Flake is a British brand of

chocolate bar A chocolate bar ( Commonwealth English) or candy bar (some dialects of American English) is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers. A flat, easily b ...

currently manufactured by British chocolate company

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Ma ...

consisting of thinly folded

milk chocolate Milk chocolate is a solid chocolate confectionery containing cocoa, sugar and milk. Chocolate was originally sold and consumed as a beverage in pre-Columbian times, and upon its introduction to Western Europe. Major milk chocolate producers inc ...

. The bar has a unique crumbly texture, and softens but does not melt when heated.

History

The original Flake product was first developed in 1920 and was discovered by chance by an employee of Cadbury's at the

Bournville Bournville () is a model village on the southwest side of Birmingham, England, founded by the Quaker Cadbury family for employees at its Cadbury's factory, and designed to be a "garden" (or "model") village where the sale of alcohol was forbidd ...

factory who noticed thin streams of excess chocolate falling from moulds cooled into flaky ripples. By 1930, Cadbury's was selling half-length Flake specifically for prodding into

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

soft serve

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as s ...

in a cone (" 99 Flakes") which was served by ice cream vendors. First sold in the UK, they would later be sold in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, Australia,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

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 Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Ireland, and 10th of Ramadan, Egypt.

Manufacturing process

Cadbury refers to the exact process of making Flakes as a closely guarded secret; however, experimental evidence by food scientist Ann Reardon shows that the result can be recreated by seizing chocolate (see external link
Chocolate seizing
.

Variations

Flake bars

Several varieties of Flake have been produced over the years, including: *Versions based around dark (plain) chocolate **Plain Flake - "A blend of plain and milk chocolate" **Flake Noir - a dark chocolate flake bar. **Flake Dark - dark chocolate flake covered in dark chocolate. Launched 2006. * Flake Snow (known as Snowflake until 2003) - a

white chocolate White chocolate is a confectionery typically made of sugar, milk, and cocoa butter. It is pale ivory colored, and lacks many of the compounds found in milk and dark chocolates. It is solid at room temperature because the melting point of cocoa ...

flake bar dipped into milk chocolate. Launched 2000 and discontinued in 2008. *Flake Dipped - milk chocolate flake dipped into milk chocolate (resembles a larger version of Twirl), and also known as Flake Luxury. Launched 2003. *Flake Praline - milk chocolate flake with praline. Launched 2004. *Flake Bar. *Flake Allure - a milk chocolate flake half enrobed in rich truffle and milk chocolate. Launched 2011 (limited edition). *Orange Flake - orange-flavoured milk chocolate flake (available in

). *Flake Mint - flake which has a pale green

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAES ...

-flavoured centre. In South Africa it is a mint-flavoured milk chocolate flake with no colouring. Flake Mint was introduced in Australia in late 2016 as a Special Edition flavor. *Flake Caramilk - a

Caramilk Caramilk is the name of two distinct candy bar products made by Cadbury. Both were introduced in 1968. The Canadian version is a milk candy bar filled with caramel. The Australian version (also available in New Zealand, the UK and Ireland) is a ca ...

flavoured Flake composed of caramelised white chocolate introduced in Australia in 2021.

Related products

* 99 Flake - A short (usually half-length) flake bar, typically served as a garnish on

. *Flake

McFlurry The McFlurry is a brand of flavored ice cream distributed and sold by the American-based international fast food chain McDonald's. History The McFlurry was created by Canadian McDonald's franchisee Ron McLellan in Bathurst, New Brunswick, in ...

original - a McFlurry with crushed bits of flake and chocolate. Limited edition run along with flake McFlurry raspberry. *Flake

raspberry - a McFlurry with crushed bits of flake, chocolate and raspberry juice. Limited edition run along with original flake McFlurry. *Cadbury Twin Pot Flake *Flake Bites *Flake Minis *Flake Moments

Advertising

The product gained some notoriety for its highly sensual

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

. 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. The advertising of a girl in a field was produced by Barry Myers. The Flake song was composed by UK jingle writer Ronnie Bond, who also composed "Tasty tasty very very tasty" for Bran Flakes, and "I'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops" for

Coco Pops Cocoa Krispies (also known as Choco Krispis, Choco Krispies, Coco Pops, Choco Pops depending on region) is a breakfast cereal produced by Kellogg's, coming both as a boxed cereal and as a snack bar with a 'dried milk' covered bottom. It is a coc ...

. Former

Tyrannosaurus Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

percussionist

Steve Peregrin Took Steve Peregrin Took (born Stephen Ross Porter; 28 July 1949 – 27 October 1980) was an English musician and songwriter, best known for his membership of the duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with Marc Bolan. After breaking with Bolan, he concentrated on h ...

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. 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 Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...

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

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

ienne relaxing in a summery garden overlooking the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "' ...

. As she bites into the Flake bar in her ice-cream, the garden sprinklers are set off and she is drenched in refreshing water. The Flake girl was finally retired after 40 years, in 2004. However, in 2005 she was found to have a 19% recall in the UK population, leading to a revival in 2007. The new advertisement featured Australian model Alyssa Sutherland eating a Flake in a convertible during a shower of rain. UK singer

Joss Stone Joscelyn Eve Stoker (born 11 April 1987), known professionally as Joss Stone, is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, '' The Soul Sessions'', which made the 2004 Me ...

became the new Flake girl in 2008 – the first non- model to promote the product.Singer Stone is new Flake girl
/ref> In the

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

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 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service i ...

) 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.

References

External links

*Cadbury's Flak

{{Mondelez Products introduced in 1920 British confectionery Cadbury brands Chocolate bars Mondelez International brands