If you ever find Jaffa cakes look delicious but don’t fancy the combination of chocolate and orange together, this is the recipe for you! These vegan cherry Jaffa cakes have thin, soft sponge cake and cherry jam coated with chocolate. It’s super easy to make these yummy treats, you only need 8 every-day ingredients!
I’m not keen on sweets with chocolate and orange together as it leaves me unpleasant after taste. When I tried Jaffa cakes for the first time in the past (I had never seen Jaffa cakes in my home country), I wished they didn’t have orange jelly, although I really loved the ideas of how they are made with the sponge cake, jelly and chocolate. So now I make my own Jaffa cakes with cherry jam!
What you need to make the Vegan Cherry Jaffa Cakes
- plain flour
- baking powder
- salt
- sugar
- soy milk or any other plant-based milk
- non-flavoured oil such as sunflower oil
- cherry jam or your favourite jam
- vegan chocolate
These vegan Jaffa cakes are with cherry jam but you can put any jam such as strawberry, blueberry and apricot jam. Or you can put marmalade jam to make a traditional version of Jaffa cakes! For the oil, you can use any one as long as it has no flavour. I always use sunflower oil as it’s lower in saturated fat and also inexpensive☺
How to make guide
- First, you need to bake the sponge cakes in a muffin tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease your muffin tin with 12 holes.
- Shift the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar, mix well. In a separate bowl, mix the oil and soy mil together and pour it into the dry mixture slowly, mix well until just combined with not lumps left. Please be careful not to overmix!
- Put one table spoon of the batter into each muffin hole and bake for 10-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a cake comes out clean.
- Let them cool down for about 20 minutes and take them out from the tin gently, place them on a flat plate. Put about one table spoon of the jam on each cake and let them sit in the freezer for 30 minutes for the cakes and jam stick together as frozen, which will make the chocolate coating easier.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave in a bowl and take the cakes out of the freezer. Hold a cake upside down and quickly dip into the melted chocolate to coat the top. Turn it over and place it back on the plate. Repeat the step for the rest of the cakes.
- If you want to, you can create a pattern with a heated knife like I did but this is optional.
When you do the chocolate coating, you need to work quite quickly. When the cakes get warmer after coming out of the freezer, the jam could unstuck from the cakes and come off when you hold upside down. Enjoy your Jaffa cakes for a snack or dessert! Store the leftover in an airtight container at room temperature (below 23°C) up to 3 days. You could keep them in the fridge for longer storage.
Vegan Cherry Jaffa Cakes
Ingredients
- 80 g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- a tiny pinch of salt
- 80 g sugar caster or granulated sugar
- 100 ml soy milk or any other plant based milk
- 30 ml non-flavoured oil I used sunflower oil
- 100 g cherry jam
- 130 g vegan chocolate chopped
Click below for ingredient unit conversion
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 4.5). Grease a muffin tin with 12 holes.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and the salt into a mixing bowl. Add in the sugar and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, mix the oil and soy milk together and add to the flour mixture. Mix well until just combined and smooth for a few seconds. Careful not to over mix!
- Spoon one table spoon of the batter into each muffin hole. Tap the muffin tin on the counter a couple of times to rid the air from the batter.
- Put it in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Every oven is different so please check your cakes when you think it's time.
- Let them cool for 20-30 minutes. Take them out from the tin gently using a toothpick or a knife and place them on a flat plate.
- Give the cherry jam a good stir to even the consistency. Put about one table spoon of the jam on each cake and let them sit in the freezer for 30 minutes. The cakes and jam stuck together as they freeze that makes the chocolate coating easier!
- Melt the chocolate in a microwave, stir often in between to avoid burning. Take the cakes out of the freezer.
- Hold a cake upside down and dip in the melted chocolate to coat the top. Gently turn over and place back on the plate. Repeat the step for the rest of the cakes. Try work with this coating process quickly, the jam could fall of the cake if you leave them at room temperature for too long!
- I made a pattern on top of the cake using a heated knife but this is optional.
