 Jaffa Cakes are a popular type of biscuit-like cake in the United Kingdom and Ireland They are sold under a number of different brands, the market leader being McVitie's (United Biscuits).
Similar products are available in many countries under different names, including Pim's orange by Kraft Foods' LU brand and Messino by Bahlsen in Germany.
Specifications
Regular-sized Jaffa Cakes are circular, approximately 54 mm in diameter. They comprise three layers; a sponge cake base, a layer of orange
flavored jelly of narrower diameter than the base (approximately 38 mm), and a layer of chocolate covering the jam and the margin of the sponge.
In 2000, McVitie's signed a sponsorship deal with Chelsea F.C., making Jaffa Cakes one of the team's eleven 'platinum' sponsors. Sven-Göran Eriksson announced that Jaffa Cakes would join the England squad in Japan for the 2002 FIFA World Cup as part of their training diet.
Urban legend
There have been claims in the media that the orange
centers in Jaffa Cakes are made from apricot and flavored with tangerine oil. This urban legend may have originated in a 2002 article in The Daily Telegraph. The myth gained status when it was published as fact in The Book of General Ignorance, a 2006 book based on the BBC television series QI. The book's claim was repeated in a 2006 article in The People.
According to the list of ingredients on the packs, Jaffa Cakes in fact contain no apricot, or tangerine, and are made with orange juice, an assertion protected by UK food
labeling laws.
In the 1970s a series of television advertisements were produced for the product, featuring Welsh actor Victor Spinetti as "The Mad Jaffa Cake Eater", a Mexican bandit style character who surreptitiously stole and ate other people's Jaffa Cakes, prompting the
catchphrase "There's Orangey!"
Cake or biscuit?
Under UK law, no VAT is charged on biscuits and cakes — they are "zero rated". Chocolate covered biscuits, however, are subject to VAT, currently 15%. McVities classed its Jaffa Cakes as cakes, but in 1991, this was challenged by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise and the case ended up before the courts. This may have been because Jaffa Cakes are about the same size and shape as some types of biscuit. A question that the court asked itself was "what criteria should be used to class something as a cake?"
McVities defended its classification of Jaffa Cakes as cakes. In doing so it produced a giant Jaffa Cake to illustrate that its Jaffa Cakes were simply miniature cakes.
McVities argued that a distinction between cakes and biscuits is, inter alia, that biscuits would normally be expected to go soft when stale, whereas cakes would normally be expected to go hard. It was demonstrated to the Tribunal that Jaffa Cakes become hard when stale. Other factors taken into account by the Chairman, Mr Potter QC, included the name, ingredients, texture, size, packaging, marketing, presentation, appeal to children, and manufacturing process. Contrary to a commonly held belief, whether something is considered a 'luxury item' is not a test for VAT purposes.
Mr Potter ruled that the Jaffa Cake is a cake. McVities therefore won the case and VAT is not paid on Jaffa Cakes.
Spin-offs
There have been a number of spin-off products produced:- Jaffa Cake bars, a rectangular bar composed of one layer of softer sponge, with orange jam on top, and surrounded by chocolate.
- Jaffa Corners, a variant of the Müller Corner yogurt brand.
- Jaffa Mini Roll, a
Swiss roll composed of the same ingredients as the Jaffa Cake bars.
- Jaffa Cake Muffins, a muffin with orange jam in the middle and chocolate on top.
- In 2005, McVitie's launched Jaffa Cake Zingy Blackcurrant, a regularly composed cake with a blackcurrant
flavored centre. In 2006, it launched a Jaffa Cake Lemon and Lime variant and in 2007 Apple and Blackberry and Cranberry and Orange variants.
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Chocolate Cake
