It's no fun sucking it when it's soft! (Mc Vities Jaffa Cakes)

Member Name: michaird

Product:	Mc Vities Jaffa Cakes
Date:	16/01/03 (669 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Scrummy

Disadvantages: Not as scrummy as they used to be

Ahhh, Jaffa cakes. As a child I would spend every weekend at my Nan and Granddad's house, my Nan would have the ordinary biscuit box filled with custard creams and rich tea while my Granddad would hide packs of Jaffa cakes somewhere in my Nan's kitchen. Whenever we were very, very good Granddad would make us all a cup of tea and as a special treat bring out the Jaffa cakes and I would sit on his lap eating them.

Hence, I love Jaffa cakes.

Now there is a lot of debate as to whether they are a cake or a biscuit, the vat man (spit spit) was especially interested in this particular point, as cakes are not vatable and biscuits are. The vat man (spit spit) wanted to classify Jaffa cakes as a biscuit and slap a huge vat assessment on McVities. As far as I know, the evil vat man (spit spit) was defeated by the valiant McVites when they baked a giant Jaffa cake to prove that the spongy bit did, indeed, make it a cake. Hurrah! (I would love to have got my hands on that giant Jaffa)

So then, Jaffa cakes are little cakes about 2.5 inches in diameter. They have a thin sponge base and are topped with a circle of what is called the smashing orangy bit, which is a bit like marmalade, smaller than the base, this is all topped off with a thin layer of plain chocolate.

Now, I don't know if it's because I was smaller then, but Jaffa cakes don't seem nearly as big as they used to be (like most things nowadays, have you seen the size of wagon wheels?) They also seem a lot thinner, a single Jaffa cake was once a substantial bite, now it is little more than a nibble.

I use to have a technique for eating Jaffa cakes (I am a little obsessive about how my food is presented, how I eat it. It's a bit weird I know but I don't care) first you nibble the cake all around the orangy bit and then peel off the orangy bit. While you balance the orangy bit on your finger you eat the rest of the cake. You put the orangy bit on you
tongue and suck all the chocolate off, then you can eat the orangy bit. Its not attractive, but its sooo much fun.

Problem is, that doesn't work so well anymore. Sure you can nibble of the base but the orangy bit seem so much softer than it used to be so the peeling off and sucking is really quite difficult. For me is spoils the whole experience, its no fun sucking it when it's soft!

The orangy bit doesn't seem as, well, orangy as it used to. The sharp zestyness used to contrast really well with the bitter plain chocolate yet now, the main taste you get when eating the Jaffa cake is the bitter chocolate.

The packaging however, doesn't seem to have changed much since I was a child, in a distinctive blue, royal blue possibly, with Jaffa cakes spelled out in orange peel graphics. They're easily recognisable if you know the brand.

The last box I bought, the one that inspired this op, is a box of twelve, which cost me 51p in Kwik Save (An impulse buy it's why I shouldn't be allowed in shops). You can buy Jaffa cakes in all sorts of different sized boxes; you can buy mini Jaffa cakes, Jaffa cake bars and snack packs. Jaffa cakes are now made buy a number of different brands; most supermarkets have an own brand version.

You'll also be please to know that Jaffa cakes aren't nearly as gut bustingly decadent as they sound. Weighting in at only 48 calories each you can happily stuff in a couple without feeling too naughty, especially when you consider that a McVities digestive have 73 calories each and they don't even have any chocolate on then.

Not suitable for vegans (got egg in it) they use pectin as a gelling agent so I think that means its ok for vegetarians (it doesn't confirm it on the box) it also doesn't say if they're suitable for nut allergy sufferers. They also contain wheat.

I still love Jaffa cakes, despite them not being nearly as yummy as they u
sed to be. If you've never tried them before you'll have no expectations but if you used to love them and haven't had them in years and years and years, Prepare to be disappointed.

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