How did the idea of making low carb Jaffa Cakes pop to my mind?
The last time I held a party at my place (more specifically, friends gathering), all the friends' children had been invited. I'd decided not to stress with cooking, and just throw a few snacks and drinks on the table instead. I knew that some of the children ran on sugar, so I bought a box of Jaffa cakes for them.
Not that I like to support children's high sugar intake, but I suspected that some of the little guys were so used to sweets, it was pretty much the only way to keep them happy during the visit.
At the time, I didn't think that a keto version of a Jaffa cake was even possible. But then I came across these tiny bottles of orange oil at our local organic store. The first time I used it, was when making Jaffa chocolate butter. As soon as I smelled the orange oil, I thought: I want keto-friendly Jaffa cakes!
I guess if you don't know where to buy orange oil or orange extract, orange zest might come to the rescue in this recipe.
The trouble for me was finding orange jelly around here. So I decided to make my own, using orange tea, orange oil, and a couple of tablespoons of sugar-free orange marmalade. Plus gelatine, of course. Even though the jam is relatively low in carbs, I don't want to use it too much, because it contains sorbitol, and I like to stay away from sweeteners other than stevia and erythritol.
Making these Jaffa cakes has taught me a few things.
For example, I had no idea they originated in the UK, and are almost 90 years old!
The cake layer is called sponge cake, which is a type of cake that does not involve leaveners. Instead, the air is suspended in the batter through mixing to give volume. Plus, the cake layer is so simple to make and the texture so nice, I'm going to use it more often in other recipes. For example, the next time I make keto matcha tiramisu I'm going to go for this exact sponge cake.
Please, do note that making orange jello for the cakes can probably be a diverse procedure. I improvised a lot, which means you can do the same, and make it your own way, or simply buy sugar-free jelly if you can. I also used macadamia nut butter (because I luuuuuv it so much), but I think any other nut butter, especially almond butter, should work equally well.
Thus, the macronutrients are going to change a bit if you change the ingredients, obviously. Plus, you might use a different type of chocolate than me (I used a mixture of 99% Lindt, and 85% Cavalier, stevia-sweetened), which can also alter the macronutrient count. The higher the cocoa %, the lower the carbs.
Recipe
Low Carb Jaffa Cakes
Ingredients
Orange jelly
- 0.2 oz gelatine - (powdered)
- ⅛ teaspoon stevia
- 2 tablespoon orange marmalade
- ½ cup hot water
- ¼ teaspoon orange oil - (or 1 teaspoon orange zest)
Cake
- 2 large eggs
- 2 oz powdered erythritol
- 1.5 oz macadamia butter
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour
Chocolate topping
- 6 oz dark chocolate - (I used 3 oz. of Lindt 99% and 3 oz. of 85% chocolate)
- ¼ teaspoon orange oil
Instructions
Orange jelly
- I like to prepare my jelly first, so it has enough time to settle in the fridge. In a small bowl, pour a couple of tablespoon water over your gelatine and set aside.
- In another bowl, dissolve 2 tea bags of orange tea in ½ cup boiling water. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then add stevia powder, marmalade, and gelatine. Mix well until the gelatine has dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
- Pour the jelly mixture into a shallow baking tray or dish to form a ½ inch thick layer. Set aside until completely cooled, then chill in the fridge until set. This might take an hour or so.
The cakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Take a 12-hole muffin tin and grease it a little with some butter.
- Using a fine sieve, sift the coconut flour.
- Bring some water to the boil in a pan, then reduce the heat until the water is simmering. Suspend a heatproof bowl over the water. Make sure the bowl is not in touch with the water. Add the eggs and powdered erythritol, and beat continuously for 4-5 minutes (using a hand electric mixer), until the mixture is pale, fluffy and well combined.
- Add the coconut flour and macadamia butter, beating continuously, until a thick, smooth batter forms.
