Product type | Confectionery |
---|---|
Owner | Cadbury |
Country | United Kingdom |
Introduced | 1920 |
Related brands | List of Cadbury products |
Markets | United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand |
Flake is a British brand of chocolate bar currently manufactured by British chocolate company Cadbury, owned by Mondelez International, consisting of thinly folded milk chocolate. The bar has a unique crumbly texture, and softens but does not melt when heated (unless put in a velvetiser).
The original Flake product was first developed in 1920 and was discovered by chance by Ralph Thompson, an employee of Cadbury's at the Bournville factory who noticed thin streams of excess chocolate falling from moulds cooled into flaky ripples. [1] [2]
By 1930, Cadbury's was selling half-length Flake specifically for garnishing vanilla soft serve ice cream in a cone ("99 Flakes") which was served by ice cream vendors. [2] First sold in the UK, they would later be sold in Ireland, Australia, South Africa and other nations. The later product, Cadbury Twirl, has two Flake-style bars covered in milk chocolate.
Flakes are no longer manufactured at Bournville and are now made in Dublin, Ireland, and 10th of Ramadan, Egypt. [3]
In 2021 and again in 2022, Mondelez announced that there were shortages of Flakes in the UK and Ireland. In 2021 this was attibuted to high levels of demand due to good weather. [4] In 2022, Mondelez attributed the shortages to "some global supply chain disruptions" alongside demand pressures. [5]
Cadbury refers to the exact process of making Flakes as a closely guarded secret; [6] however, experimental evidence by Australian food scientist Ann Reardon shows that the result can be recreated by seizing chocolate. [7] [8]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(September 2016) |
Several varieties of Flake have been produced over the years, including:
This section needs additional citations for verification .(September 2017) |
The product gained some notoriety for its highly sensual advertising. In the UK, the advertisements showed people – almost always women – enjoying a Flake whilst relaxing.
The Flake Girl became famous as a symbol of indulgence and secret pleasure. Her emphasis – to a jingle ("Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate, tastes like chocolate never tasted before") – was on allowing herself a guilt-free luxury.[ citation needed ] The advertising of a girl in a field was produced by Barry Myers.
The Flake song was composed by UK jingle writer Ronnie Bond, [12] who also composed "Tasty tasty very very tasty" for Bran Flakes, and "I'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops" for Coco Pops.
Former Tyrannosaurus Rex percussionist Steve Peregrin Took wrote a song, Peppermint Flickstick, in 1970 as a satire on the campaign. The song was recorded that year by his band Shagrat and released in 1990. [13]
In 1999, a tribute advertisement to the Flake Girls of decades past was released. The montage began with a clip of the very first Flake Girl advertisement from 1959, followed by a 1965 clip of a girl relaxing in a rowing boat whilst being pestered by a cheeky swan for a peck of her Flake bar. The next clip showed the 1973 advertisement of a doe-eyed artist in a field of poppies painting a watercolour and indulging in a Flake bar, before being caught in a summer shower. This was followed by a clip of the exotic 1987 ad in which a restless woman in silk negligee reposes on a window sill on a sultry night, indulging in a Flake bar whilst a gecko lizard is noted crawling over a ringing telephone. Next was a clip of the classical 1991 Flake advertisement in which a woman sporting a dark, cropped hairstyle reposes in an overflowing bath tub in a great painted hall. Lastly, this tribute montage advertisement ended with the latest Flake Girl advertisement (1999), featuring a Parisienne relaxing in a summery garden overlooking the Eiffel Tower. As she bites into the Flake bar in her ice-cream, the garden sprinklers are set off and she is drenched in refreshing water.[ citation needed ]
The Flake girl was finally retired after 40 years, in 2004. [14] However, in 2005 she was found to have a 19% recall in the UK population, leading to a revival in 2007. [15] The new advertisement featured Australian model Alyssa Sutherland eating a Flake in a convertible during a shower of rain. [16]
UK singer Joss Stone became the new Flake girl in 2008 – the first non-model to promote the product. [17] In the television advertisement she is seen breaking off a small piece of Flake before popping it into her mouth and brushing the crumbs off her blouse whilst softly singing the Flake theme song.
On 8 June 2010, a new advertisement (first aired on Channel 4) saw a woman float around on a black background. Whilst part of 'The Flake girl' series, there is no mention of any text or slogan aside from the image of the bar at the end of the advertisement, and the familiar music jingle is replaced by a haunting piano piece.
Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. Cadbury is internationally headquartered in Greater London, and operates in more than 50 countries worldwide. It is known for its Dairy Milk chocolate, the Creme Egg and Roses selection box, and many other confectionery products. One of the best-known British brands, in 2013 The Daily Telegraph named Cadbury among Britain's most successful exports.
Caramilk is a brand name used for two distinct chocolate bar products made by Cadbury. Both were introduced in 1968. The Canadian version of Caramilk is a milk chocolate bar filled with caramel. In Australia the Caramilk brand is used for a caramelised white chocolate bar.
