Although we speak the same language and have some shared history I am always staggered by the extent of the differences between the UK and the US, especially in the area of recipes and cooking. Only a few weeks ago I was trying to explain to a friend (hello Cop Car!) what was caster sugar, semi-skimmed milk, a baking tray, Gas mark 7, dessert spoons and ground nut oil amongst other things (I had sent her a link to the blessed Delia's recipe for Toad in the Hole). In turn I always get confused to the concept of cooking by volume rather than weight - for example using cups to measure ingredients. And how much exactly is half a stick of butter?
And now I have more problems between the different ways recipes are described. I am trying to identify the difference between what a US cook would describe as a "Cake" and what they would describe as a "Coffee cake". Sounds daft it's true but my own interpretation would be that a coffee cake would be an ordinary cake with coffee as one of the main ingredients. However, I have just seen a recipe for a "Blueberry Coffeecake" which does not contain any coffee at all.
If a "CoffeeCake" is just a cake you eat when drinking coffee then how does it differ from a cake?
4 comments:
well thats easy, one has coffee in the title.
Actually, its called a coffee cake because it is considered breakfast appropriate, something you could eat for breakfast with your morning coffee. It should be called breakfast cake.
Aurora, thank you that is fascinating, especially the difference in breakfast habits between Americans and us on this side of the pond. We tend to eat cake at teatime rather than in the morning over here.
Thank you, Val. You can't have heard my guffawing laughter while reading your dissertation. Now that I've wiped the tears from my eyes: Coffee cake normally has a coarser crumb than a dessert cake would have and it is usually not iced (frosted?), but may have a crumb topping. While a dessert cake may have more than one layer, normally a coffee cake is only a single layer--and that layer not very thick.
Then we have quick breads (using baking soda and/or baking powder as leavening) that may be served with coffee but are not called coffee cakes. Oh! And, coffee cakes are generally not as sweet as a dessert cake. Coffee cakes are for "snacking" while dessert cakes are normally served following a meal (or a wedding or a birthday party!)
Cop Car
P.S. We have four sticks of butter to the pound; thus, each stick is 1/4 pound and a half a stick is 2 ounces (weight--I can't spell Avoirdupois). Different areas of the country have differently shaped sticks. In most of the country each stick is about (1+1/8) inch square and 4.5 inches long; but, in the Pacific Northwest, a pound of butter is nearly a cube with each quarter being shorter and fatter.
Cop Car
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