Thursday, November 09, 2006

Smashing Orangey Bit!




There was I eating a Jaffa Cake when I realised that I had an audience. Apparently I eat Jaffa Cakes in 'an unusual way'. Okay I concede that I eat them in my way, which may seem odd at first glance but naturally makes perfect sense to me.

If you're not aware of the fascinating concept that is a Jaffa Cake, I'll explain. First of all Jaffa Cakes are cakes not biscuits and this is important as chocolate biscuits are liable for VAT as they are considered to be luxury items. Cakes and non-chocolate covered biscuits are not considered luxury and therefore not vatable. In 1991 the Inland Revenue felt they were being deprived of a lucrative ‘smashing orangey’ tax and demanded that Jaffa Cakes be reclassified as biscuits and that a luxury tax be applied immediately. But some clever 'save Jaffa cakes from tax exile' freedom fighter at McVities came up with the great cake/biscuit classifier - when a biscuit goes stale it goes soggy and when a cake goes stale it goes hard. And a Jaffa Cake? When it goes stale (how could that ever be allowed to happen?) it goes hard! – QED, undeniable proof that a Jaffa Cake is indeed a cake and deserves to be tax-free. Now I've just got to get myself classified as a cake!

The Jaffa Cake comes in three parts namely a pale light sponge base and the smashing orangey jelly bit that it smaller than the sponge and sits on top. And then the sponge and jelly disc are enrobed in a dark chocolate coating but only on one side. The (some say odd, some say curious) way that I eat my Jaffa Cake is to deconstruct it back into its component parts. First I nibble all the sponge from around and below the orange jelly part. Then I eat the remaining chocolate from on top of the jelly disc and then I am left with a very pleasing smooth and wobbly smashing orangey bit which I savour and leave to melt on my tongue until nothing remains but the aroma of orange and a smile. Seems quite normal to me! Others seem to prefer munching through the entire Jaffa Cake swiftly and enjoying the sponge, chocolate and orange jelly in the same bite. How weird!

3 comments:

RooKnits said...

I do an similar thing, but in the order chocolate, sponge, jelly.
Have you see the other flavours? I think I saw blackcurrent and lime (that is a box of blackcurrent and a box of lime - not blackcurrent and lime) currently on 2 for 1 in our local Tesco Metro. I haven't tested them, but maybe it should be a Friday afternoon trial.
Do you eat all the chocolate from Kit Kats first?

J said...

Congratulations Roo, you were the 2,000th visitor to my blog! You should get at least a Jaffa Cake (of all flavours for that!)
And yes I do eat KitKats like that - well at least the Chunky ones - a lot more chocolate to carefully remove!

Anonymous said...

You've just described the only way to eat a jaffa cake as far as I'm concerned. Well actually not a jaffa cake as there is no such thing as eating one jaffa cake. After years of experimentation I've discovered my limit is towards the end of the third box - needless to say I have to stay clear of triple pack special offers now!