A 99 Flake, 99 or ninety-nine is an ice cream cone with a Cadbury Flake inserted in the ice cream. The term can also refer to the half-sized Cadbury-produced Flake bar, itself specially made for such ice cream cones, and to a wrapped product marketed by Cadbury “for ice cream and culinary use”.
Kit Kat is a chocolate-covered wafer bar confection created by Rowntree's of York, England. It is produced globally by Nestlé, except in the United States, where it is made under licence by the H. B. Reese Candy Company, a division of the Hershey Company.
Cadbury Dairy Milk is a British brand of milk chocolate manufactured by Cadbury. It was introduced in the United Kingdom in June 1905 and now consists of a number of products. Every product in the Dairy Milk line is made with exclusively milk chocolate. In 1928, Cadbury's introduced the "glass and a half" slogan to accompany the Dairy Milk chocolate bar, to advertise the bar's higher milk content.
Terry's Chocolate Orange is a chocolate product created by Terry's in 1932 at Terry's Chocolate Works in York, England. The brand has changed ownership several times, and production was moved to Poland in 2005. Since 2018, the Terry's Chocolate Orange has been produced in Strasbourg, France, by Carambar.
Wispa is a brand of chocolate bar manufactured by British chocolate company Cadbury. Using aerated chocolate, the bar was launched in 1981 as a trial version in North East England, and with its success it was introduced nationally in 1983. It was seen as a competitor to Rowntree's Aero . In 2003, as part of a relaunch of the Cadbury Dairy Milk brand, the Wispa brand was discontinued and the product relaunched as "Dairy Milk Bubbly". As part of the relaunch, the product was reshaped as a standard moulded bar instead of a whole-bar count-line.
Aero is an aerated chocolate bar manufactured by the Vevey-based company Nestlé. Originally produced by Rowntree's, Aero bars were introduced in 1935 to the North of England as the "new chocolate". By the end of that year, it had proved sufficiently popular with consumers that sales were extended throughout the United Kingdom.
Crunchie is a brand of chocolate bar with a centre of honeycomb toffee. It is made by Cadbury but was originally launched in the UK by J. S. Fry & Sons in 1929.
After Eight Mint Chocolate Thins, often referred to as simply After Eights, are a brand of mint chocolate covered sugar confectionery. They were created by Rowntree Company Limited in the UK in 1962 and have been manufactured by Nestlé since its acquisition of Rowntree in 1988.
Maltesers are a British confectionery product manufactured by Mars Inc. First sold in the UK in 1937, they were originally aimed at women. They have since been sold in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United States and Middle East. The slogan is "The lighter way to enjoy chocolate".
Cadbury Roses is a brand of chocolates made by Cadbury. Introduced in the UK in 1938, they were named after the English packaging equipment company "Rose Brothers" based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, that manufactured and supplied the machines that wrapped the chocolates.
William Neilson Dairy Limited is a Canadian dairy company owned by Saputo Inc. The company is based in Toronto, Ontario. In the United States, its products are sold under the name Neilson.
Fry's Chocolate Cream is a chocolate bar developed by J. S. Fry & Sons and currently manufactured by Cadbury. Launched in 1866—nineteen years after Fry's created the first moulded, solid chocolate eating bar — Fry's Chocolate Cream is the first mass-produced chocolate bar and is the world's oldest chocolate bar brand.
Fry's Turkish Delight is a chocolate bar made by Cadbury. It was launched in the UK in 1914 by the Bristol-based chocolate manufacturer J. S. Fry & Sons and consists of a rose-flavoured Turkish delight surrounded by milk chocolate. The Fry's identity remained in use after Fry & Sons merged with Cadbury in 1919.
Terry's is a British chocolate and confectionery brand. The original company was founded in 1767 in York, England, and was part of the city's famous confectionery triumvirate along with Rowntree's and Cravens. The company's headquarters and factory, Terry's Chocolate Works, was closed by Kraft in 2005 and production moved to Kraft factories in Europe. The business returned to the UK in 2019 as Terry's Chocolate Co located in London. Their best known products include Terry's Chocolate Orange and Terry's All Gold box of assorted chocolates which were both introduced in the 1930s.
Twirl is a chocolate bar manufactured by the British chocolate brand Cadbury. Twirl was invented in Dublin by Cadbury Ireland, and launched there in 1985 as a single-finger bar. It was released in the UK two years later as a twin-finger bar. It has been marketed internationally since the 1990s and is now one of the best-selling chocolate Cadbury products. Twirl consists of two Flake-style fingers covered in milk chocolate.
Milk Tray is a brand of boxed chocolates currently manufactured by Cadbury. Introduced by Cadbury UK in 1915, it is one of the longest running brands in the confectioner's portfolio. Milk Tray is sold in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, New York City, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Club is a range of chocolate covered biscuits, sold in the Republic of Ireland under the Jacob's brand name and in the United Kingdom under McVitie's.
I didn't even realise that Cadbury's produced a plain flake [accompanying image displays- amongst other items- 'Plain Flake' in crimson wrapper with gold writing]