Jaffa Cake.....

[maimie]

Settle an argument!

Cake or buscuit??? :017:

[+Gringo]

Biscuit- A small, crisp, flat cake, often sweetened.

Cake - A mixture of flour, eggs, milk, sugar, etc baked and often covered in icing.

As Jaffa isn't 'crisp' I'll say its a cake. :005:

[KingBeastie]

It's a biscuit.

[maimie]

It's a biscuit.

why?

[Caley Fish]

Ckaes go from soft to hard as they get older whereas biscuits go from hard to soft as they get old therefore Jaffa cakes are cakes :011:

[Queen Beastie]

Its definitely a cake. Going to get a bit boring now but it was settled because of a VAT case. There's no VAT on plain biscuits or cakes but there is on chocolate biscuits so Customs tried to say that Jaffa Cake was a biscuit and McVities had to start paying VAT on sales. They went to court to claim that it was in fact a cake and used the reasoning already mentioned, when stale a biscuit goes soft whereas a cake goes hard. A stale jaffa cake goes hard so it must be a cake. This was accepted and it is now officially a cake!

God, my tax module did teach me something!!

[KingBeastie]

:015: :015: I am so taking the mickey out of you next time we're out! :016:

[Guest hm_murdock]

I once wrote to McVities and they informed me that it is a cake.

One of the numerous reasons they gave me was that a cake starts off soft and then when it gets old it goes hard. A biscuit starts off hard and when it gets old it goes soft.

[CaleyD]

I phoned them asking why a Penguin was so called and nobody was able to give me an answer. I received a follow up e.mail from their marketing department telling me that the reasons seems to have been lost in time but if I uncovered any information on my search for the answer could I let them know.

[CaleyJulz]

Ewwwwwwwwwwww jaffa cakes are minging i just hate em now i will eat dime cake anyday yummage

[CaleyD]

Tia-Maria and Fresh Orange - tastes just like Jaffa Cakes - you can water it down with soda water if you find it too sweet.

[Heilandee]

Goes soggy and drop in yer coffee to quick when ya dunk them, so there a cake!! (also the clues in the name)

[CaleyD]

(also the clues in the name)

Not really as shortcake is a biscuit :016:

[maimie]

why then is it on the shelves with the biscuits and not the cakes?? :017:

and empire biscuits are in with the cakes?

and what about fig rolls?

[Johnboy]

JEEEEEZ...... Some of you people need to get a life..... :018: :018:

[f*ballers wife]

oh my!!!

i was a tad on the merry side last night....

am i STILL pie~eyed :017: or is this for real??? :015:

for what it's worth..... i'm with beastie on this one.... a bicki!

and have you tried the ones in lidls.... raspberry flavour... yumster! :005:

[Scotty]

over here its a cookie :015:

[+Gringo]

Oh dear! This could go on... :015: :015:

[true jaggy]

jaffa is a dog, my dog is called jaffa

[Heilandee]

CaleyD ,its not shortcake its short BREAD.....but its no bread mind yo :001: u

[Scotty]

CaleyD ,its not shortcake its short BREAD.....but its no bread mind yo :001: u

Shortcake and Shortbread BOTH exist !! Shortcake is a bread -click- whereas Shortbread is a biscuit and neither are cakes -click-

jaffa is a dog, my dog is called jaffa

My Dog is called Caley !!

.... this is shaping up to be a surreal thread ..... in the words of Mr Burns .... exxxxcelllllent !

[tm4tj]

My guess is

Jaffa Cakes

Jaffa cakes are small cakes/biscuits (see below). Traditional Jaffa Cakes comprise a round base of hard sponge, a jelly disc which is known as a 'smashing orangey bit', and a topping of chocolate. They are quite wonderful and should be enjoyed the world over.

There are many different types of Jaffa Cakes, but the original ones were (and still are) manufactured by McVities. A new 'Jaffa phenomenon' has recently appeared in the shape of Jaffa Cubes which are manufactured by Cadburys.

Jaffa Cake fans may be pleased to know that there are societies dedicated to the enjoyment of Jaffa Cakes, including 'Huggabuga Jaffacake Appreciation Society International' or HJASI for short, based at Edinburgh University.

