# Why is Carrot Cake considered a cake and Bananna Bread considered a bread? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [March 16, 2022, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149 "2022-03-16T02:22:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/61 "2022-03-20T16:46:09Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > If you tell kids they’re having cake for dessert and serve pound cake, most will be disappointed, I would think. Not if you put frosting on it. Then it’s just a somewhat denser dessert 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:** [March 20, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/62 "2022-03-20T16:53:18Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Not if you put frosting on it. Then it’s just a somewhat denser dessert cake. Regardless, it’s still poundcake without the frosting (and that’s the typical type of pound cake we had around the house.) And I still would have been disappointed. Imagine going to a birthday party and being served frosted poundcake as the “cake.” YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/63 "2022-03-20T16:55:19Z")
I’m certain i have been served frosted pound cake for dessert. Vastly better mileage apparently. ---
**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:** [March 20, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/64 "2022-03-20T17:03:42Z")
I’m not saying it doesn’t get served for dessert. I’ve been served zucchini bread and banana bread for dessert, too. And none of that helps with establishing our dichotomy here. For me, pound cake is more like zucchini bread and banana bread than it is prototypical “cake,” but is called “cake” rather than “bread.” “Banana bread” is as much “breakfast food” to me as “pound cake” is. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/65 "2022-03-20T17:15:35Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Carrot cake was popularized as a cake to be served as a cake in the UK during WWII due to shortages of fruits otherwise used in cake products. Bananas were not available in the UK during WWII. The refrigerator ships that transported them were needed for the war effort. In fact, desperate housewives made “[mock bananas](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/banana-substitute#:~:text=On%20November%209%2C%201940%2C%20the,a%20devastating%20blow%20to%20Britons.)” out of parsnips. > [@Baker](#): > > Quick breads differ from dessert cake in the relative amounts of fats and sugar. You and I have both posted about the scientific reasons why one is a (quick) bread and the other a cake, but clearly, it’s more fun to speculate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/66 "2022-03-20T17:46:45Z")
About bananas being hard to get during WWII, my father said that the grocer used to come up to his mom, at the store, and ask in a low voice, “Want some bananas?” He didn’t get enough for all customers, so he’d favor some. Twinkies used to have banana cream but during the war they had to go to plain vanilla, and stayed that way after rationing ended. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/67 "2022-03-20T17:58:46Z")
I’ve never seen frosting on a banana bread. I’ve never seen carrot cake without frosting. And I also usually eat banana bread like a slice of bread, buttered, in my hand. Guess I think the carrot cake/banana bread divide is fine with me! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/68 "2022-03-20T18:06:17Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > And what is the difference exactly between cupcakes and muffins then??? I added a lot more sugar to cup cakes. Of course, i also don’t eat commercial muffins because they are too damn sweet… > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I definitely remember buttering a slice of banana bread on numerous occasions. That would not just be difficult with all but the driest carrot cake, but it would just be weird. Mmmm, i do that, too. Good point. > [@pulykamell](#): > > If you tell kids they’re having cake for dessert and serve pound cake, most will be disappointed, I would think. Huh. Sara Lee pound cake was a fairly common dessert after supper in my household, and we all liked it. And, to return to the historical argument, which i find persuasive (after all, we ride a bicycle and drive a car, because that’s what we did with horses in a similar transportation mode), i understand that pound cake is the culinary ancestor of the common yellow cake, which is unambiguously cake. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/69 "2022-03-20T18:10:32Z")
Less talking and more baking, and more shipping said baking to me, would be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/70 "2022-03-20T18:34:14Z")
We only had pound cake for dessert if it either had strawberries and whipped cream or ice cream and chocolate sauce on it. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/71 "2022-03-20T19:14:58Z")
You may have called the same product others sold as biscotti mandelbrot but while they are very similar they are different. The taxonomy is calling it a bread vs a cookie. The language is immaterial to that. I looked up “breakfast cakes” on google and at least several pages and several lists in I haven’t found pound cake. Searching for “pound cake breakfast” I can find some recipes for pound cakes intended for breakfast ([like this site](https://www.southernliving.com/food/desserts/cakes/moist-pound-cake-recipes-breakfast-to-dessert)), but even they clearly describe pound cake _primarily as a beloved dessert staple, especially at Southern church potlucks, holiday gatherings, and luncheons_. Pound cake is a rock standard dessert that _can_ be served at breakfast (although personally I’ve never experienced other than as a dessert and have never seen it at breakfast). YMMV. It also must be noted that pound cake’s origin was a very moist dense product with no leavening agent - called a pound cake because the recipe called for a pound each of sugar, flour, butter, and eggs. That’s a sweet rich moist dense product by cake standards, very far removed from the overlap of bread/cake. I’d be disappointed with apple pie as dessert for a birthday party. And I love apple pie. > [@nelliebly](#): > > Bananas were not available in the UK during WWII. Correct. _Carrot cakes_ were popularized in the UK during