this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2024
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So according to Merriam Webster bread is: a usually baked and leavened food made of a mixture whose basic constituent is flour or meal

And cake is: A: a breadlike food made from a dough or batter that is usually fried or baked in small flat shapes and is often unleavened B: a sweet baked food made from a dough or thick batter usually containing flour and sugar and often shortening, eggs, and a raising agent (such as baking powder)

And yet some people don't think that cake is bread.

What's your opinion?

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 4 months ago (6 children)

According to the cube rule

Cake having six sides is a type of calzone.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Cake does not encapsulate and is therefore toast.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Cake can also be in layers with ingredients inbetween, making a sandwich.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

The speciality cakes with images in them when you cut them could be considered sushi

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

vaguely threatening gesture You're toast, cake.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Many cakes have some sort of filling between flat layers and are therefore sandwiches.

Charlotte royale is a calzone, tho.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

This would technically only be true for cakes with filling - a normal cake doesn't have 6 sides of carbs, it's all the way through.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Wrong. Cake is a frosting sandwich.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Only if it has filling in the center specifically. Many cakes would actually be sandwiches by this definition, and those without filling would be toast.

Also, I take issue with all open-ended wraps being lumped in as sushi.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A hotdog is a a taco, most certainly, but don't calzones have stuff contained within?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I guess going by this logic, bread is a calzone with bread filling. doesn't make a lot of sense to me tbh.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago (1 children)

As a former bakery owner: No, not at all. Cakes are made with loose batters, ideally with very little gluten. Breads are made with doughs, ideally with a bunch of gluten. Of course there are some formulas that might blur the lines a bit, but in general if you’re quite literally pouring the batter into a mold or pan of some sort rather than placing it inside, it’s a cake. Or a muffin. Or a cupcake.

Should also be noted that cakes are usually leavened chemically rather than with yeast. You don’t usually allow a cake batter to rise like you do with a bread dough.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Are pumpkin/banana/zucchini breads still bread in this definition?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

From my experience, no. They’re made from batters and poured into a loaf pan, causing the iconic shape. If you frosted them they’d be a cake like any other.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (2 children)

whole category of cakes are called β€œquick bread” (ex. banana bread) because they’re baked in a loaf pan (they get the name from the shape rather than the ingredients)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

they get the name from the shape rather than the ingredients

I was under the understanding that the main difference was that quick breads used chemical leavening agents (e.g. baking powder) instead of yeast. Hence the "quick" in "quick bread". Wikipedia (always a source of unblemished truth /s) seems to agree with my understanding.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (5 children)

Yep, Irish soda bread is a quickbread made from a dough with baking soda as the rising agent, and it is absolutely a bread, not a cake.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

i'd argue banana bread is cake, and is not bread, even though it has "bread" in its name

if you were offered a slice of banana bread but they were out so you got a slice of sandwich loaf instead, i suspect you'd be more annoyed than if you got a slice of chocolate cake

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (6 children)

Yes, cake is bread. This is controversial because of the savoury vs. sweet distinction we have, but there's no consistent way to include all the breads of the world without including Western cakes too.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Cake is not bread.

According to Urban Dictionary, cake is: Another word meaning ass or butt.

Bread is: The shit you throw at ducks to get them to fuck off.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

Cake is just uppity bread. Acting all fancy and getting dressed up for special occasions. You changed, bro.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (4 children)

As a general rule, I would see in a majority of cases that in a bread, gluten development is encouraged to provide a chewy texture. In a cake, you want to avoid gluten development to have a light and fluffy texture.

Special bread flours have high gluten content and cake flours have lower gluten for that reason.

Now we of course do have many exceptions, such as banana bread is low gluten and very sweet, while many biscuit recipes call for cake flour, but no one would call a biscuit a cake. In both those cases, I don't think you would like a banana bread or biscuit that has the strong gluten structure that a proper baguette has.

Cakes (especially something like donuts) can be yeast risen, and some breads like matzo or tortillas have no leavening, or breads can use chemical leavening like Irish soda bread.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn't consider banana bread a bread. It's a cake and the bread part is just a name.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Cake was bread historically

I think all other dough-based dishes derive from bread really, since I believe it's the most basis dough recipe ye can make...

Nowadays, my definition of modern cake = bread + defined-sweetness + fluffiness and softness

My proof that cake was bread; look at pound cake, one of modern cake's forerunners, and tell me no one thought and baked it, thinking "how about bread, but more deluxe?"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I once had a similar thought and reached the conclusion that based on dictionary definitions, everything can be categorized as either a soup or a salad.

Cake and bread are actually the same since they are both soups.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

All words are made up, so if you would like to define cake as a bread then I see no problem with that personally.

I am unsure if others would agree with you, but they might given specific context.

Personally, I don't care too much, all I know is that cake it delicious.

P.S. There are definitely cakes that are not at all bread like though, like ice cream cake or cheese cake etc.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

If it fits loosely under the food pyramid category and I can therefore eat a ton of it and say it's just my daily bread, then yes.

But sugars are at the top and we all know the higher a thing is the more important it is. Can we double-dip on the chart? Also yes.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

food pyramid

You're really showing your age with this one. The food pyramid got replaced 13 years ago

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Wow, the dairy industry must've paid a lot to get that spot replacing water. Milk is atrocious for diet and filled with bad fats, with little added nutritional value. At least cheeses are condensed protein and fat. Not considering that most of the world is intolerant to it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (5 children)

cake is: A: a breadlike food

Why are you questioning the definition you've provided?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I think the clue is in the definition you posted:

a breadlike food.

As a german I would say that bread and cake are very similar, but distinct things, even though the border is very blurry. Take brioche, I think that's more of a bread, but it's very soft, moist and sweet, so it leans heavily towards cake.

I'd say in general bread is more savory or neutral, made to be eaten with something, and cake is sweet and supposed to be a food on it's own.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My argument: Bread is leavened and whose basic mixture is flour or meal. (Usually baked, but so are most cakes so I'll leave this as moot.)

If a cake can meet those requirements, Yes, it would be a bread.

Otherwise, it would be a breadlike food. In the cake definition it uses a "breadlike food" probably due to to the latter half of the statement "often unleavened". This would lead me to presume that most cakes, while breadlike, do not meet the requirements. It'd be more reasonable to make a statement on the majority (breadlike) than minority (Bread).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Irish soda bread

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You don't need cake. You do knead bread.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Bread usually has yeast, a cake never does.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

Lots of cakes in Germany for example are traditionally made from yeasted doughs

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

They aren't a cake, and they don't have yeast either

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Although clear examples of the difference between cake and bread are easy to find, the precise classification has always been elusive. For example, banana bread may be properly considered either a quick bread or a cake. Yeast cakes are the oldest and are very similar to yeast bread. Such cakes are often very traditional in form and include such pastries as babka and stollen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake#Comparison_with_bread

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Whenever it comes down to definitions I like to go to expert definitions rather than common language. For food (are tomatoes a fruit?) I use FDA definitions, for which the definition of bread excludes what you'd mean by "cake".

I don't think the FDA defines cake, but it does specify how different types of cakes, brownies and such should be labeled (search for "cake" here).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Do bagels count as cake based on calorie count or bread based on texture/flavor or doughnuts based on shape?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Never heard of fried cake. In my native language that's sure a word not interchangeable with what I would translate cake to

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Cake is bread but bread isn't Cake.

Unless you're American

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