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{{Short description|Ice cream with a Cadbury Flake}}
[[File:99 ice cream.jpg|thumb|right|A 99 Flake, with a [[Flake (chocolate bar)|Cadbury Flake]] chocolate bar]]
A '''99 Flake''', '''99''' or '''ninety-nine'''<ref>"ninety, adj. and n.". OED Online. June 2013. Oxford University Press. 2013-07-18.</ref> is an [[ice cream cone]] with a [[Flake (chocolate bar)|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]].<ref name=Scotsman>{{cite news |title=My grandad created the '99' cone in Portobello |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/my_grandad_created_the_99_cone_in_portobello_1_977722 |access-date=26 May 2023 |work=The Scotsman |date=16 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150816011611/https://www.scotsman.com/news/my_grandad_created_the_99_cone_in_portobello_1_977722 |archive-date=16 August 2015}}</ref> By 1930, Cadbury's was selling half-length Flake "99s" specifically for serving in an ice cream cone.<ref name=Thring/>

=='99' ice cream==
[[File:99icecreambubble.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|A 99 Flake garnished with [[bubblegum]]-flavour [[syrup]]]]

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 flavour]]ed. They are sold by [[ice cream van]]s and [[Ice cream parlor|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".<ref name=Thring>{{cite news |title= Consider the 99 Flake |author = Oliver Thring |newspaper= The Guardian |date= 24 August 2010 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/aug/24/99-flake-ice-cream |access-date= 15 November 2010 }}</ref>

==Cadbury 99 Flake bar==
{{Main article|Flake (chocolate bar)}}
The Flake chocolate bar manufactured and marketed by [[Cadbury]] was first developed in the UK in 1920.<ref name="history"/> 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.<ref name="history">{{cite web |url=http://www.cadbury.co.uk/EN/CTB2003/about_chocolate/brand_stories/flake.htm |title=Corporate history of the product |access-date= 2011-04-17 |publisher=Cadbury |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822005327/http://www.cadbury.co.uk/EN/CTB2003/about_chocolate/brand_stories/flake.htm |archive-date=2006-08-22 }}</ref>

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.<ref name=Thring/> 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, Edinburgh|Portobello]], Scotland, where Stefano Arcari who had opened a shop in 1922 at 99 Portobello High Street{{snd}}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.<ref name=Scotsman/><ref name=Thring/> Another address-based claim for the "99" is made by the Dunkerleys in [[Gorton]], Manchester, who operated a sweet shop at 99 Wellington Street.<ref>{{google books|id=y_m_prZ0tBwC|page=PA474|title= Kick the Bucket and Swing the Cat}} (based on the BBC television series ''[[Balderdash and Piffle]]''), 2011</ref>

Another naming possibility<ref name=Scotsman/> 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 [[:it:Ragazzi del 99|Ragazzi del 99]]" ("the Boys of '99"). In Italy they were held in such high esteem that some streets were named in their honour. The chocolate flake may have reminded the ice cream sellers of the long dark feather cocked at an angle in the conscripts' ''[[Alpini]]'' Regiment hats.

The Cadbury website says that the reason behind the Flake being called a "99" has been "lost in the mists of time". However, the website also references an article from an old Cadbury works paper, which states that the name came from the guard of the Italian king, which consisted of 99 men and thus "anything really special or first class was known as 99."<ref>[http://www.cadbury.co.uk/Home/Pages/faqs.aspx#answer5 Cadbury FAQ on names of products] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314082453/http://www.cadbury.co.uk/Home/Pages/faqs.aspx#answer5 |date=2009-03-14 }}, Cadbury</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commonscat-inline}}
* [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5223328.stm BBC News story about origin of the name]

[[Category:Ice cream brands]]
[[Category:British cuisine]]
[[Category:Cadbury brands]]
[[Category:Chocolate desserts]]
[[Category:Mondelez International brands]]
[[Category:Cuboids]]

[[fi:99 Flake]]
{{Ice cream}}