In 1991 a VAT tribunal had to rule on whether a Jaffa Cake was a cake or a biscuit, because the tax treatment of the two is different. The argument that settled it was a matter of staling: a cake goes hard as it dries out, and a biscuit goes soft. The Jaffa went hard. Legally, it is a cake, which is a useful thing to have in your pocket when you are hosting people who like an argument.
The test that decided it
The staling test is not a legal trick. It describes a real difference in what the two things are made of. A biscuit is low in moisture and high in fat and sugar, so it draws water out of the air and softens. A cake carries its moisture inside a set crumb, and as that moisture leaves the crumb tightens and turns firm. Anyone who has left half a sponge uncovered overnight has run the experiment already.
What the flavour tastes like made from scratch
The Jaffa profile is orange against dark chocolate, and it fails when either side is a syrup. Our Jaffa Orange Chocolate Cake starts with a moist, tangy orange sponge studded with chocolate chips, so there is cocoa in the crumb rather than only on top, and it is finished with a dark chocolate ganache. Nothing here begins with a pre-mix, which matters more with citrus than almost anything: the sharpness has to come from the fruit. It sits in our New Zealand Classics range alongside the Flat White Coffee and Apple Crumble cakes.
Loaf or bundt, and counting heads
Two sizes, and the gap between them is larger than it looks:
- 20cm loaf, serves 8 — an afternoon with friends, or a cake that goes to the office and comes back empty.
- 25cm bundt, serves 16 — a proper gathering, and the shape that photographs well without any decoration on it.
Count heads before you choose. Our serving numbers are honest rather than generous, and people routinely order the smaller size for a group the larger one was built for.
A travel cake, which is the point when you are hosting
The bundt and loaf range are what we call travel cakes: no delicate frosting, no refrigeration needed, built to be carried. That turns collection from an inconvenience into the reason these cakes exist. Yours goes in the car, sits on a bench at room temperature away from sun and heat, and is cut whenever the evening gets there. The other eight in the tea cakes and loaves range run the same way, including the Marble Chocolate, the Brazilian Carrot with its brigadeiro drizzle and the Apple Crumble with walnuts and raisins. Three of the nine, the Brazilian Carrot, Apple Crumble and Pineapple Coconut, carry a No Added Dairy preference you select at checkout; the Jaffa is not one of them. On the Pineapple Coconut that preference changes the cake itself: as it comes by default it is topped with a rich tres leches, and the no-added-dairy version is a different build of the cake you select at checkout. Our kitchen is small and without exclusive production areas for all of our different recipes, so traces may occur and nothing is guaranteed safe for severe coeliac disease.
Settling it in person, one mini cake each
The cheapest way to run the debate is to bring someone in and buy a Jaffa Mini Cake each. They are $10 and one serving apiece: an orange sponge with chocolate chips, a swirl of dark chocolate whipped cream and the whole thing coated in a shell of white chocolate. Two people, two minis, and you have tasted the flavour before committing to a cake for sixteen. The white shell also makes it read as patisserie rather than a slice off a loaf. The rest of the counter sits in mini cakes, with the full range in mini cakes and petit fours, and a hot chocolate turns it into a sitting rather than a stop. For something larger again, the layer cakes start at 15cm and serve 12 to 15.
Ordering and visiting
The loaf and the bundt are both made to order and need two days as a rule, with the checkout date picker offering only the dates the kitchen can meet. Mini cakes and cabinet items need no notice, so the tasting version is a walk-in. We work from a set range and do not take custom flavours, sizes or decoration. Every order is collected in person from our patisserie inside The Welder on Welles Street in the central city, because we do not deliver. We are open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm Saturday. Sizes, storage and allergens are all set out on our frequently asked questions page.
