With a side order of dessert [S. Worthen

I used to like custard on crumble but ice-cream is nicer and lets the crumble flavour through better. And cake doesn't need a topping, its cake! And decently made cake isn't dry at all...

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I prefer nothing accompanying my cake or crumble. Nothing ticks me off like having my dessert arrive in an unwanted puddle of cream.

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Cake doesn't require a topping (it shouldn't anyway!), but a rich chocolate cake served warm with vanilla ice cream is pretty hard to beat!

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Ice cream's also good on cake that's moist. XD But it should be optional, I'd think.

Edited Date: 2008-02-22 01:21 pm (UTC)

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I'm in the no-topping camp as well!

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Like they all said - cake by itself, not with any kind of sauce thing.

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Cake shouldn't require a topping - it should be slightly moist (great word!), not dry in the slightest.

Bought cakes are usually much worse IMHO.

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No, cake shouldn't require anything with it unless you're someone who eats Wensleydale with fruit cake, or it's the sort of sliced loaf cake that's supposed to be buttered. Spoonsful of cream are for puddings and (sometimes) scones. If it's dry by design, it should be so because it's supposed to contrast with a creamy or rich filling.

Have you discovered a run of particularly offensive cakes, or is it just that we have different standards for dryness? I suspect that it has been traditionally assumed that cakes will be accompanied by tea, or at least a drink of some sort.

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I lived in St. Andrews for a year, and British cakes were, as

owlfish suggests, generally much too dry. Not that North America always gets it right, as there are lots of places that sell dry cake here, but that is due to laziness/incompetence, whereas in my travels in Britain, it seemed by design--even places with wonderful examples of everything else would have dry cake.

This is, by the way, making me hungry for the scones sold in that little place on the way to Dollar, Scotland. . .

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owlfish

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sam-t.livejournal.com

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owlfish

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Cream poured over cheesecake always gets me. Cheesecake should redefine moist. Adam and I had cheesecake for the dessert at our wedding reception - much to my surprise, it was served with "Cream with that?" I assumed all right-thinking people would politely reply, "Are you nuts? This is cheesecake," but my father, who has not voluntarily ingested saturated fat since 1973, enthusiastically went for triple helpings of cream with his cheesecake. I felt like I'd entered somesort of cheesecake based Twilight Zone.

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Yes!! My husband eats cream with cheesecake...and dude, I make MOIST cheesecake!

I don't understand the British.

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owlfish

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noncalorsedumor.livejournal.com

I like ice cream on apple crisp but crumble seems to require custard by virtue of its being British.

And British cakes ARE dry and dense in comparison with American cakes. It must be a cultural preference.

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I don't put any diary topping on cake - however if it comes with a cream filling that's fine.

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I'm mostly in the plain dessert camp, too. I do love custard on rhubarb crumble, though. And berries with cream or sabayon ... But my choices of sweet are almost always something with fruit OR some sort of creme brulée. Very dull, me.

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There is nothing dull about creme brulée.

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I love whipped cream on anything ... except cake ... cake should just have lots of icing.

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The ice cream accompaniment for the aforesaid apple crumble should only be really good vanilla. You can see I've give this some thought.

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Well for me it has to be a non-dairy accompaniment to both, so I'd go for soya cream or soya custard with apple crumble and cake is either by itself or with chocolate sauce if chocolate-based cake.

And anyway, cake is supposed to be dry to give you an excuse to have another cup of tea with it at say 4pm! Gooey cake is a dessert and comes after a meal and may well be gateau instead. (provincial? Moi?)

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The whole drinks-with-cake justification only makes sense to me if you're dipping your tea in your cake (which seems very wrong) or dribbling tea over your cake (which seems merely odd, occasionally intentional by design, but very rarely).

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pennski.livejournal.com

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owlfish

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owlfish

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owlfish

Pouring cream is good with crumble too. Cake shouldn't be so dry it needs any topping, though it's true a lot of bought cakes are dry. My cakes, when I make them, are moist. Don't be fooled by the nasty dry plastic things they sell in supermarkets.

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I've had very dry cake made by perfectly competent bakers. Sometimes, it really is by design, and I have encountered it more often here than anywhere else.

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I must admit I don't quite understand English desserts at all. I'm rarely into ice cream, especially not alongside a heated dessert item as meltedness ensues.
Liquid toppings on cake are visually and texturally disturbing. What is with that custard thing?!

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Cakes from supermarkets tend to be rather dry, presumably to extend their shelf-life. Moist, delicious cake should still be available from a decent baker.

Also, there is a cake-biscuit continuum. Cakes on the squishier end of the scale can be desserts or filling snacks, and may require cutlery if one wishes to retain any sense of dignity while eating them. Drier cakes are best eaten with a nice cup of tea, as a sort of slightly more substantial biscuit. However, even some fairly dry cakes can be converted to desserts by the addition of hot custard.

You might also be interested in the Jaffa Cake trial, in which McVitie's battles with the Taxman over the definition of 'cake'.

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Which is better: squishy sugary frosting or marzipan?

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a fresh, suitable moist cake is best with marscapone cheese. Heart stoppingly bad for one too of course.

British cake is only dry if badly made. It should be moist and rich and will keep forever if steeped in booze while still warm (unlike Twinkies which just keep forever anyway - worrying that). Dust-dry cake, especially fruitcake is just WRONG!

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So if it isn't moist and rich, it's not Real British Cake? If so, there's a remarkable lack of cake here.

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sammywol.livejournal.com

Personally I'll eat crumble and cake without any topping at all.

I picked ice-cream because if I had to choose then I like ice-cream with it best.

With cake I'll often have a cup of coffee instead.

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As others have pointed out, we don't necessarily want our cakes to by dry. I for one dislike sponge cake unless it's very moist. It's just that sometimes, it seems our preferences mean little to the makers.

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I haven't had custard (the hot liquid-y kind) since the last time I visited London, but it's still what I'd want with my apple crumble. On this side of the pond, I make do with ice cream.

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Make your own custard? It's not the same as the tinned stuff though.

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noncalorsedumor.livejournal.com

On the icing subtopic, thick buttercream is vile, thick fake buttercream is worse,meringue is meh unless its a Pavlova, flat icing and glazes are fine,thin dark fudge icing is good, marzipan rocks my socks right off

Edited Date: 2008-02-23 12:34 pm (UTC)

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Wow you tapped into an issue that people are passionate about. Personally while it speaks mostly to the crudeness of my tastes I like ice cream with my pie and cake. You need massive amounts of fat to go with your massive quantity of sugar, it's all about balance. ;)

I've never noticed that British cuisine tends to dry baked deserts, but that does not mean you don't have a point. These things need not be obvious.

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S. Worthen | Weblog

With a side order of dessert

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The cake is not a lie!

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October