# Is the flavor of a cake determined by the bread part or the icing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740 "2015-02-27T01:32:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/21 "2015-02-27T19:30:34Z")
The [FDA](http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074446.htm) says that > [@](#): > > chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, chocolate pudding, and… any other nonstandardized food product that contains cocoa as the chocolate flavoring ingredient may bear the term “chocolate” so long as it can be demonstrated that consumers have long recognized that the food product may be made from cocoa and do not expect it to contain some other chocolate ingredient. > > The terms “chocolate flavored” or “natural chocolate flavored” must be used on the labeling of any nonstandardized food in which the consumer could reasonably expect a chocolate ingredient but which contains cocoa as the sole source of chocolate flavoring. So both your cake and hers can legally be labeled “chocolate cake.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/22 "2015-02-27T19:49:08Z")
Eggs! Eggs are in chocolate cake. And milk! Oh, goody! And wheat! That’s nutrition! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/23 "2015-02-27T20:12:06Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Can I have a berry pie now? I’m not that big a fan of cake. Or chocolate. You’ll have to leave now. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/24 "2015-02-27T20:16:57Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > When I got home from work today, I had the inexplicable urge to make a cake. While doing so I got a call from Lil Sis. She asked what I was doing, so I told her I was making a chocolate cake, sparking a playful argument we’ve been having since about 1992. Lil Sis opines that what I make for myself and the missus is not truly chocolate cake because, however tasty, there is no icing, just the bread part. I counter that the cakes I make for her on her birthday are, however tasty, not chocolate cakes because both the bread part and the icing are made with cocoa powder, not baking powder. > > Which Rhymer would you say is right, if either? > > (Anyone who feels the need to post his or her favorite recipes should by all means surrender to temptation.) Is this a hypothetical? ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/25 "2015-02-27T20:26:19Z")
Let me tell you about the time my fury burned with the heat of a 100 watt incandescent lightbulb… I was but a bachelor, doing my grocery shopping (which actually consisted of lunch and dinner ingredients, not just frozen meals) when I happened upon the bakery section and noticed a pink-frosted layer cake labelled as “Cherry.” I bought it, took it home and proceeded to cut into it only to find that the cake inside was a simple white cake with no cherry flavoring at all. In fact, the frosting wasn’t even particularly cherry flavored, it was just pink. It tasted like crap. I only wish I had had Skald around to exact some sweet revenge on the purveyor of such a fraud. I had to settle for increasingly high-pitched ranting to friends, family, and anyone else who would listen which is why I now resort to the SDMB for all of my social interaction. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/26 "2015-02-27T20:34:53Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Is this a hypothetical? Because I obviously couldn’t have a sister, a wife, or enjoy baking for the hell of it? Get a grip, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/27 "2015-02-27T20:36:58Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > Let me tell you about the time my fury burned with the heat of a 100 watt incandescent lightbulb… > > I was but a bachelor, doing my grocery shopping (which actually consisted of lunch and dinner ingredients, not just frozen meals) when I happened upon the bakery section and noticed a pink-frosted layer cake labelled as “Cherry.” I bought it, took it home and proceeded to cut into it only to find that the cake inside was a simple white cake with no cherry flavoring at all. In fact, the frosting wasn’t even particularly cherry flavored, it was just pink. > > It tasted like crap. I only wish I had had Skald around to exact some sweet revenge on the purveyor of such a fraud. I had to settle for increasingly high-pitched ranting to friends, family, and anyone else who would listen which is why I now resort to the SDMB for all of my social interaction. This, in addition to my general anal-retentiveness and my diabetes and the need to control the ingredients, is why I prefer to do my own baking. My sister (who is a good cook, don’t misunderstand me) only gets away with never making desserts because I love her. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/28 "2015-02-27T20:37:42Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Eggs! Eggs are in chocolate cake. And milk! Oh, goody! And wheat! That’s nutrition! Can I have a lemonade? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/29 "2015-02-27T20:54:06Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Because I obviously couldn’t have a sister, a wife, or enjoy baking for the hell of it? > > Get a grip, dude. Maybe you shouldn’t have started all those hypothetical polls. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/30 "2015-02-27T21:07:50Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Because I obviously couldn’t have a sister, a wife, or enjoy baking for the hell of it? > > Get a grip, dude. That escalated quickly. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/31 "2015-02-27T21:32:36Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > That escalated quickly. > > 😉 Are you posting from some strange alternate universe in which I am not perpetually grumpy? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/32 "2015-02-27T21:34:20Z")
I have to say, I shudder to think what horrible pastries you’ve been eating all your life if you refer to cake as “the bread part”. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/33 "2015-02-27T21:40:31Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I have to say, I shudder to think what horrible pastries you’ve been eating all your life if you refer to cake as “the bread part”. Did you miss the part of the OP where the cake I was making for myself and the missus lacked icing completely? Anyway, I used that expression because saying “the cake part” and “the icing” would be leadng the witness. Anyway, icing-less cake IS a form of bread. Now get you to a bakery before I give my 2789-word lecture on why beer is ALSO bread. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/34 "2015-02-27T23:10:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Now get you to a bakery before I give my 2789-word lecture on why beer is ALSO bread. 😃 If beer is bread, then [beer bread](http://www.food.com/recipe/beer-bread-73440) is actually bread bread. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/35 "2015-02-28T16:25:47Z")
Cake has a flavor. Cake is also often (but not always) topped by some sort of icing. Icing also has a flavor. The icing on a cake may or may not have the same flavor as the cake. And to refer to a cake as an \ cake is usually to imply that the cake has \ flavoring. A chocolate cake, thus, would be expected to have chocolate flavoring. Cocoa is the portion of chocolate which gives it its flavor, and thus a chocolate cake contains chocolate flavoring, that is to say, cocoa. It may or may not also contain the other portion of chocolate, chocolate butter, which mostly contributes texture to chocolate, but the texture of cake is very different from the texture of chocolate, and so is not used adjectivally to describe a cake. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/36 "2015-02-28T17:24:46Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/37 "2015-02-28T17:26:12Z")
Seriously, what is wrong with you people? Where are my damn recipes? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/38 "2015-02-28T17:34:16Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Where are my damn recipes? [Here ya go.](http://www.thevikingsworld.com/Skald/recipes/) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/39 "2015-02-28T17:37:49Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > [Here ya go.](http://www.thevikingsworld.com/Skald/recipes/) 😃 You’ll pay for this. You, and then one day, your heirs! ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740/40 "2015-02-28T17:49:17Z")
A bit surprised that it got this far without someone pointing out that the icing on a cake is just the icing on the cake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-flavor-of-a-cake-determined-by-the-bread-part-or-the-icing/713740.md?page=3)