Cake or Biscuit? We Put Jaffa Cakes on Trial

Britain has argued about this for decades, and it actually went to court. Here's the case, both sides, and the verdict.

The defendant

McVitie's Jaffa Cakes: a light sponge disc, a layer of orange jelly, a coating of dark chocolate. Sold and eaten like a biscuit. Shaped like a biscuit. But is it one?

The case for "biscuit"

They're small, sold in the biscuit aisle, and eaten the way you'd eat a biscuit — with tea, in a packet, one after another without much ceremony.

The case for "cake"

This is where McVitie's actually won. In a real UK VAT tribunal (cakes and biscuits are taxed differently), the company successfully argued Jaffa Cakes are cakes — because they go hard when they go stale, like a cake, rather than soft, like a biscuit does.

The verdict

Legally: a cake. Officially, permanently, by tribunal ruling. Whether that settles it at your kitchen table is a separate matter.

Where to buy the evidence

Get McVitie's The Original Jaffa Cakes from Great British Imports, shipped directly from the UK across the United States — not widely stocked in American supermarkets, so this is the most reliable way to get the genuine product and judge for yourself.