It is a debate which has sparked zesty tea-time disputes across households for decades : is the Jaffa Cake a biscuit or a cake?
Even now, those trying to find the answer to the question generate more than 2,000 online searches each month.
It even created a bitter row in the north-west of England after an artist’s mural paying homage to the humble snack was defaced.
Just last week, Akse19 who has famously created murals of Ian Curtis, Kurt Kobain, and Marcus Rashford, revealed his latest work in Manchester’s Northern Quarter celebrating the McVities creation.
But vandals later changed the word cake to biscuits.
Now a team of bakery scientists have come up with the answer that can finally settle the matter once and for all.
Experts at Warrington based firm, C-Cell. carried out research using their Baking Quality Analyser – to analyse Jaffa Cakes and determine the characteristics of the controversial snack.
And their overwhelming conclusion is….it’s a cake.
Explaining why they reached that verdict, expert Paul Cliffe, director at baking quality analyser C-Cell, said: “The analysis our team carried out highlighted a number of key characteristics unique to a Jaffa Cake. It found the diameter of the product was 52mm and the top jam or marmalade layer has an average thickness of 4mm. The covering chocolate layer has a 1mm thickness.
“But the really key element is the fact that the number of cells in the sponge are approx 50 cells per square cm. This is consistent with what is traditionally found in cakes
“Additionally, the C-Cell team noted that Jaffa Cakes lack the signature ‘snap’ of a biscuit when split into pieces – reaffirming its status as a cake not a biscuit.
“Despite calls from biscuit enthusiasts, if you look at the science and structure we are firmly on the side that it is a cake.”
While Jaffa Cakes may look like a biscuit and often appear in the same supermarket aisles as Digestives and Rich Tea biscuits, a court decided in 1991 that Jaffa Cakes are indeed a cake. In the UK, companies have to pay VAT on chocolate-covered biscuits, but they don’t have to pay it on chocolate-covered cakes.
On the McVitie’s website, they state: ‘Despite a challenge by Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise that a Jaffa Cake is a biscuit and therefore subject to VAT, McVitie’s successfully proved to the courts that a Jaffa Cake is indeed a cake, and it is still VAT-free to this day.’
Among the famous people who think Jaffa Cakes are biscuits are cookery writer Nigel Slater, who once said: ‘Jaffa Cake is a biscuit through and through’. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also stirred up controversy when she said in 2018: ‘In my humble opinion a Jaffa Cake is definitely a biscuit.’ Meanwhile, those in the cake camp include actor Stephen Fry, scriptwriter John O’Farrell and cook Nigella Lawson, who said they are ‘cakes disguised as biscuits’.
What makes a cake a cake?
A cake’s main characteristic is that it’s made from a dough with a raising agent to create a light fluffy and sponge-like structure. Depending on the type of cake you are wanting to achieve, its can vary between being quite a dense and doughy product, to light and fluffy – but all of these product structures are aerated with ‘bubbles’ and the amount of bubbles determine the structure, (e.g more bubbles = its light and airy. Less bubbles creates a more dense cake.)
What makes a biscuit a biscuit?
A biscuit is usually hard, flat, and unleavened – meaning it is made without yeast or a rising agent. A biscuit has more of a “snap” when you break it into two, rather than tearing through sponge like a cake. The main difference between a biscuit and a cake is what happens when the product goes stale; a cake usually goes hard when left out whereas a biscuit goes soft over time.