# I call shenanigans on this recipe **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2017, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611 "2017-10-23T05:35:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/1 "2017-10-23T05:35:39Z")
I was watching YouTube and I saw this video recipe for a [No-Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGTahir_5cY). And I was surprised to see that one of the ingredients for this so-called no-bake cake was a large quantity of cookies (or, as the British call them, biscuits). Well that kind of thing may fly in Britain but not here in America. If you buy muffins from Dunkin Donuts are they no-bake because you didn’t bake them personally? Of course not. A recipe that includes baked goods as ingredients is not a no-bake recipe. I put it to the masses. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2017, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/2 "2017-10-23T05:38:57Z")
It’s a no-bake cake to me. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/3 "2017-10-23T05:41:07Z")
If you don’t have to bake it, then it’s no-bake. It doesn’t matter if it contains previously baked items, someone else did all the work. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/4 "2017-10-23T06:08:45Z")
Would you call a ham and cheese sandwich a cooked sandwich? That ham in there had to be cooked before it got to the deli. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/5 "2017-10-23T08:08:30Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > If you don’t have to bake it, then it’s no-bake. It doesn’t matter if it contains previously baked items, someone else did all the work. If I went to the bakery and bought a cake, could I call it a no-bake cake? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/6 "2017-10-23T08:35:48Z")
A “no-bake recipe” means that the recipe’s instructions don’t call for baking to be done by the person preparing the recipe. The recipe may call for boiling, or torching, but it doesn’t call for the preparer to put the product into the oven to bake. I think you’re mixing the term up with “raw”. Do you cook? A favorite homestyle cookie recipe, a staple of my late mother-in-law, is Chocolate No-Bake Cookies. [Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal No Bake Cookies Recipe - She Wears Many Hats](https://shewearsmanyhats.com/chocolate-coconut-oatmeal-no-bake-cookies-recipe/). They’re cooked (boiled), but not “baked” in an oven. Useful in summer when it’s too hot to turn on an oven. -needscoffee, pastry chef ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/7 "2017-10-23T08:40:15Z")
I would call it a fridge cake, since that’s how I’ve seen such a recipe described here in the UK (it may be different in Ireland, where that video comes from). Anyway, why fuss about the description? Chocolate, butter, biscuits…just eat, already… ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/8 "2017-10-23T09:15:51Z")
the chocolate oatmeal peanut butter cookies my family’s made for over 40 years are boiled together and was described as “no bake” by the usda rationing cook book made back in 42 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/9 "2017-10-23T10:13:46Z")
It’s definitely a no-bake cake. It also looks like something of an overly-sugary monstrosity to me. Chocolate, sweet biscuits AND golden syrup? Those poor deprived Irish dudes have clearly never encountered the simple pleasures of a nice [chocolate ripple cake](http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/choc-ripple-cake/ec490c9f-2a0e-40ea-b741-0606d08a5947) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/10 "2017-10-23T11:06:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If I went to the bakery and bought a cake, could I call it a no-bake cake? Apples and oranges. You didn’t make it in your kitchen, you bought it. **needscoffee** nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/11 "2017-10-23T12:46:08Z")
that’s not a cake, that’s pudding. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/12 "2017-10-23T12:54:45Z")
It’s definitely “no-bake”, but I wouldn’t call it a “no-bake cake”. It’s a variant of a trifle or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/13 "2017-10-23T13:21:26Z")
It’s a recipe that does not require the use of an oven. So it’s definitely a no-bake recipe. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/14 "2017-10-23T13:55:44Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > It’s a recipe that does not require the use of an oven. So it’s definitely a no-bake recipe. Ah, but it **does** require the use of an oven. Just because you (indirectly) paid someone else to use a different oven doesn’t mean an oven wasn’t used. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/15 "2017-10-23T14:01:08Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Ah, but it **does** require the use of an oven. Just because you (indirectly) paid someone else to use a different oven doesn’t mean an oven wasn’t used. It still counts as “no bake.” You would seriously no call it a “no bake pie” if your recipe asked for premade crust, which is usually baked? That’s not the normal usage of the term. The only argument here is whether the item in the OP is a cake or not. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/16 "2017-10-23T14:06:59Z")
I mean, if you look, there’s recipes for no bake bread pudding out there. Some of you guys are seriously going to say that’s not a no-bake recipe? Oh, come on. The whole point of designating a recipe as “no bake” is for the preparer’s sake. It is there to distinguish it from recipes that normally require an oven on the part of the preparer. The OP’s recipe is absolutely in the spirit of “no bake” dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/17 "2017-10-23T14:13:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If I went to the bakery and bought a cake, could I call it a no-bake cake? If you went to the bakery and bought, say, a pound cake to slice up and use as the base for a dessert, you could definitely call it a no-bake. No-bake refers to **your contribution** to the preparation process, not the initial state of ingredients. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/18 "2017-10-23T14:13:33Z")
So nothing that uses any kind of crackers, bread, or cereal counts as no-bake, and if you stretch ‘baking’ to include ‘roasting’ (which is basically the same cooking process), then you can’t use peanut butter or chocolate and still call it no-bake. OP, do you just dislike the term ‘no-bake’ in general and wish people wouldn’t use it? ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/19 "2017-10-23T14:17:01Z")
Fake no-bake cake? That’s my take, Jake. Seriously, though, I think it’s within the no-bake category. I think you can have a graham-cracker crust on some kind of unbaked pie or cake. I think some of them set without baking. Would that be different? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611/20 "2017-10-23T14:23:38Z")
I’d give an opinion, but it would be half-baked. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shenanigans-on-this-recipe/799611.md?page=2)