McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour, 10 Cakes 110g
Reviewers argue about whether this one needed to exist, and the scores land a shade below the original because of it. That is the difficulty facing any variant of a fixed point: nobody arrives at it fresh. The sponge and the thin chocolate top are unchanged, so the entire argument sits in a single layer, the set jelly, and raspberry behaves differently in there from citrus. It reads as jam rather than as fruit, rounder, with no seeds and no sharp edge cutting back up through the chocolate, which is either the improvement or the loss depending on which of the two you came for. Where it earns its place is beside a plain astringent tea taken without sugar, or straight from the fridge, where the jelly firms and the sweetness pulls back. Buy it alongside the original rather than instead of it; the households that swapped over wholesale are where most of the grumbling comes from. Wheat, milk and egg are all likely on a sponge-based cake of this kind, so read the panel.
McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour, in brief.
McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour keeps the three-part construction everybody knows, a thin sponge round under a set jelly under a chocolate layer, and changes the middle of it from orange to raspberry. Ten cakes in a hundred and ten gram pack, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the softer, rounder version of a fixture.
Raspberry brings less acidity than citrus, so this runs sweeter and the thin chocolate layer does more of the balancing. It stales by going hard rather than soft, which is how cakes behave, so buy it to eat rather than to keep in a tin.
The construction is worth taking seriously, because it is unlike anything else on a biscuit shelf. A sponge base is not a biscuit base; it is soft to begin with and it goes hard rather than soft as it ages, which is the opposite of how every crisp biscuit behaves. That single fact explains most of what follows, including why the pack should be eaten fairly promptly and why it does not belong in a tin with everything else.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Storage, the cake-or-biscuit question and the pairing are set out in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind the Jaffa Cake
The long-running argument about whether a Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit is not a joke, and the test that settles it is one you can run at home. A biscuit is baked dry and fails by going soft as it takes moisture from the air. A cake is baked moist and fails by going hard as it loses it. Leave a Jaffa Cake out overnight and it goes hard. That is the behaviour of a cake, and it is the reason this product sits awkwardly on a biscuit shelf and should not be stored like the things around it.
The name tells us the jelly is raspberry flavour and that there are ten cakes in a hundred and ten grams; what is in the jelly, the sponge or the chocolate is a declaration on the current UK pack. McVitie's is a long-established British baker, which is company heritage and not a claim about where this particular pack was made.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Count and weight: ten cakes in a hundred and ten grams.
- A raspberry jelly, not orange: softer, sweeter and rounder against the chocolate. If the citrus sharpness is what you like about a Jaffa Cake, buy the original instead.
- A cake, not a biscuit: it stales by hardening. Buy it to eat within a week or two rather than to keep in a tin.
- Why it is on the shelf: the format is a genuine fixture.
- What it is not: not a dunker, not a keeper and not a sharing pack in any real sense. Ten small cakes go faster than ten of anything else.
Ideal Serving Conditions
A Jaffa Cake has three components with three different weaknesses: a sponge that dries, a jelly that sweats and a chocolate layer that blooms. In practice that means one rule covers nearly everything, which is to keep the pack sealed and eat it reasonably soon.
The Tea Tray Serve
- Room temperature, never the fridge: cold firms the sponge and dulls the jelly, and it does not fully recover afterwards.
- Two or three per person: they are small, and one on a plate looks like a mistake.
- Chocolate side up: the chocolate is on the top for a reason, and laid face down on a warm plate it marks immediately.
- A plain strong tea: an English breakfast without sugar. The thin chocolate layer is the only bitterness in the cake and a strong tea backs it up rather than competing.
The Pudding Serve
- Three on a plate with cream: a genuinely reasonable small pudding, and better with raspberry than with orange because the jelly is sweeter and rounder.
- With fresh raspberries: the fresh fruit is sharper than the jelly and gives back the acidity this variant lacks.
- Not warmed: heat melts the chocolate before it does anything useful to the sponge. This is not a warm pudding.
- Good in a trifle: the sponge base soaks like sponge does, which is a use no crisp biscuit can match.
Getting It Right with a Hot Drink
- Pairing: strong English breakfast, an Assam, a plain black coffee, or a black tea with lemon to restore the sharpness.
- Avoid: hot chocolate and sweetened coffees, which bury a thin chocolate layer, and fruit teas, which double up on the jelly.
- Dunking: no. The sponge takes liquid instantly and the chocolate slides off the top. It is a bad idea twice over.
- Storage: sealed, cool, dry and dark, and eaten within a couple of weeks of opening rather than kept. It hardens rather than softening.
- Best with: an afternoon pot of tea, a small pudding with cream, or a trifle where the sponge base earns its place.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour, 10 Cakes 110g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind McVitie's
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour, 10 Cakes 110g has a sponge base, which means it can do things no crisp biscuit on our shelf can do: it soaks, it layers and it holds a filling. Five builds below cover the tea tray serve, a small cream pudding, a raspberry trifle, a fridge cake and a party plate.
Made with this tea
The Tea Tray Serve
How to make The Tea Tray Serve with McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry.
- 6 Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour
- 2 mugs of strong English breakfast or Assam, no sugar
- A slice of lemon, optional
- Lay three per person on a cool plate, chocolate side up. Face down on a warm plate they mark straight away.
- Brew the tea strong and unsweetened, so the tannin backs up the thin chocolate layer instead of competing with it.
