99 Flake

A 99 Flake, 99 or ninety-nine[1] 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”.

Created at the Cadbury's factory in Birmingham, England, the flake was originally designed to be a cuboid and to fit into a wafer.[2] By 1930, Cadbury's was selling half-length Flake "99s" specifically for serving in an ice cream cone.

'99' ice cream

A 99 Flake is an ice cream cone, usually made with soft serve ice cream, into which a Flake bar has been inserted. The ice cream is usually vanilla flavoured. They are sold by ice cream vans and parlours. Variations include a 99 with two flakes – often referred to as a "double 99" or "bunny's ears" – and a 99 with strawberry or raspberry syrup on top, sometimes known as "monkey's blood".[3]

Cadbury 99 Flake bar

The Flake chocolate bar manufactured and marketed by Cadbury was first developed in the UK in 1920. An employee of Cadbury's noted that when the excess chocolate from the moulds used to create other chocolate bars was drained off, it poured off in thin streams, cooling into distinctive ripples of chocolate with crumbling properties.[4]

The early "99 Flake" took the form of an ice cream sandwich. It consisted of a Flake bar inserted between two servings of ice cream, then placed between two wafer biscuits.

In 1930, Cadbury started producing a smaller version of the standard Flake bar especially for use with ice cream cones.[3] These were marketed under the name 99 Flake and sold loose in boxes rather than individually wrapped like the traditional Flake.

Name

The origins of the name are uncertain. One claim is that it was coined in Portobello, Scotland, where Stefano Arcari who had opened a shop in 1922 at 99 Portobello High Street – would break a large "Flake" in half and stick it in an ice cream. The name derived from the shop's address. A Cadbury representative took the naming idea to his company.[2][3] Another address-based claim for the "99" is made by the Dunkerleys in Gorton, Manchester, who operated a sweet shop at 99 Wellington Street.[5]

Another naming possibility[2] is that it was named by immigrant Italian ice-cream sellers, many of whom were from the mountainous areas in Veneto, especially in the Bellunes Alps, Trentino, and Friuli. The name was in honour of the final wave of Italian First World War conscripts, born in 1899 and referred to as "i Ragazzi del 99" ("the Boys of '99"). In Italy they were held in such high esteem that some streets were named in their honour.

External links

99 Flake

• BBC News story about origin of the name