Jaffa Cakes: Biscuit or Cake?

The source of one of the most complex conundrums ever to challenge mankind:

Is it a cake or is it a biscuit?

These small circular sponges topped with chocolate and squidgy orange stuff have been the subject of much debate over the years. Even the British government has become embroiled in this web of snack-related intrigue. At present the Jaffa Cake is classified as a cake but the British government is attempting to get it reclassified as a biscuit. This would mean it would come under a higher tax bracket as biscuits aren't as perishable as cakes, or something technical like that.

It is not clear how much more expensive the Jaffa Cake would become should this proposal go through Parliament, but it's possible they could move from the realms of 'everyday favourite' to become more a much more exclusive item. In which case, they could end up being treated similarly to fine wines, so that in the future, small groups of Jaffa Cake connoisseurs might be found in darkened cellars discussing texture, nose, and full-bodied flavour.

Whatever happens, the Jaffa Cake will retain a unique place in the biscuit/cake market.

So I reckon it's a biscake :016:

[CaleyD]

I was talking about the coconut shortcake biscuits you get that are rectangular.

Clicky Clicky

or the McVities fruit shortcake which are round

Clicky Clicky

[Guest Lauraness]

my dog is called Suzi

and i think it is a hybrid of a biscuit and a cake, it must be a biscake !!!!

i win...

[Heilandee]

THE DEFINITIVE ANSWER.....well sort of

The great Jaffa Cake debate

Food: Student’s award-winning film tackles one of British life’s great conundrums

IT’S an argument that refuses to go away, and one of the truly British conundrums of our time: is the Jaffa Cake a cake, a biscuit, or something else entirely?

Ross Howieson, 23, of Glasgow’s Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, has posed the question in his new film Half Cake Half Biscuit, which has already taken a prize at the Scottish Students on Screen Awards .

Now Howieson is in talks with bosses at Channel 4, with a view to preparing a shortened version of the film for possible transmission later this year.

“I was trying to think of something that hadn’t been done before,” he said. “When I went out on the streets and started asking people about it, I realised everyone had a very definite opinion. A lot of people said they had discussed it already with friends and family.”

The question, while fun, threatens to reignite a debate that saw McVitie’s fight the Jaffa Cakes’ corner in a tribunal against HM Customs and Excise 15 years ago. Under UK law, biscuits and cakes are “zero-rated” in terms of VAT. Chocolate-covered biscuits, however, are classed as luxuries and therefore subject to VAT at 17.5%. McVitie’s successfully defended its claim that the Jaffa Cake is a cake by producing a giant one in the courtroom.

“Not a lot of people have heard about the court case and, when they do, they think it’s a some kind of joke,” said Howieson. “I personally think it’s more of a cake marketed as a biscuit. ”

Dr David Marshall, of the school of management at Edinburgh University, said it was not uncommon for products to bridge industry classifications .

“Often with foods what you’re doing is trying to create all sorts of weird names and brands that are in some ways inaccurate, such as Jelly Babies, which could technically amount to cannibalism,” he said. “I’d be interested to see whether you would get a reaction if McVitie’s were forced to change the name to Jaffa Biscuits because I think consumers would continue to call them Jaffa Cakes. ”

The low-budget documentary includes interviews with academics and often perplexed-looking passers-by. One of those questioned, Dr Hugh McLachlan of Caledonian University’s school of law and social sciences, said the debate had the potential to “free our minds”.

“Sometimes when we try to classify we assume there must be an answer, that it must be a cake or a biscuit, but in some cases it’s maybe neither,” he said.

Donald Potter QC, chairman of the 1991 tribunal, ruled that the snack had “sufficient characteristics” to remain a cake, but if the documentary is aired as one of Channel Four’s Three Minute Shorts, the debate will reach a new and perhaps more sceptical audience.

A spokeswoman for United Biscuits, parent company of McVitie’s, said the identity crisis had been long since settled.

“One of the reasons they are a cake is that they have the properties of a cake,” she said. “It starts off soft and would go hard, whereas a biscuit starts off hard and would go soft, so a Jaffa Cake has the properties and characteristics of a cake.”

and eh thought we were sad....... :015: