The red-and-gold foil wrapper is one of the most recognisable in British confectionery, and the bar inside it has barely changed in over seventy years.
Born in 1952, as an answer to cake
The Caramel Wafer was created in 1952 by Archie Tunnock, son of founder Thomas Tunnock, at the family's bakery in Uddingston, near Glasgow. The business had started out baking fresh cakes and bread, and the Caramel Wafer emerged partly as a practical solution: a product with a far longer shelf life than fresh cake, at a point when the economics of baking and distributing fresh bread and cakes were getting harder to make work.
Five layers of wafer, four of caramel
The construction is straightforward but precise: five thin layers of wafer with four layers of caramel sandwiched between them, the whole thing then dipped in chocolate. Both the caramel — made from brown sugar and condensed milk — and the chocolate coating are produced on site at the Uddingston factory, which is still where the bar is made today.
A fixture well beyond Scotland
Alongside the Tea Cake, the Caramel Wafer turned Tunnock's into a genuine national name rather than just a regional one, helped by packaging that has stayed close to its original look for decades. The company, still family-run, has resisted the takeover interest that absorbed many comparable British regional bakers over the same period.
A heritage classic, not currently in our range
We don't currently stock Tunnock's products, so consider this one a trivia piece rather than a shopping guide — a genuine piece of Scottish confectionery history worth knowing, even if you can't add it to a basket here. If you're after a chocolate-coated wafer bar from the brands we do stock, our chocolate collection is worth a browse.
Frequently asked questions
When was the Tunnock's Caramel Wafer created?
1952, by Archie Tunnock at the family bakery in Uddingston.
How is a Caramel Wafer actually built?
Five layers of wafer, four of caramel, coated in chocolate — caramel and chocolate both made on site.
Why does it keep so well compared to a cake?
It was developed partly as a longer-life alternative to fresh cake production.
Do you stock Tunnock's Caramel Wafers?
Not currently — this is a trivia piece on a genuine Scottish classic, not a product listing.