I found this category: https://www.wikihow.com/Category:Dessert-Cakes
but noticed we also have this https://www.wikihow.com/Category:Cakes
category too.
I don’t understand how both of these categories work, to be honest. Cake technically is a dessert so what’s the difference when I say a dessert cake? Can someone help me out please?
I’m confused on this myself. Maybe it’s referring to cakes made out of specific desserts, like how there’s an article on making Peep cake. But even that is questionable. Flickety does a lot of category tree work… @Flickety
, would you happen to know if there’s a difference between them? Or any wikiGnome categorizer, really!
Jordan
3
Perhaps “Cakes” in general is referring to foods like rice cakes, fish cakes, crab cakes, etc?
Otherwise, maybe it should be the main category while “Dessert Cakes” is a subcategory, depending on how many types of non-dessert cake articles we have.
@Jordan
, I don’t believe that’s the case, because Cakes has subcategories of things like Chocolate Cakes, Fruit Cakes, Cupcakes, and so forth. I’m wondering if these are duplicate categories, to be honest.
That’s weird… I’d say they sound like duplicates… At the least, I’d have Dessert Cakes as a subcategory of Cakes.
Anna
6
I see space for a little bit of wiggle room here… In Germany, lots of folks have cake in the afternoon, with " kaffee und kuchen",
and I know here in the US, some folks have coffee cake in the morning (okay, me, when I go by Starbucks in the morning and pig out). So those wouldn’t really be desserts. I don’t know enough about baking to know how you’d really pick between the two in some cases, though. Maybe both?
@Anna
Nah, that still makes it a dessert. It doesn’t matter when you eat them, cakes can be a light dessert or even a meal whenever. =) I honestly think this category should be deleted and the articles should be transferred to the normal cake category.
Having a look in Dessert Cakes there are some misplaced articles. Cake is cake, you can substitute a cookie or biscuit for a cake, but, dessert, well, a cookie won’t cut it! Dessert Cakes to be moved to Desserts and Sweets and Cakes to stay where they are?
system
9
Thanks for raising this. From my perspective, I will say that the concept of “dessert cakes” seemed a very North American concept to me, at least from the reading I have done of North American cooking materials. I had never heard of eating cakes for dessert until I read American cookbooks and cooking magazines in the 80s and 90s, when I think this might have been a more popular concept before dessert became a little more sophisticated.
Anyway, it is very helpful to know that it is confusing to those seeking to categorise, no matter where you’re from. To me, that is enough of a heads up that something needs a-fixing, so it’ll be added to the list for research and review. In the meantime, there are plenty of places to add specific cake types and the site will remain stable while this is being sorted out.When a decisions has been reached either way on this one, I’ll try to remember to update it here, or you’re always free to ask me about a decision.
Like many of the parent categories, the Food category is in need of a tidy up and I am already aware of various sub-categories there that aren’t working very well and these will be amended. I have to queue all suggestions at the moment because making piecemeal changes here and there may actually make the larger overhaul harder, especially if the overarching sub-categories get changed or removed. Hence, a reminder that I am taking on board all suggestions but it will take time in various instances!
Interesting perspective @Flickety
. I’ve been thinking about cake a lot since I saw this. (Anyone else who likes cake and kittens http://rathergood.com/2015/09/09/cake/
) I think dessert cakes are the kind of dishes that proper restaurants would put on the dessert menu, gâteau, tortes, etc. A dessert cake would usually need a dessert fork, for polite consumption! Cake, on the other hand, you can eat with your hands and wouldn’t be on the dessert menu at a proper restaurants. If the changes I did have given you agro, let me know and I’ll pitch in helping out. Then we can all have our cake and eat it. That’s a POMs perspective any way. I like cake.
Marina
11
I’ll add oftentimes my family abroad eats cakes with breakfast and coffees and even ad appetizers. Far more likely to have gelato, cannoli, zeppole, etc etc than cake, those are rather rare and never the large mounds covered in frosting that we see popular in the US.
Dessert cakes are like chocolate and so on. Cakes can be any food like you could call a pot pie a cake, there could be a chicken cake.
@FrostBiteQueen
, then those things would go in their respective categories - like a chicken pot pie going in the Chicken category. I think it might just be best to wait for Flickety to clean up the Recipes category and then go from there
Dessert cakes can sometimes have more sweets in them, like candy and other sweets. But that rarely happens. They are both cakes, and both delicious!
There is not much difference between these two like dessert cakes are generally cupcakes and pelits fours eaten as a celebratory dish on weddings,anniversaries,etc.whereas cakes are sweet tender breads made with sugar and delicate flour that can be eaten by you anytime you like.
Sugarplum princess has pretty much explained it. Good work!
Can an admin please lock this thread? I think we’ve already come to the conclusion that Flickety will handle this when she gets to the food categories and there’s no need to keep rehashing the same discussion over and over
