Jaffa Cakes — Recipe & Origins

i. Origin & history

Jaffa Cakes were introduced by McVitie and Price in 1927, and they take their name from the Jaffa orange — a sweet, largely seedless variety associated with the port of Jaffa, which was widely exported and well known in Britain at the time. The name is descriptive of the flavour rather than of any actual sourcing arrangement.

McVitie's never trademarked the name, which is why supermarket own-brand versions can be sold as Jaffa Cakes rather than under an invented alternative. The product has stayed remarkably stable in almost a century: sponge base, orange jelly disc, dark chocolate top, sold in a distinctive flat box of twelve.

Then there is the tax case, which is genuinely why most people outside Britain have heard of them. Under UK VAT rules, most food is zero-rated, but chocolate-covered biscuits are standard-rated as a luxury, while cakes — including chocolate-covered cakes — are not. HM Customs and Excise argued that the Jaffa Cake was a chocolate-covered biscuit and therefore taxable. McVitie's argued it was a cake.

The 1991 VAT tribunal found for McVitie's, and the reasoning has become a small legend. Among the factors considered: the ingredients and method resemble a sponge cake batter rather than a biscuit dough; the product is soft when fresh; the size and packaging are not decisive; and — the detail everyone remembers — cakes go hard when stale while biscuits go soft, and Jaffa Cakes go hard. McVitie's is reported to have baked a giant one to make the point that scale was not the issue. The finding stands, and Jaffa Cakes remain zero-rated.

ii. Three layers, three different problems

Making Jaffa Cakes at home means solving three unrelated technical problems in sequence, which is why they are more fiddly than they look.

The sponge is a genoise-style batter — eggs and sugar whisked to a thick ribbon, flour folded in — baked in shallow rounds. It is leavened by air alone, so the whisking has to reach the ribbon stage properly and the folding has to be gentle enough not to knock it back out. The bases need to be thin and flat; baked in a shallow bun tin they will dome slightly, which most home bakers simply trim or ignore.

The jelly is where recipes diverge most. The commercial product uses a firm set that holds its disc shape unsupported at room temperature, which needs more setting agent than a dessert jelly. Orange juice alone rarely gives enough flavour intensity at that concentration, so marmalade or reduced juice usually does the work. The jelly must be set in a flat sheet or in moulds and cut, then placed on the sponge — pouring liquid jelly onto sponge soaks it and gives you a wet base.

The chocolate topping is a tempering question. Untempered chocolate will set soft and streaky and will bloom within a day. Properly tempered dark chocolate gives the snap and shine that make the top layer read as correct. The characteristic ripple pattern on the commercial version is applied with a textured mat or a comb; a fork drawn across the setting chocolate approximates it.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 12 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

3 large eggs
75 g caster sugar
75 g self-raising flour
Pinch salt
Zest of 1 orange
300 ml orange juice
60 g sugar
6 g gelatin
200 g dark chocolate

For the jelly, good marmalade gives far better results than orange juice alone — the peel carries the aromatic oils that juice loses, and the pectin already present helps the set. Use gelatine leaves if you can, since they give a cleaner set than powder at this firmness. The chocolate should be dark, around 50–60%; the commercial product is not especially bitter, and a 70% chocolate overwhelms the orange. The sponge uses no butter in the classic genoise approach — the fat would weigh down a batter that is relying entirely on whisked-in air.

iv. Method

Make orange jelly: bloom gelatin in cold water. Warm orange juice with sugar; dissolve gelatin into it. Pour into a shallow tray to 5 mm depth. Chill until set. Cut into 6 cm discs.
Make sponge: whip eggs and sugar until tripled. Fold in flour, salt and zest. Pipe small discs (6 cm) onto a lined tray.
Bake at 180 °C for 6-8 min until just-set and pale. Cool.
Place a jelly disc on each sponge.
Melt chocolate. Spoon over the top of each disc to cover; texture the surface with a fork.

