Pimped Snacks

Their previous entry was good but not quite big enough (picture to the left – the middle-sized Jaffa Cake is actually the regular sized ones you buy in the shops).

Compare it to the one I produced, as can be seen below. .

So, without delay, here’s how I did it.

Firstly, the cake. This was just a ‘vanilla’ Victoria sponge mixture, for which you need:

1. 4 eggs (medium or large)
2. 250g Caster Sugar
3. 250g Self-raising Flour
4. 250g Butter

Put all of that in a large mixing bowl and give it a good solid mixing, once it becomes a nice smooth texture, you’re done and ready to put it into something for it to bake in.

To achieve the round shape we needed, and since there were baking trays large enough for the ambitious project we were undertaking, we used the lid from a Le Crouse casserole dish. Once that was poured in, just pop it in the oven (at about 180 Celsius) and keep an eye on it.

To know when it’s ready to take out, pop a knife in the middle of it - if you pull it out and there’s gooey stuff on, it’s not done. Once a knife comes up clean it’s baked through and you’re good to go to the next stage - the jamming! Place it onto a cooling tray and get cracking!

For the orangey Jaffa centre that is the magic behind the Jaffa Cake, we used some quick-setting orange jelly. This involved boiling some water and putting the powder mixture in and stirring away. After a short while it went into a syrupy texture and we were under-way, we put it into a round tray to put in the fridge to set. About 20mins later we were done and could place the orange stuff onto the cake. The result is a sight to behold!

Once the jelly was on the top all we needed to do was cover it with chocolate, then decorate the chocolate a little with the same pattern on the jaffa cakes.

Melting the chocolate is an easy, albeit risky manouvre. You have to watch it like a hawk, but more importantly, don’t overdo it. We took our eyes off the prize and ended up just letting it bake almost. The result being a very gloopy solid chocolate mess that wasn’t going to spread anywhere. So, we set in rescue mode.

To rescue the chocolate, all you have to do is lovingly mix back in some cream or milk, slowly and over a low-ish heat. Eventually it’ll settle back down to a smooth consistency. Then cover it with chocolate, and set it up ready for the decoration by smooting it out as best you can.

Finally, all you need to do is add the hatching type effect and let the chocolate set for a little while.

The result is a monster Jaffa that positive eats all other Jaffa contenders. I’m not too sure of the dimensions but of course it dwarfs it.

All that’s left to do is taste it and check out your handy-work! After-all, there’s no sense pushing the boundaries without reflecting on your achievements!

As you can see, I was more than ready to tuck in. However, a fair bit of toffee, and chocolate tasting had taken its toll on me and I couldn’t manage much, but for ‘pimping’ its all about the looks.

Now, it wasn’t just me pimping snacks, we made a number of things at the same time (with all the photos from the evenings pimping are available in a set on Flickr) including a pimped Rolo, a pimped Kit Kat, and a failed attempt at pimping a Malteser. All in all, great fun, wonder if anyone could get these things into a record book!

If anyone has a go, let me know!