Great British Bake Off Protein clean treats (WEEK 1 - CAKE)

It's back...

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and it's already caused quite a stir!

The show set off the UK's controversial Jaffa Cake debate again when contestants were asked to make McVitie's famous treat for last week's Cake Week Technical Challenge. Though it's called a Jaffa 'Cake' there are still a band of people claiming the Jaffa is in fact a biscuit... it's looks like one, it's packaged like one and it's even found in the biscuit isles. How confusing!

Yet, if you dig a little deeper into the Jaffa Cake's history (don't worry I have done that for you) there is some concrete evidence to support it being a cake. In 1991 UK courts sifted through the evidence to once for all answer the Jaffa mystery. (Yes, this debate actually went through court.)

EVIDENCE

• The product’s name.

• Ingredients: Jaffa cakes were made of an egg, flour, and sugar mixture which was aerated on cooking and was the same as a traditional sponge cake. It was a thin batter rather than the thicker dough expected for a biscuit texture.

• Cake would be expected to be soft and friable; biscuit would be expected to be crisp and able to be snapped. Jaffa cakes had the texture of sponge cake.

• Size: Jaffa cakes were in size more like biscuits than cakes.

• Packaging: Jaffa cakes were sold in packages more similar to biscuits than cakes.

• Marketing: Jaffa cakes were generally displayed for sale with biscuits rather than cakes.

• On going stale, a Jaffa cake goes hard like a cake rather than soft like a biscuit.

• Jaffa cakes are presented as a snack, eaten with the fingers, whereas a cake may be more often expected to be eaten with a fork. They also appeal to children, who could eat one in a few mouthfuls rather like a sweet.

 In the UK VAT is applied to lots of items including biscuits however it's not added to cake as they're viewed as a 'staple' food (well, duh! Best excuse to eat cake right?) McVitie's baked a giant Jaffa Cake in order to show the sponge in court. They came to the conclusion that the sponge part of the Jaffa is the bulk of the product, and taking all these other factors into account, the majority of evidence suggested it is most certainly a cake and therefore they were zero-rated.

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If that still doesn't put the debate to rest for you McVitie's themselves confirmed this again after releasing a statement to settle the uproar caused from Paul Hollywood's barbaric dunking of his cake into a cuppa tea. (CRIMINAL! Soggy cake, WTF?)

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Kerry Owens, Brand Director at McVitie's said:

 “Only British people could be so passionate about this issue. And the people have spoken. Jaffa Cakes are not for dunking.  As the experts of all things Jaffa Cake, we tend to agree – the sponge base just isn’t robust enough to hold up in a hot drink.

We think our Jaffa Cakes are fantastic as they are, so why mess with the best?”

And there you have it! You don't dunk Jaffa cakes but you do dunk biscuits.
Exhibit No.2!

But, the Jaffa Cake scandal wasn't all bad for our McVitie's relative. Searches of Jaffa Cakes and our classic, lemon drizzle cake soared. Online supermarkets reported searches for the pair rose 136%  along with hunts for their key ingredients like orange jelly. Me, being one of those people.

For you, (well, more for me) I set to create the two in Swolesomefoods style (YO! With added protein and healthier ingredients... if you couldn't have guessed). 

PROTEIN JAFFA CAKES

Ingredients

• 1 scoop vanilla whey
• 55g oats, blended in flour (can use GF)
• 70g ground almonds
• 1 large egg
• 4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 6 tbsp agave/honey
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• pinch of salt

TOPPINGS

• Sugar-free marmalade

100g dark chocolate, melted

Method

Pre-heat an oven to 180'C. Blend the oats into a food processor till a fine flour is formed. Add the oat flour to a large bowl and mix in the whey and ground almonds. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Grease a muffin tray with coconut oil and add the mixture into all 12 holes (If you have a smaller tray you can make bigger cakes or repeat and cook in a couple batches for desired size). Bake for 15-20 minutes till sponges turn a golden brown.  Take out and leave to cool.

Once cooled add a spoonful of marmalade onto each cake. Remember! The right side of the cake! Please re-watch GBO to figure this out ;) (HINT:: flat side facing up)

You can sub this with orange jelly - if doing so follow the instructions on the packet and do this step first. When the jelly is set use a small cookie cutter or something of similar shape to cut out circles to add to the tops of the cakes. Pop in the freezer for 10 minutes. 

The marmalade should be a little more solid so you can cover with chocolate. Break the bar into pieces and microwave for a minute depending on the strength of your microwave. Top each cake with chocolate and freeze again for 15 minutes or so till the chocolate has hardened. Then serve with a cuppa tea...OR DO YOU!? :O

PROTEIN LEMON DRIZZLE

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond flour (you might be able to sub with almond meal but I haven't tried this)
• 2 tbsp coconut flour
• 1- 2 scoops vanilla whey 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 large egg + 2 egg whites
• 2-3 tbsp agave/honey
• 2 tsp of lemon extract or freshly squeezed juice too taste
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp of lemon zest
• 2 tbsp of greek yoghurt
• 3 tbsp of milk (if adding two scoops of whey double add another spoonful of milk)
  
  DRIZZLE
• Juice of one lemon
• 40g xylitol
  
  TOPPINGS
• 30g white chocolate, melted
• Opt. raspberries and pistachios

Method

Preheat and oven to 175'C. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl from almond flour to salt. Then add each wet (eggs, oil, honey, lemon essence) ingredient whisking after each addition. Then stir in all the last ingredients till a smooth batter is made. Grease a bread tin with coconut oil and pour the batter in. Bake for 20-25 minutes till a knife comes out clean. 

While cooling make the drizzle. Heat the lemon juice and xylitol on a stove till xylitol is fully dissolved. Poke holes in the cake - try to poke right through so the drizzle seeps to the bottom of the cake also and pour the drizzle over. Then melt the white chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute and top the cake. To take your cake to another level add chopped pistachios and raspberries. Now, this one is totally expectable to serve with a  side of tea!