Cadburys chocolate fans are just realising why the Flake almost didn't exist

21 January 2024 , 12:30

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The Flake's story is a rather surprising one (Image: Martin Lee/REX/Shutterstock)

The Cadbury Flake nearly didn't exist until an employee noticed something interesting in the chocolate factory and a true legend was born.

For something so simple, it has delighted chocolate lovers for years. Made up of ribbons of Cadburys chocolate in a long bar, there are no airs and graces about this favourite treat. It has spawned iconic television adverts and even made its name by topping ice creams.

However fans of the lauded milk chocolate bar are only just realising that its existence was a bit of a happy accident. There was no complicated design method or recipe creation involved in the birth of this superstar, it was pure luck.

According to Cadbury, which also says the recipe these days is a guarded secret, its story began back in 1920, when a factory worker happened to notice how the chocolate fell into folds when overflowing from a mould. When it cooled it dried into ribbons and flaked. This inspired the Flake as we know it today - one of its famous characteristics being that it crumbles easily when bitten into, thanks to its folds.

Hopefully that employee got a sizable pay rise for their ingenuity but there are millions of people since then who have been very grateful for their eagle-eyed attention to detail. It made its first appearance in shops that same year and around 10 years later the 99p Flakes, which were smaller and sold in boxes, were introduced and used by ice cream vendors to top their whipped vanilla cones.

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It was first sold in the UK but such was its popularity it soon crossed the seas to tickle the taste buds of people in Ireland, Australia and South Africa.

Since then it has been the subject of some rather sensual advertising campaigns which saw women sitting alone biting into one of the bars, in negligees, bath tubs and being caught in the rain. The Flake Girl was born as was the jingle that went with the advert and featured the line, 'Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate, tastes like chocolate never tasted before'.

Singer Joss Stone even appeared as a Flake Girl in 2008 and was seen breaking off a piece of the chocolate, popping it into her mouth and brushing off crumbs from her top while singing the theme tune.

Are you a fan of the Flake? Let us know in the comments below.

Beth Hardie