Nov
01

Cake Flavours to Match Your Personality

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Ash Bennett

Halloween is over, but you don’t need to trick or treat to enjoy sweet food. Cakes are delicious all year round, after all.

Cake types and flavours are almost infinite. Name a combination of ingredients, and you can find it in a recipe somewhere. This variety can be overwhelming, though. With so many flavours to choose from, how do you know which cakes you’ll enjoy?

Choosing a cake hardly qualifies as a personality test, but you’d be surprised by how much your favourite flavours say about you. And if you’re not sure what your favourite is, then these personality traits may help you find it.

1. If you’re lighthearted…

If you like life to be light and fluffy, incorporate that into your cakes.

Try Bee Sting, a German cake also known as Bienenstich. This dessert is much more pleasant than its namesake, which refers to its honey topping. Only slightly sweet, it’s soft—think cream and custard—with almonds that add crunch.

Other light, sweet cakes include variations on orange and almond, gingerbread, coconut, poppy seed, or butterscotch. Look for recipes that include nuts, seeds, mild spices, cream, fruit, or honey. These tend to have tangy flavours without being too rich or heavy.

2. If you’re artistic…

Cooking is a great way to explore your creative side. If you’re an adventurous baker or decorator, you can explore any number of techniques and combinations. Cake decorating is an industry unto itself.

Innovative baking isn’t limited to cakes. Many patisseries experiment with novelty products—ice cream and gelato cupcakes, artisan macaroons, hybrid pastries.

Even if your baking skills aren’t quite at that level, you can play around with simple but elegant decorations. Cupcake tiers are a popular and practical substitute for cakes, for example. And multi-layered cakes allow you to mix any combination of flavours and toppings.

3. If you’re health-conscious…

Here’s a disclaimer: cake is generally not good for you. But you knew that when you clicked on this blog post.

Still, there are ways to—well, have your cake and eat it, too. If you want to enjoy sweet treats while taking extra care of your body, you can indulge without overloading on sugar, salt, and chocolate.

Lots of sites and cookbooks suggest healthy cake alternatives. These recipes usually substitute ingredients—oil instead of butter, dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, almond flour instead of over-processed white flour. Once you start looking for substitutes, it’s surprisingly easy to adapt a cake recipe into something healthy but still delicious.

Carrot cake is a particularly good choice. Not only are carrots its fundamental ingredient, but its recipe also includes an adaptable variety of vegetables, fruits, and nuts.

Another flavour you might enjoy is Persian Love Cake. Recipes vary, but the healthier versions use almond meal, yoghurt, and nuts. Or try fruit- or nut-based recipes such as banana bread, apple crumble, or walnut cake.

4. If you’re traditional…

But let’s not forget the best-known and most popular cake flavours.

Maybe you like the familiar when it comes to food, or maybe you’ve never found anything that beats your first favourite. When it comes to cake flavours, there’s nothing wrong with being a traditionalist.

Chocolate cake is a classic indulgence. Mud cake is popular, but there are plenty of other variations, too. The ‘Sacher Torte’, for instance, is a famous Austrian cake made of chocolate, apricot glaze, and whipped cream. The original recipe is a secret, but there are plenty of delicious imitations you can make.

Of course, chocolate cake is only one of many traditional flavours. Others include cheesecake, red velvet, and sponge cake. Whatever your choice, there’s no shortage of popular types to choose from.

Presentation 

If you’re baking, remember that flavours are only one aspect of enjoying a cake. You can also have fun with artistic decorations and packaging.

If you’re lighthearted, put your cupcakes in brightly coloured patty pans or dust icing sugar across your cake board. If you’re artistic, look for creative cake stands and patterned plates.

Choose napkins and tablecloths to match your cake flavours—yellow for Bee Stings, beige and white for carrot cake, black for dark chocolate. Pair your cake with coffee, hot chocolate, or tea in cups that match your colour choices. But most of all, have fun.

Go with your gut

Whether you’re baking a cake or eating one that someone else has made, experiment with something new. Cakes are fun, varied, and indulgent. Just as you don’t have to have one personality trait, you don’t have to have just one favourite flavour.