The Ultimate Question.

[Athene]

Is a Jaffa cake a cake or a biscuit. Please vote on the poll and give reasons for your choice in the thread.

 

[bunced]

Cake because it goes dry when it gets old, whereas biscuits go soft

 

[Allister]

Cake because it goes dry when it gets old, whereas biscuits go soft

But that is the only cakish feature it has. All other indicators point to biscuit. It's small, flat, round, has a soft centre and a harder shell, comes in a single filed row like a packet of biscuits and can be dunked in a cup of tea.

 

[Martin^^]

It's a cake, with government approval.
Cakes are considered a food stuff and zero-rated for VAT - Jaffa Cakes are included in this category, whereas biscuits and sweets are liable for VAT.
Taste even better knowing you don't pay tax on them...

 

[Pogue]

Despite the name, I think it's a biscuit. You wouldn't buy 20 cakes all at once (well, I would, but normal people wouldn't) but you might buy an entire packet of Jaffa cakes!

 

[ScottishJohn]

This was actually tested by the VAT man a few years ago - apparently there is VAT on Chocolate covered biscuits (a luxury item) but not cakes or ordinary biscuits. So, they proved that the Jaffacake goes hard when stale, (as opposed to biscuits which as Bunced correctly pointed out - go soft) and they also baked a giant cakes sized one.

Edit - should really read all the thread before I post :o

Here is a link instead!

No discussion of the Jaffa Cake can be complete with out recourse to the age old cake or biscuit question. Or to put it another way if I don’t deal with this I’ll be getting emails about it till next Christmas. We’ve tackled this all before on the site and in our book but if you haven’t got round to reading either of those then here is a lightning quick summary. So deep breath here we go...

*

Surprise surprise the Jaffa Cake is indeed a cake which is why they named called it that. Its base is made from sponge cake, not biscuit, they must have been thinking about that when they called it a Jaffa Cake.
*

Yes, yes, we are only to well aware of the theory that biscuits take up moisture when the go stale becoming limp conversely a cake looses it becoming hard, thus proving the Jaffa Cake to be a cake as its bottom is made of sponge cake as we already know. This is all well and good but has several noticeable exceptions such as the Fig roll and so cannot be relied upon. Better just to say its a cake.
*

Equally enticing but flawed is the idea that cakes contain eggs especially sponges like in the case of the Jaffa Cakes sponge bottom. Therefore biscuits simply are eggless baked things. Well that makes the Almond biscuit a cake so no luck there.
*

I know they sell them along with the biscuits, in packs just like biscuits, and McVities is a brand of United Biscuits (who also make cakes) but it’s still a small cake.
*

Some people are confused by the size and think that to be a cake something has to be quite big. Well that’s just a slur on those big bags of madeleines favoured by Marcel Proust or Mr Kiplings more diminutive offerings such his 8 packs of French Fancies.
*

Yes the VAT man wanted it to be a biscuit. That way it would fall by virtue of its chocolate coat into a category of products liable to VAT at the standard rate, i.e. luxury biscuits. As a cake however it is zero rated for VAT, no matter how luxuriant, much to the VAT man’s continuing annoyance. In fact Wifey and I once had a chat with ex Tory Minister John Knott who brought in VAT when the Conservative Government of the time took Britain into the Common Market. He recalled that the whole VAT introduction went surprisingly well expect for the Jaffa cake which caused all sorts of problems. In 1991 the matter went to a tribunal (number 6344 in case you were wondering) in which the VAT man argued that the Jaffa wasn’t a cake and so should not be exempt from VAT (VATA 1983 Sch 5 Group 1 excepted item 2), trotting out all the old arguments. McVities countered with all of the other old arguments plus a specially prepared 12 inch Jaffa Cake, which focused the tribunal’s attention on the sponge base. The tribunal concluded that, while the product also had characteristics of biscuits or confectionery which was not cake, it had sufficient characteristics of cakes to be a cake for the purposes of zero-rating. (The tribunal also determined that the product was not a biscuit.)
*

Finally despite all of this Wifey still thinks they are biscuits.

http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/jaffajudgement/

 

[ScottishJohn]

But that is the only cakish feature it has. All other indicators point to biscuit. It's small, flat, round, has a soft centre and a harder shell, comes in a single filed row like a packet of biscuits and can be dunked in a cup of tea.

It is made of sponge like a cake... and the only hard bit on the outside is the chocolate (as long as they are not at room temperature, in which case they are soft all they way through!)

 

[.Sabre.]

I agree with ScottishJohn.

 

[Allister]

A Jaffa cake has a sponge base, a cheesecake has a biscuit base! what gives?

 

[non-religious]

It's a cake.....

As has already been said. When a biscuit goes off, it becomes soft and when a cake goes off, it becomes hard.

Therefore the Jaffa CAKE is a cake

 

[enigma2007]

lol, for tax reasons its a cake, excellent!

 

[bunced]

I'm glad we all have such sensible and spiritually enriching discussions in this forum The big issues of life: jaffa cakes!

 

[MarcusHill]

I don't know why we're even discussing this. It's clearly a cake, and anyone who says otherwise is a heretic who should be stoned to death with stale Jaffa cakes.

 

[stealingheaven]

Lol I can't decide, I'm confused, this is a difficult debate to contribute to.

 

[meebs]

My answer: a jaffa cake is just a ... jaffa cake. Whatever it is officially that is my own official answer *nods*

Whatever - they taste good and i eat too many of them

 

[meebs]

I don't know why we're even discussing this. It's clearly a cake, and anyone who says otherwise is a heretic who should be stoned to death with stale Jaffa cakes.

no.... jaffa cakes are not stones

perhaps jaffa caked to death?

maybe we should call them biscakes

(or cookakes if you are from the states)

 

[MarcusHill]

no.... jaffa cakes are not stones

perhaps jaffa caked to death?

You're right. How about "pelted to death with Jaffa cakes"?

 

[EternallyPierced]

What's Jaffa cake?

 

[meebs]

You're right. How about "pelted to death with Jaffa cakes"?

agreed - though its a waste of jaffa cakes

 

[meebs]

What's Jaffa cake?

jaffa cake

best way to describe it is like a cookie, but also like a cake... umm, this is the dilema