v. Tips & common mistakes

Whisk the eggs and sugar to a genuine ribbon. Lift the whisk: the trail should sit on the surface for three or four seconds before sinking. Under-whisked, the sponge bakes dense and the discs will be tough rather than springy.
Set the jelly separately and cut discs. Pour it into a shallow tray, set it firm, then stamp out rounds slightly smaller than your sponges. Pouring jelly directly onto sponge soaks in and leaves a soggy base with no distinct layer.
Make the jelly firmer than a dessert jelly. It has to hold its shape unsupported and survive being lifted with a palette knife. A wobbling set will slump under the warm chocolate.
Chill the assembled bases before coating. Cold jelly holds its edges when hot chocolate hits it. At room temperature the jelly softens, spreads, and the chocolate slides off the side.
Temper the chocolate, or accept the difference. Tempered chocolate snaps, shines and keeps. Untempered chocolate sets soft, looks dull and blooms grey within a day or two. If you are not tempering, at least use a couverture and chill quickly.
Coat the jelly side, and only the jelly side. Spoon chocolate over the top and let it stop at the edge. Enrobing the whole thing turns it into a different confection — the exposed sponge underside is part of what a Jaffa Cake is.

vi. Variations

McVitie's has produced a long run of limited editions — lemon and lime, strawberry, blackcurrant, pineapple — alongside the standard orange. Jaffa Cake Bars and Jaffa Cake Nibbles reformat the same three layers. There is a widely sold full-size Jaffa Cake cake, a large round sponge with orange jelly and chocolate, which exists partly as a joke about the tax case. Home bakers frequently make lemon versions, which work well with the same method, and giant single-portion Jaffa Cakes baked in a sandwich tin.

vii. Serving & storage

Jaffa Cakes are tea-time food, eaten from the packet rather than plated, and there is a long-running national debate about the correct method — all at once, or nibbling the chocolate off first, then the jelly, then the sponge. Serve them at room temperature; straight from the fridge the jelly is rubbery and the chocolate loses its aroma. Tea is the obvious partner, and an Earl Grey does something genuinely good against the orange.

Homemade Jaffa Cakes keep for about three days in an airtight container at cool room temperature. They do not keep as well as the commercial version, which uses stabilisers in the jelly; a home-set jelly gradually weeps moisture into the sponge and by day four the base is damp. Do not refrigerate them unless your kitchen is warm — the fridge dulls the chocolate and firms the jelly unpleasantly — and do not freeze them, since the jelly separates on thawing.

viii. Common questions

Is a Jaffa Cake a cake or a biscuit?

Legally, in the United Kingdom, a cake. A 1991 VAT tribunal ruled in McVitie's favour against HM Customs and Excise, which had argued it was a chocolate-covered biscuit and therefore subject to VAT. The tribunal accepted that the ingredients and method are those of a sponge cake, and that — unlike biscuits, which go soft — Jaffa Cakes go hard when stale.

Why does the cake-or-biscuit question matter?

Tax. Under UK VAT rules most food is zero-rated, but chocolate-covered biscuits are standard-rated as a luxury item, while cakes are not — even chocolate-covered ones. Classifying the Jaffa Cake as a biscuit would have added VAT to every packet.

Why are they called Jaffa Cakes?

After the Jaffa orange, a sweet and largely seedless variety associated with the port of Jaffa and widely exported to Britain in the early twentieth century. McVitie's introduced the product in 1927 and never trademarked the name, which is why supermarkets can sell their own versions under it.

What is a Jaffa Cake made of?

Three layers: a thin disc of plain whisked sponge, a firm set orange jelly on top of it, and a coating of dark chocolate over the jelly. The sponge underside is left uncoated.

Why is my homemade jelly layer soggy?

Almost certainly because the jelly was poured onto the sponge while liquid. It needs to be set separately in a shallow tray, cut into discs, and then placed on the sponge. The jelly also needs to be set firmer than a dessert jelly so it holds its shape unsupported.

How long do homemade Jaffa Cakes keep?

About three days in an airtight container at cool room temperature — less than the shop version, which uses stabilisers. A home-set jelly slowly releases moisture into the sponge. They do not freeze well, as the jelly separates on thawing.