The Cake Debate.....

Some things are meant to be sauce but others are simply not!  I don't cook bland food, I like my spices so there is no need to pour half a little of gravy on the damned grilled chicken!  Sorry, I got carried away 
June

Amen sister.

A brit who loves cream and gravy...busted!

Cream because i always think that cakes/desserts are too dry without

I think that's it!!!!!! British cakes are way, way drier than USA cakes..... Everytime I have made a cake for work - which was often - all the old dears would always comment on how moist they are.  I know it's down to USA cakes having milk in the recipes....I've never got on with british cake recipes... too dry and dense for me. Maybe they can take the cream without dissolving!

Dh & his family are the same exact way with there cake it has either have hot custard or cream on it blech,    I'm usually the odd duck out. when we have dinner at his parents house then we have dessert my Mil knows now that I don't like cream on my cake. Also I don't like hot custard because to me custard should be cold but thats just my 2 cents worth. don't get me started on the gravy issue lol. 

I get asked if I want cream, yogurt or ice cream at In-laws.  If anything I go with the ice cream,  they all do the cream except my SIL who is always eating well.

I do like gravy though and you have to have it when MIL cooks

I get asked if I want cream, yogurt or ice cream at In-laws.  If anything I go with the ice cream,  they all do the cream except my SIL who is always eating well.

I do like gravy though and you have to have it when MIL cooks

Oh don't get me wrong I love gravy in moderation though, Dh & his family there food is always swimming in gravy. I do love my Mil's gravy it is always fantastic but I can only handle so much though.

Oh don't get me wrong I love gravy in moderation though, Dh & his family there food is always swimming in gravy. I do love my Mil's gravy it is always fantastic but I can only handle so much though.

I hear you

I think that's it!!!!!! British cakes are way, way drier than USA cakes..... Everytime I have made a cake for work - which was often - all the old dears would always comment on how moist they are.  I know it's down to USA cakes having milk in the recipes....I've never got on with british cake recipes... too dry and dense for me. Maybe they can take the cream without dissolving!

YES, YES, YES!!! I'm almost always disappointed by the cakes here when I buy them at tea shops or whatever. Always too dry.

I think that's it!!!!!! British cakes are way, way drier than USA cakes..... Everytime I have made a cake for work - which was often - all the old dears would always comment on how moist they are.  I know it's down to USA cakes having milk in the recipes....I've never got on with british cake recipes... too dry and dense for me. Maybe they can take the cream without dissolving!

Yes totally - they are all too dry.  I have made cakes a few times for my office and they are always going on about how lovely the cake is - and that's why, it's not DRY!!

OT I just brought back two more yellow cake mixes from the US today...hooray!

ah, so that's why all the cakes I get from the supermarket are dry!  I thought it was just my Tesco being crap, but maybe it's due to the British cake recipes.

Also, I don't put cream on normal cake, but I agree with Pebbles- Christmas pudding is a class all on its own and definitely benefits from having cream poured over it!

The only British cakes I have ever made have been madeira cake and they do tend to be dense and not as moist as the US cakes.  The reason for this is mostly because UK cakes tend to be butter cakes where US cakes tend to be sponge cakes.  That said, storebought cakes (UK) are usually very dry and can't hold a candle to a homemade madeira cake.

I prefer sponge cakes.

June

Why would one make toad in the hole without gravy?

Personally, I quite like cream or custard on cakes.

I guess I'm in the "cream on everything but cake" camp. As for savories, I'm firmly in the sauce camp. I hate dry food and I think anything to do with sausages absolutely has to have a gravy. I very rarely do dry food, come to think of it. Salmon sometimes and that's about it.... And even then I usually do a hollandaise or something like that on the side....

Oh don't get me wrong, I don't like 'dry' food per se. My idea of hell is the grilled chicken breast with steamed veggies and new potatoes dinner. That's when I'll definitely overdo the butter on the veg and potatoes and choke down the chicken! But for example, I have a great kheema curry recipe that is, by curry standards, quite dry. First time I made it, DH had a fit! I'd happily eat it with rice but now I have to serve it with rice and a raita (actually, it's really more of a cuke and tom salad with yogurt).

i never put cream on cake, custard yes but not cream, i could not believe it when hubby was here in the UK a week ago he had never had custard, he quite liked it lol.

In all fairness to the Brits, at least they don't usually put that revolting "nondairy whipped topping" on the desserts!  My midwestern U.S. relatives seem to think that any sweet is incomplete without it.  I, too, prefer my desserts generally unadorned, but if something goes on them I'd rather have the real cream/custard option!