WWII (as a means to have a sweet dessert that did need as much precious added sugar or fruits). Not “banana bread”. _Banana bread_ was popularized in the US during the depression. Details were at the link I provided but I can quote them for convenience. > [@](#): > > … the advent of refrigeration at the turn of the 20th century soon made bananas accessible to American households nationwide, where they quickly became a breakfast staple. Bananas were also used in desserts, though more often as a garnish atop cake or pudding than a main ingredient. > > Then, in the 1930s, two events converged that elevated the banana from bit player to star. > > First, the Great Depression, which began with the 1929 stock market crash and lasted throughout much of the 1930s, made every scrap of food precious. Households were unwilling to throw away anything — even a “rotten” banana. > > And second, Royal and other baking powder/baking soda manufacturers began mass producing their products, making these chemical leaveners widely available nationwide for the first time. > > Thus the desire to use overripe bananas, paired with the ready availability of baking powder, inspired a horde of enterprising cookbook writers to come up with recipes for banana “quick bread” (as opposed to yeast bread). > > By the early 1930s, banana bread recipes — using mashed bananas as the main ingredient … > > … Banana-Nut Bread from 1930’s “My New Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book” yields a somewhat rough-textured loaf — due mainly to the full cup of wheat bran, an inexpensive bulk filler, added to the batter. > > Reflecting the financial hardships encountered by many families, the loaf is lower in fat and sugar than most current recipes, as well as smaller — but its banana flavor is quite pronounced, unlike that of some of its successors. … > > …Banana Bread from the 1946 edition of “The Joy of Cooking” is a salute to wartime rationing: using a single egg, no spices, and sour milk or buttermilk (both less expensive and easier to come by than fresh whole milk), the loaf is fine-textured and tasty — but plain. Like most dishes during the era, it was meant to fill stomachs, not engage the imagination. … ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/72 "2022-03-20T21:11:15Z")
Is pound cake for breakfast a regional thing? I’ve never seen that before. I have many recipes for pound cakes that are definitely dessert, not breakfast. The only similarity to quickbreads is that sometimes pound cake is baked in loaf pans because it’s too dense to bake all the way through in cake pans. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/73 "2022-03-20T21:39:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Like I said why is a cheesecake a cake and pumpkin pie a pie when they are essentially the same type of thing: a custard-type base flavored with either cream cheese or pumpkin, made by pouring it into a pastry crust in a flat pan and baking until the center doesn’t jiggle (or barely does) anymore. A cheesecake certainly looks and feels like a pie to me. I’ve never seen that sort of cheesecake. There are two types of cheesecake that are familiar to me ( and I bake both types) - but neither has a pastry crust ( or really any crust ) and both are baked in springform pans, not pie pans. > **[Make an Authentic Junior's New York Cheesecake at Home](https://www.thespruceeats.com/juniors-original-new-york-cheesecake-recipe-1135432)** > > Junior's in Brooklyn, N.Y., is known for their delicious original cheesecake. Make it at home using this recipe from "Junior's Home Cooking." > **[The Kraft Heinz Company](https://www.kraftheinzcompany.com)** > > The Kraft Heinz Company provides high quality, great taste and nutrition for all eating occasions whether at home, in restaurants or on the go. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/74 "2022-03-21T20:05:00Z")
I’ve sometimes seen recipes for ricotta cheesecake calling for a pastry base. ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/75 "2022-03-25T02:39:51Z")
FWIW, in my family, during the 1960s, we bought a lot of Sara Lee cakes in the foil pans. I didn’t understand why my grandparents always bought the Sara Lee banana cake instead of the Sara Lee chocolate cake…until I tried it. It was excellent–largely due to the delicious _frosting._ The cake was also obviously cake-textured (seemingly made with white flour) and not at all bread-like. Please note that it was advertised as banana cake and not banana bread: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/OiVTwmp2KwA/hqdefault.jpg "1968 Sara Lee Banana Cake Commercial") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiVTwmp2KwA) Over the decades since then, I have tried many kinds of so-called “banana bread.” They are usually very dense, dark and whole-wheat-y, and are either lacking in frosting, or are glazed/iced like ginger_bread_ (both of these “breads” being incredibly sweet). ETA-- When the gingerbread was in cake form, it was confusingly called “gingerbread cake”: [https://www.walmart.com/ip/Betty-Crocker-Gingerbread-Cake-and-Cookie-Mix-14-5-oz/10311559?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2922&adid=2222222227710311559\_117755028669\_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-293946777986&wl5=9030262&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=10311559&wl13=2922&veh=sem\_LIA&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuJXwtp7g9gIVxyCtBh2DuA5GEAQYASABEgKnTvD\_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Betty-Crocker-Gingerbread-Cake-and-Cookie-Mix-14-5-oz/10311559?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2922&adid=2222222227710311559_117755028669_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-293946777986&wl5=9030262&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=10311559&wl13=2922&veh=sem_LIA&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuJXwtp7g9gIVxyCtBh2DuA5GEAQYASABEgKnTvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149/76 "2022-03-25T06:57:02Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’ve had coffee cake that was obviously a bread, but whoever heard of coffee bread? I’ll fucking Mutiny if you bring up Breadfruit! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-carrot-cake-considered-a-cake-and-bananna-bread-considered-a-bread/961149.md?page=3)