As good as the original at half the price! (Tesco Jaffa Cakes)

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Tesco Jaffa Cakes
Date:	09/10/09 (83 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Taste great, cheap, good packaging

Disadvantages: None - they're brilliant!

My husband adores Jaffa Cakes and I suppose, given his sweet tooth, they are one of the better things in the sweets, cakes and biscuits selection that he can eat.

Each Jaffa Cake only contains 1g of fat and 46 calories although each one does contain 6.2g of sugar!

Before we start let's get one thing straight Jaffa Cakes are definitely a cake and not a biscuit. Apparently the Inland Revenue took McVities to court saying that Jaffa cakes were liable for VAT as they are classed as a 'luxury biscuit'. McVities said that they weren't and they won with the explanation that Jaffa Cakes go hard when stale as cake does, whereas biscuits go soft when stale.

Have the Inland Revenue got nothing better to do?

Anyway, having sorted that out, I was shopping in Tesco's when I remembered that I had read many positive reviews of Tesco's own brand Jaffa Cakes so I decided to investigate.

The Price

Currently in Tesco's McVities Jaffa Cakes are available in packs of 12 for 98p, 24 for £1.62 and 36 for £2.41.

Tesco's own Jaffa Cakes were available of packs of 12 for 52p and 36 for £1.24 and I chose to buy the box of 36. Incidentally the Tesco Value Jaffa Cakes cost just 38p for a pack containing 24 so I shall be trying these next time!

The Packaging

I purchased a box of 36 and the box is bright orange with a picture of a pile of Jaffa Cakes on the front and the words 'Tesco 36 Jaffa Cakes -Tangy orange centre with real fruit juice'.

On the back of the box there is a full list of the ingredients, nutritional value and allergy advice. By the way these are suitable for vegetarians.

Inside the box the Jaffa Cakes are further wrapped in cellophane in three lots of 12 so you can eat one lot at a time - if you can resist the others of course!

I must say that I was surprised that they were actually called Jaffa Cakes - I thought that it may be a trademark registered by McVities but obviously not.

The Jaffa Cakes

According to United Biscuits the original recipe for McVities Jaffa Cakes is a closely guarded secret so we must assume that the Tesco variation is slightly different. Having compared the ingredients there isn't as much of the orange juice in the Tesco ones but there is slightly more dark chocolate than in the McVities ones. I could continue but it would just get silly if I compare every ingredient!

Suffice it to say that Tesco Jaffa cakes are composed of a base layer of light sponge topped with dark chocolate and they have that lovely orange flavoured filling we all associate with Jaffa Cakes.

The Taste

Just in case you've been hiding for the last 60 years (and the originals are that old!) Jaffa Cakes are round and about 5cm in diameter. The filling is a tangy orange flavour and is jelly like in consistency. The mixture of the sweetness of the sponge, the sharpness of the orange jelly and the bitterness of the dark chocolate makes for a perfect taste sensation in the mouth.

What you all want to know is do they taste as good as the original? I am here to give the answer to that question as a resounding yes! They taste gorgeous and, in my opinion, they are equally as good as the McVities ones - in fact we couldn't taste the difference.

The Nutritional Value

Again the nutritional value of Tesco's Jaffa Cakes are just slightly different from the McVities equivalent and for your information I have put the McVities information in brackets.

This is the nutritional Value per cake:

Calories 43 (46)
Protein 0.5g (0.6g)
Carbohydrates 7.5g (8.7g)
Of which sugars 6.3g (6.2g)
Fat 1.0g (1.0g)
Of which saturates 0.6g (0.5g)
Fibre 0.2g (0.3g)
Salt trace (trace)

Price 3.44p (6.7p)

So you can see that the two types are almost identical in nutrition as well as taste but the Tesco ones are about half the price of the McVities ones.

Conclusion

We both loved the Tesco's Jaffa Cakes and thought they were just as good as the more expensive McVities ones and I will certainly be buying the Tesco ones in future.

I also intend to try Tesco Value version which work out at only 1.58p per cake to see what they are like so I might end up saving even more money! I'll let you know what they are like when I have tried them.

Summary: Super Jaffa Cakes at a greta price!