# American cake names **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989 "2019-04-03T18:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/1 "2019-04-03T18:16:00Z")
Okay, so I’m an American woman of a ‘certain age’ and it seems to me that the names we use for cakes are pretty straightforward descriptions. E.g. yellow cake, chocolate cake, pineapple upside down cake. About as oblique as we get is “Devil’s Food Cake” and “Angel Cake.” Over the last few years watching the Great British Baking Show, I’ve been amazed at how many different cakes they seem to have with utterly opaque names. I mean, Victorian Sponge? Madeira Cake? Eccles cake? Battenburg Cake? There’s no way an outsider comes across that on a menu and has a guess what it will look like/contain – though of course all the bakers on the show just nod happily when the challenge is announced. But just lately I was introduced to an American exception, the Lane cake. (It’s a layered cake involving raisins, pecans and coconut, apparently.) And yesterday a fellow volunteer said she was going to bake a Butterfly cake. I didn’t have much time to followup with her, but apparently it’s a specific kind of cake (with pineapple and coconut) rather than just an ordinary cake shaped like or decorated with butterflies. So now I’m wondering: are there a bunch of other American cakes my plain-spoken family just never ate/heard of? Regional specialties, maybe? Do we have enough I could do a Cake of the Month challenge? ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/2 "2019-04-03T18:29:22Z")
There is German Chocolate cake, which doesn’t have anything to do with Germans or the country. It is named after Samuel German who developed the cooking formulation for dark chocolate. How about Red Velvet cake. > **[Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - Sally's Baking Addiction](https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/red-velvet-layer-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/)** > > This red velvet cake recipe converts even red velvet skeptics. I should know because I used to be one. Follow my tricks for the best texture! ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/3 "2019-04-03T18:40:24Z")
Boston Creme Pie? The version I had was NOT pie but two cakes with a layer or creme filling about the thickness of another cake between. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/4 "2019-04-03T18:48:57Z")
There’s hummingbird cake, which contains banana and pineapple (and no hummingbirds). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/5 "2019-04-03T18:57:11Z")
Lady Baltimore cake, a light yellow layer cake with boiled frosting including chopped dried fruit and nuts. Popular a hundred years ago in Charleston, South Carolina. Owen Wister (author of _The Virginian_ wrote a novel called _Lady Baltimore_ about Charleston society, in which the cake acted as the Madeleine in Proust. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/6 "2019-04-03T18:59:27Z")
Not an American so can you tell me what yellow cake is? Google said uranium. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/7 "2019-04-03T19:05:37Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Not an American so can you tell me what yellow cake is? Google said uranium. Think white cake dyed yellow. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/8 "2019-04-03T19:08:16Z")
It might also be angel food. Not going to go back and read that novel again. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/9 "2019-04-03T19:17:27Z")
There’s 7-Up cake ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/10 "2019-04-03T19:23:21Z")
If pies were to count, we sure have a lot of inscrutable ones. It seems like whenever I travel through the Midwest and South, there’s some new pie I’ve never heard of. Maybe we save our creative names for pies (e.g. shoo-fly, Mississippi mud, Derby, chess, Montgomery, etc. though some of these actually do have cake variations.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/11 "2019-04-03T19:25:45Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > There’s 7-Up cake And, relatedly, [Dr Pepper cake](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7548/dr-pepper-cake/). Also, [king cake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake#U.S._Gulf_Coast_king_cake), a staple of Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, though there are apparently other versions popular elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/12 "2019-04-03T19:28:45Z")
Better than sex cake > **[Better than sex cake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_than_sex_cake)** > > Better than sex cake, also known as the better than Robert Redford cake or better than best cake, is a cake consisting of a chocolate cake mix, of the maker's choosing, a moist center, and whipped cream covering the exterior. One version of the cake featured by Paula Deen on her series Paula's Home Cooking calls for yellow cake mix, canned pineapple, vanilla pudding, heavy cream, and toasted coconut flakes. > The cake's moist center is typically created by inserting a fork into the cake several ti... ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/13 "2019-04-03T19:38:28Z")
Ebinger’s Blackout Cake (also, no longer made). Louisiana Ring Cake ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/14 "2019-04-03T19:39:11Z")
I think it’s egg yolk, not dye, that makes yellow cake yellow. But it’s a pretty generic sort of cake, regardless, and probably the most common sort of “just plain cake” in the US. And in the Lane cake, don’t forget that it’s soaked in booze. ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/15 "2019-04-03T19:39:44Z")
My wife and I (a Brit and an American) had a similar conversation following our GBBO watch-fest. Several of the British “cakes” would be more akin to brownies or scones (e.g. Eccles cakes). In terms of “true” cakes, the typical British home cook would only really do the classic sponge, the fruitcake, maybe a lemon cake, so they’re not starting with that much more variety - but they call some things “cakes” that we wouldn’t. So if you allow brownies et al. you’ll have plenty to draw from. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/16 "2019-04-03T19:53:15Z")
There’s [chess cake](http://https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/chess-cake-100274), which looks like a hot mess when it’s done, but it’s fantastic. Very rich and buttery. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/17 "2019-04-03T20:11:12Z")
My favorite cookbook in the universe, A World of Baking by Delores Cassella, was published in 1968 and is a treasure trove of authentic American baking. Her cake chapter includes, along with several of the ones mentioned above and a lot of cakes with self-evident titles (Jewish honey cake, graham cracker cake, etc.): Pennsylvania Dutch funny cake Marguerite cake Wacky cake Colonial Tipsy cake Scripture cake Hartford election cake Robert E. Lee’s cake ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/18 "2019-04-03T20:23:43Z")
Woo hoo! 12 cakes with names already suggested! A couple I knew of (German Chocolate, Boston Cream Pie) but so many more, I think I absolutely will do a Cake of the Month thing. Hubby is on board for participating, on the consuming rather than producing end. 😉 Keep 'em coming, please! More possibilities always welcome! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/19 "2019-04-03T20:28:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think it’s egg yolk, not dye, that makes yellow cake yellow. Probably depends on the particular recipe. The classic ones are definitely egg yolk colored, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some more “modern” ones use food coloring. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989/20 "2019-04-03T20:33:11Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And, relatedly, [Dr Pepper cake](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7548/dr-pepper-cake/). And sibling, [Orange Crush cake](https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/orange-crush-cake/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-cake-names/831989.md?page=2)