Jaffa cake A Jaffa Cake A Jaffa Cake is a popular type of snack sold under a number of different brands , the market leader being McVitie 's ( United Biscuits ) . In the United Kingdom , Jaffa Cakes are classed as cakes for the purposes of taxation , but due to their size and high number per packaging , shops generally stock them within the biscuit section . The name is derived from Jaffa oranges . McVitie 's produce Jaffa Cakes in two different sizes ( regular and mini ) and in a number of different packaging formats ( box , tube , pod and flow wrap ) . Specifications Regular-sized Jaffa Cakes are circular , approximately 54 mm ( 2⅛ inches ) in diameter , and 7 mm ( ¼ inch ) in height . They comprise three layers : A sponge base . A layer of orange jam of narrower diameter than the base , approximately 38 mm ( 1½ inch ) in diameter . A layer of chocolate covering the jam and the margin of the sponge . Spin-offs There are several spin-off products which use the McVitie 's Jaffa Cake brand : Jaffa Cakebars , a rectangular bar composed of two layers of softer sponge , with orange jam between , 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 Cakebars . 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 . Marketing Jaffa Cake box , circa 2004 In the marketing of McVitie 's Jaffa Cakes , the orange jam 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 '' . 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 HM 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 ) . 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' . Miscellaneous Scottish actor Ian Richardson stated in a 2006 interview that his father was the inventor of the Jaffa Cake. [ citation needed ] McVitie 's signed a sponsorship deal with Manchester United 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 . The publicity culminated with a story of a McVitie 's Jaffa Cake being found bearing the face of David Beckham , the team captain . 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 . 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. [ citation needed ] References ^ Official Jaffa Cakes page from United Biscuits . URL last accessed February 16 2006 . ^ Lightfoot , Ch. : Jaffa Cakes , June 29 2003 . URL last accessed February 16 2006 . ^ Online article Biscuit classification . URL last accessed May 23 2006 . External links Official website Categories : Articles with unsourced statements | British desserts | Confectionery | Snack foods | United Biscuits brands 