The sponge-and-chocolate British snack known as a Jaffa Cake is filled with orange-flavored jam.
McVitie & Price introduced Jaffa Cakes in the United Kingdom in 1927. Their name refers to Jaffa oranges, a popular orange variety associated with sweetness and Mediterranean origins. A standard Jaffa Cake has three layers: a small Genoise sponge base, a layer of orange-flavored jam and a chocolate coating.
The filling is commonly described as orange, although the original recipe used apricot jam flavored with tangerine oil rather than simply squeezing fresh oranges into the center. That detail explains why the snack tastes distinctly citrusy while still having the texture of a smooth fruit preserve.
Jaffa Cakes are also famous for a legal argument over whether they should be classified as cakes or biscuits for tax purposes. In a 1991 VAT tribunal, McVitie's successfully argued that they were cakes. Limited-edition flavors such as lemon-and-lime, strawberry and blackcurrant have appeared, but orange remains the classic flavor.