Regular-sized Jaffa Cakes are circular, approximately 54 mm (2⅛ inches) in diameter, and 7 mm (¼ inch) in depth. They comprise three layers:
- A sponge base.
- A layer of orange jelly of narrower diameter than the base, approximately 38 mm (1½ inch) in diameter.
- A layer of chocolate covering the jelly and the margin of the sponge.
Spin-offs
There are several spin-off products which use the McVitie's Jaffa Cake brand:
- 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 flavoured centre. In 2006, it launched a Jaffa Cake Lemon and Lime variant and in 2007 an Apple and Blackberry variant.
Marketing
In the marketing of McVitie's Jaffa Cakes, the orange jelly is referred to as "the smashing orangey bit". All the packaging uses a distinctive orange font on a blue background. For a couple of years, until late 2004, the words "Jaffa Cakes" were replaced on the box with slogans humorously designed to look as if the owner was trying to protect their cakes, e.g. "THEY'RE ALL GONE".
McVitie's signed a sponsorship deal with Manchester United F.C. in 2000, making Jaffa Cakes one of the teams'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.
Cake or biscuit?
Under UK law, no VAT is charged on biscuits and cakes — they are "zero rated". Chocolate covered biscuits, however, are classed as luxury items and are subject to VAT at 17.5%. McVitie's classed its Jaffa Cakes as cakes, but in 1991, this was challenged by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in court. This may have been because Jaffa Cakes are about the same size and shape as some types of biscuit. The question which had to be answered was what criteria should be used to class something as a cake or biscuit. McVitie's defended the classification of Jaffa Cakes as a cake by producing a giant Jaffa Cake to illustrate that their Jaffa Cakes were simply mini cakes.
They also argued that the distinction between cakes and biscuits is simply that cakes go hard when stale, whereas biscuits go soft. It was demonstrated that Jaffa Cakes become hard when stale and McVitie's won the case.
The issue was revisited in an article entitled 'Are Jaffa Cakes really biscuits?' published in the Journal of Unlikely Science (Volume 1, issue 7, 2005).[4] The article attempted to classify biscuits via a scientific analysis of various features (size, shape, filling etc.) and determined that the Jaffa Cake should be regarded as a biscuit, or 'pseudobiscuit'.
Trivia
- Taking inspiration from the Pimp That Snack website, a huge (55cm in diameter) Jaffa Cake was made by Giles Coren on the UK TV programme The F Word.[5]
- In the Beatles Anthology book, John Lennon was said by bandmate Paul McCartney to have been fond of Jaffa Cakes, and overindulged in them when the Beatles first achieved wealth and fame.
- In a normal pack of Jaffa Cakes the top Jaffa Cake is always upside down.
- Jonny Greenwood, guitarist from the UK band Radiohead, is an avid fan of Jaffa Cakes.
- In the series Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, an ongoing debate of biscuit lover Jonny is whether the Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit.
- Demetri Martin references Jaffa Cakes as a "finer thing in life" in his interpretation of the song "Selfish Jean" by the band Travis.
- On packs of Jaffa Cakes there are typically jokes, where the customer helpline telephone number is headed "Jaffaholics Anonymous" and storage instructions read, "Store in a cool dry place or consume within minutes!"
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