- published: 22 Feb 2013
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Jaffa Cakes are biscuit-sized cakes introduced by McVitie and Price in the UK in 1927 and named after Jaffa oranges. The most common form of Jaffa Cakes are circular, 2 1⁄8 inches (54 mm) in diameter and have three layers: a Genoise sponge base, a layer of orange flavoured jelly and a coating of chocolate. Jaffa Cakes are also available as bars or in small packs, and in larger and smaller sizes. The original Jaffa Cakes come in packs of 12, 24 or 36.
Because McVitie's did not trademark the name "Jaffa Cakes", other biscuit manufacturers and supermarkets have made similar products under the same name. The product's classification as a cake or biscuit was part of a VAT tribunal in 1991, with the court finding in McVitie's favour that the Jaffa Cake should be considered a cake for tax purposes. In 2012 they were ranked the best selling cake or biscuit in the United Kingdom.
McVitie's entire line of Jaffa Cakes are produced in the United Kingdom at the McVitie's factory in Stockport. The Jaffa Cake production area covers an acre (4,000 m2) and includes a production line over a mile (1.6 km) long which sits on the Stockport side of the site's boundary with Manchester. Because of the nature of the product – having multiple components of cake, chocolate covering and jam – special hardware accelerators were devised to allow rapid computer inspection of 20 products per second, taking place under four symmetrically placed lights.
Jaffa (Hebrew: יָפוֹ, Yāfō ; Arabic: يَافَا), also called Japho or Joppa, is the southern, oldest part of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical stories of Jonah, Solomon, and Saint Peter as well as the mythological story of Andromeda and Perseus.
The town was mentioned in Egyptian sources and the Amarna letters as Yapu. Mythology says that it is named for Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, the one who built it after the Great Flood. The Hellenist tradition links the name to Iopeia, or Cassiopeia, mother of Andromeda. An outcropping of rocks near the harbor is reputed to have been the place where Andromeda was rescued by Perseus. Pliny the Elder associated the name with Jopa, the daughter of Aeolus, the god of the wind. The Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi referred to it as Yaffa.
Tel Yafo (Jaffa Hill) rises to a height of 40 meters (130 feet) with a broad view of the coastline. Hence it had a strategic importance in military history. The accumulation of debris and landfill over the centuries made the hill even higher. Archaeological evidence shows that Jaffa was inhabited roughly 7,500 years BCE.