Is it a biscuit or is it a cake? Honestly, I couldn’t care less. Jaffa Cakes have reliably tasted great since our childhood whatever their classification. There has been some tampering with the brand over the years by way of new fancy flavours; yuzu lemon, hot honey, mango, raspberry, passionfruit and cherry and cherry Bakewell. But none had the staying power, because when the original recipe is so good, why mess with it?
Well McVitie’s, the makers of JC, just won’t quit trying to improve on greatness. Enter their newest seasonal variation… spiced orange flavour. This sounds like a restrained move for a 99-year-old icon (Jaffa Cakes first appeared in 1927). But perhaps lacks the glamour of the summery pineapple flavour in 2000 and (I still can’t believe this happened) the attention-seeking cola bottle flavour.
The mood of Spiced Orange Jaffa Cakes is best described as ‘mulled’ with illustrations of cinnamon sticks, star anise and orange peel on the package and muted autumnal colours.
The tag line is ‘Orange and spice is always nice, every bite and a warming delight’. Ok, let’s see.
Sharing a couple of packs around the Good Housekeeping office mid-morning the verdict on the flavour is… it’s subtle. Very subtle. Some of the team got the cinnamon straight away others did not.
There were team members who felt that the spiced orange came through on the second bite where the jelly to cake/biscuit ratio is weighted in favour of the former and that’s where all the spice flavour is concentrated. Yes, this was an actual discussion that was had.
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Stacey Smith Good Housekeeping’s Senior Food and Drinks Editor who tests all the latest seasonal products said: ‘There’s not much difference from the original. There’s a teeny hint of cinnamon. If you hadn’t told me, it was different I don’t think I would have guessed.’
Others said: ‘totally into this’ and ‘It’s giving mulled’. One had to eat an original Jaffa Cake afterwards before confirming that the spiced orange variety did taste spicy. We think that was just a ruse.
So, while it is a divisive flavour it’s still very much a classic Jaffa Cake. We await the announcement of a Snowball or Eggnog flavour Jaffa Cake, next please?
Simon is Good Housekeeping’s Content Strategy Director working on content across all platforms. He was previously Lifestyle Digital Director working across GH, Red, Prima and Delish and previously Deputy Editor and Community Content Editor at metro.co.uk.