- Add a slice of lemon to the tea if you want back some of the sharpness raspberry does not bring.
- Eat them dry. Do not dunk: the sponge takes liquid instantly and the chocolate slides off.
What you'll end up with: A brief crisp snap, then a soft sweet middle, with a strong tea giving the palate somewhere to go.
Three on a Plate with Cream
How to make Three on a Plate with Cream with McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry.
- 6 Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour
- Double cream, lightly whipped
- A handful of fresh raspberries
- Arrange three cakes per plate, slightly overlapping, chocolate side up.
- Spoon the lightly whipped cream beside them rather than over them, so the chocolate stays crisp.
- Scatter the fresh raspberries over the plate. They are sharper than the jelly and give back the acidity this variant lacks.
- Serve immediately at room temperature, not chilled.
What you'll end up with: A small pudding made in five minutes that works better with raspberry than with the orange original.
Raspberry Jaffa Trifle
How to make Raspberry Jaffa Trifle with McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry.
- 10 Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour
- 250g raspberries, fresh or frozen
- 3 tablespoons fruit juice
- Custard and whipped cream
- Line the base and sides of the bowl with the cakes, chocolate side facing outwards so the layer shows through the glass.
- Spoon the juice over the sponge. Use less than you would for sponge fingers, because these soak fast.
- Scatter the raspberries over the base layer.
- Pour on the custard, finish with cream and chill for two hours.
What you'll end up with: The one use where a sponge base beats every crisp biscuit outright, and the chocolate makes a neat line around the glass.
Jaffa Fridge Cake
How to make Jaffa Fridge Cake with McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry.
- 10 Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour
- 150g plain digestive-style biscuits
- 100g butter
- 200g dark chocolate
- Cut the Jaffa Cakes into quarters rather than crushing them, so the layers stay visible in the slice.
- Crush the plain biscuits to a rough crumb and melt the butter into them.
- Fold in the quartered cakes last, keeping the pieces intact, and press into a lined tin.
- Melt the dark chocolate, pour it over and level it.
- Chill for three hours and cut with a hot knife.
What you'll end up with: Visible pink jelly through every slice, using dark chocolate on top to keep the whole thing from running sweet.
Party Plate Stack
How to make Party Plate Stack with McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry.
- 10 Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour
- Thick cream cheese frosting or whipped cream
- Fresh raspberries to finish
- Stack two cakes with a spoon of frosting between them, chocolate side up on both.
- Press very gently. A sponge base compresses easily and a heavy hand flattens the stack.
- Top each one with a single raspberry.
- Chill for fifteen minutes only, then serve. Longer in the fridge firms the sponge.
What you'll end up with: A tray of individual puddings assembled without baking anything, and small enough that nobody needs a fork.
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Typical values per 100g, as published | Per 100g |
|---|---|
| Energy | 375 kcal |
| Fat | 8.1g |
| of which saturates | 4.0g |
| Carbohydrate | 69.3g |
| of which sugars | 49.8g |
| Fibre | 2.1g |
| Protein | 5.1g |
| Salt | 0.27g |
Ingredients and allergens. Per the published ingredient list for this product it contains wheat (gluten), milk, egg, soya and sulphites. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Ingredients, as published for this product: Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Dark Chocolate (19%) [Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Vegetable Fats (Palm, Shea), Butter Oil (Milk), Cocoa Butter, Emulsifiers (Soya Lecithin, E476), Natural Flavouring], Sugar, Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Whole Egg, Dextrose, Concentrated Orange Juice (Sulphites), Glucose Syrup, Vegetable Oils (Sunflower, Palm), Humectant (Glycerine), Acid (Citric Acid), Gelling Agent (Pectin), Raising Agents (Ammonium Bicarbonate, Disodium Diphosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Dried Whole Egg, Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrates), Natural Raspberry Flavouring, Colour (Curcumin, Anthocyanins), Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin).
Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. The pack in your hands is the final word.
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Pack format | 110g; 10 cakes as stated in the pack name |
Pack: McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour, 10 Cakes 110g; thin sponge rounds under a set raspberry-flavour jelly under a thin chocolate layer. Store sealed, cool, dry and dark, and do not refrigerate. This one stales by hardening rather than softening, so eat it within a couple of weeks of opening. Read the net weight, the ingredient list, the allergen advice and the best-before date off the current UK pack.
Characterising components shown.
Sourcing & blend. McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour, 10 Cakes 110g is made by McVitie's, a long-established British baker. The construction is unlike anything else on a biscuit shelf: a sponge base is not a biscuit base, it is soft to begin with and it hardens rather than softens as it ages, which is the behaviour of a cake and the test that settles the old argument about what this product is. That single fact governs how it should be stored, how long it keeps and why it sits awkwardly beside the crisp biscuits around it.
What's in McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour, 10 Cakes 110g, and what isn't:
- In: thin wheat sponge rounds, a set raspberry-flavour jelly and a thin chocolate layer, ten cakes in a 110g pack.
- Raspberry is a flavour direction: the name tells you what the jelly tastes of, not how much fruit is in it. Any fruit percentage is declared on the pack.
- Packaging: follow the current UK pack and your local-authority guidance; the outer pack and any inner tray or film can take different disposal routes.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference McVitie's Jaffa Cakes Raspberry Flavour, 10 Cakes 110g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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