweet chocolate). Well-loved in Britain, Jaffa cakes are easy to find and relatively cheap to buy.

Making the cakes is easy and a lot of fun; just keep in mind the chocolate coating won't look as perfect as the store-bought versions. You will need an orange jelly tablet and Seville orange marmalade for this recipe, both of which can be purchased online.

 

Ingredients

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.

    British Jaffa Cakes recipe ingredients
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  2. Grease a shallow muffin tin with the butter and set it aside. 

    grease the pan for jaffa cakes
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  3. Break up the tablet of jelly cubes and place into a heatproof bowl or jug. Cover with the boiling water and stir well until the jelly dissolves.

    make the jelly for jaffa cakes
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  4. Stir in the marmalade and set aside to cool slightly.

    stir marmalade into jelly
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  5. While the jelly is cooling, line a 10- by 10-inch tray or Pyrex square bowl with plastic wrap. Pour in the jelly mixture and place in the refrigerator to set, which will take about 45 minutes.

    put jelly mixture into fridge to set
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  6. Place the egg and sugar into a bowl and, using an electric hand mixer, beat until light, creamy, and pale in color.

    mix eggs and sugar for British Jaffa Cakes recipe
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  7. Sift the self-rising flour into the bowl. Using a metal tablespoon, fold the sifted flour into the egg mixture.

    sift flour for British Jaffa Cakes recipe
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  8. Drop a generous tablespoon of batter into each cup of the muffin tin. Tap the tin gently on the worktop before placing it in the center of the preheated oven.

    put mixture into bun tin
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  9. Bake until golden and slightly firm (the sponge should spring back when pressed lightly), 8 to 10 minutes.

    bake jaffa cakes
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  10. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing the biscuits and placing them on a cooling rack.

    place jaffa cakes on wire rack to cool
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  11. While the sponge is cooking, melt the chocolate. Put a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Add the chocolate and leave it to melt. If you must stir, use a wooden spoon, never a metal one.

    melt chocolate for British Jaffa Cakes recipe
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  12. Remove the chocolate from the heat as soon as it's melted and leave to cool. As the chocolate cools it will thicken and eventually harden so it may need to be heated slightly before covering the cakes.

    let chocolate cool
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  13. Take the tray of jelly from the fridge. Lift out the plastic wrap with the jelly and place onto a worktop. Using a pastry cutter, cut discs of the orange jelly slightly smaller than the cakes. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

    cut discs of orange jelly
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  14. Once the cakes are completely cool, lay a disc of jelly onto the domed uppermost surface.

    lay a disc of jelly onto cakes
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  15. Once the chocolate is cool, spoon some over the surface of each cookie. The chocolate will run off of the sides a little but do not worry; that is the homemade look you want.

    spoon chocolate over jelly and biscuit
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  16. Place each biscuit on the cooling rack as you complete them.

    put on wire rack
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  17. Serve and enjoy.

    British Jaffa Cakes recipe
     The Spruce

Tips

  • Store the Jaffa cakes in an airtight tin, not in the fridge. If you put them in the fridge the chocolate will lose its shine. Eat within 5 days. 
  • Use plain chocolate (known as semi-sweet in the States), not dark chocolate. The difference is that plain has lower cocoa solids than dark. You should be looking for a chocolate around 30 to 40 percent cocoa solids—dark can be as high as 70 percent. One brand used in the U.K. is Bournville by Cadburys. 
  • Using marmalade in this recipe gives a distinctly sharp orange flavor to the jelly—a tang which you will not find in the store-bought biscuits.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
148 Calories
7g Fat
23g Carbs
2g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories 148
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 7g 9%
Saturated Fat 4g 20%
Cholesterol 19mg 6%
Sodium 53mg 2%
Total Carbohydrate 23g 8%
Dietary Fiber 1g 5%
Total Sugars 19g
Protein 2g
Vitamin C 7mg 36%
Calcium 27mg 2%
Iron 1mg 4%
Potassium 96mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)