- Fill each well in the muffin tin with a couple of tablespoons of the batter. Bake the cakes for 10 minutes, or until pale golden-brown and cooked through (the cakes are cooked through when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.) Remove from the oven and set the cakes aside, still in their tray, until cool.
Chocolate cover
- Bring a little water to the boil in a pan, then reduce the heat until the water is simmering. Set a heatproof bowl over the water (not allowing the base of the bowl to touch the water). Add the chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. I prefer this method of melting the chocolate in a microwave. Burnt and/or over-heated chocolate happens too quickly!
Cake assembly
- Take the cakes out of the muffin tin and place them on a flat surface, lined with some parchment paper (for all the chocolate mess that is probably going to happen). Using a sharp round-shaped object that has a smaller diameter than the cakes, cut the jelly circles and place one by one on top of each cake. I was actually left with ¼ of the jelly when finished. Not telling what happened to it.
- Make sure the melted chocolate is runny but not too hot (since the jelly might start getting runny). Using a spoon, carefully place the chocolate on top of each jelly-covered cake.
- Again, the chocolate must not be too hot, and you don't want to press down on the jelly with your spoon too hard. You can see the result of doing so in the "instruction" image below.
- When all the cakes are covered, set aside until the melted chocolate has cooled and set. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Hope you enjoy the recipe. If you make any special alterations that work especially well for you, do let me know!
MORE KETO CHOCOLATE & ORANGE RECIPES TO TRY!
If you love this low-carb keto recipe, I recommend you also try my other recipes:
Leanne Fleming says
This is a brilliant recipe. I was some what sceptical if the base cause there didn't seem to be much to it, but was amazed at how well it turned out. Made these for a dinner party and paired it with a ABV cocktail and was a big hit with everyone. E joy and don't hesitate, super easy to make..
Tisa says
Thank you for your feedback, Leanne! I'm so happy you all enjoyed the Jaffa Cakes! They've been one of our favorites, but admittedly, often don't take enough time to make them.
Patricia Brion says
bonjour, auriez vous un lien pour votre huile d'orange, est ce la même chose que l'huile essentielle d'orange?
merci
Tisa says
Bonjour,
J'utilise Lecker's huile d'orange, mais vous pouvez tout aussi bien essayer celle-ci: https://amzn.to/36qzUxH
Je n'utiliserais pas les huiles essentielles, pas exactement les mêmes.
Nikki says
This looks so yummy, thanks for sharing the recipe! I love Stevia but I have diabetes so I avoid sugar alcohols like erythritol. You still need to count the carbs ... it’s half the total carbs as the impact on blood sugar is less than normal sugar.
Anu says
Made these over the weekend and they were great fun to make, and tasted delicious! I didn't have any orange tea so just used more orange oil and used this marmalade (https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/orange-marmalade/, made with only powdered Erythritol... this ends up being 1g net carbs per tablespoon, which is very, very low). I will try it with the orange tea the next time, though, as the jelly could have been more orange-ey, but I made up for it with adding a good amount of orange extract to the chocolate (I used Lindt 90%). There was some chocolate left over at the end of it but it didn't matter, I just poured it into silicon muffin liners and let it set in the fridge... bonus lovely orange chocolate! Thank you for this 🙂
My Sweet Keto says
Hey, Anu!
Thank you very much for the feedback and the link to the marmalade!
I'm happy you loved making and tasting these. I think you made great adjustments and wish I could have tasted your jaffa cakes. 😉
You are very welcome. Do keep following and sharing!
Uros says
Hi. Can macadamia butter be replaced with almond butter?
My Sweet Keto says
Hi, Uros! I'm sure it can. Just keep in mind that almond butter might be a bit less fatty and less runny, especially plain. You might want to consider adding in a tsp. of butter or coconut oil for that reason. On the other hand, it might be simpler to just cut on the coconut flour for approx. 1/2 tbsp.
Let me know how it goes! 🙂