Still obsessed with the Great British Bake Off. Even if Mary and Mel and Sue aren’t there.

If I could go anywhere in the world, there is a 99.9% change I would choose the baker’s tent in Berkshire, where I could spend all day making pretty bakes for Mary Berry, herself. Maybe my Victoria Sandwich would be tasty enough to earn me another day in the tent.

What are jaffa cakes?

I had never even heard of jaffa cakes until they made an appearance as the technical challenge on Great British Bake Off.  Apparently you can get them at any corner shop in Great Britain.  Kind of like my beloved ho hos here in the States.  But . . . now that I have had jaffa cakes . . . I am SUPER devastated that I can’t just march down to 7-Eleven for late night munchies.  I’m not aware of any American equivalent, but chocolate and orange have always been my favorite.  (Hello chocolate orange cake with pistachio mascarpone.) And now jaffa cakes will forever be on my go-to list of fun, individual-sized party cakes.

I’ve included the American measurements for jaffa cakes below, since just about all of the recipes I found online used weighed volume and us weirdos in the States don’t always have a kitchen scale. Miss Mary Berry’s recipe simply used Hartley’s orange jelly . . . which is very difficult to find in the States.  Unless you decide to make jaffa cakes in advance and have time to order Hartley’s via Amazon. (Kudos to you.  My cravings don’t give me prior notice.) So for my faux American jaffa cake recipe, I experimented with envelopes of plain, unflavored gelatin, which worked like a charm!

I loved these jaffa cakes so much, I’m already wondering about a flavor mix-up. Anybody out there ever tried a raspberry chocolate jaffa cake?  Is it still a jaffa cake if it’s not orange?