Jaffa Cakes

A Jaffa Cake cut in half
Origin
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Creator(s)	McVitie and Price
Details
Type	Snack food
Main ingredient(s)	Sponge cake, orange-flavoured jam/jelly, chocolate

Jaffa Cakes are a snack introduced by McVitie and Price in 1927 and named after Jaffa oranges, and now manufactured by numerous companies including McVities, Cadbury and other biscuit manufacturers, Tesco and other supermarket chains.

The most common form of Jaffa Cakes are circular, 2+¹⁄₂ inches (64 mm) in diameter and have three layers: a sponge base, a layer of orange flavoured jelly and a coating of chocolate.^[1][2] Jaffa Cakes are also available as bars or in small packs, and in larger and smaller sizes.^[3] The original Jaffa Cakes come in packs of 12, 24 or 36.^[4]

Jaffa Cakes are consumed primarily in the United Kingdom and Ireland.^[5] McVitie's did not trademark the name "Jaffa Cakes" and so other companies such as Tesco, Sainsbury and Aldi also make products under the name Jaffa Cakes.^[5]

Marketing strategy

As an established brand that was "languishing", McVitie's started releasing the product in an updated packaging format and saw an increase in sales.^[when?][6] Their marketing strategy has been to make the product "ubiquitous" and to be "easily accessible and available at arm's length".^[7]

Manufacture

Because of nature of the product – having multiple components of cake, chocolate covering and jam – special hardware accelerators were devised to allow rapid computer inspection of 20 products per second, taking place under four symmetrically placed lights.^[8] The McVitie's Jaffa Cakes are made in a factory that covers an acre and travel a production line over a mile long.^[5]

Flavour variants

Although Jaffa Cakes are usually orange flavour, limited edition flavours have been available, such as lemon-lime,^[9] strawberry^[10] and blackcurrant.^[11]

Categorisation as cake or biscuit for VAT

In the United Kingdom, value added tax is payable on chocolate-covered biscuits, but not on chocolate-covered cakes.^[12] McVities defended its classification of Jaffa Cakes as cakes at a VAT tribunal in 1991, against the ruling that Jaffa Cakes were biscuits due to their size and shape, and the fact that they were often eaten in place of biscuits.^[13] McVitie's insisted that the product was a cake, and according to rumour produced a giant Jaffa Cake in court to illustrate its point.^[13] After assessing the product on eleven criteria, including "texture", "attractiveness to children" and "consistency when stale",^[14] the court found favour of McVitie's, meaning that VAT is not paid on Jaffa Cakes in the United Kingdom.^[12][15]

See also

• Food portal

References

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