Cake, biscuits, cookies...

[Tilia]

We had a big discussion in history class about the difference between cakes, biscuits and cookies. An explanation, anyone?

[Ruan Chun Xian]

Cake:

It's got frosting/icing on it.

There are also other cake-like things like madeleines and cupcakes:

Madeleines

Cupcakes. Cupcakes usually have frosting/icing because without the frosting/icing, and less sweetening content, it would be called a muffin.

Basically a cake usually uses something (e.g. yeast) to make it rise and 'fluff' up, so to speak.

British English biscuit = American English cookie. It's a flat, baked, sweet dessert, that is different from a cake in that it's, well, flat.

British biscuit/American cookie. A biscuit/cookie could have icing on it, I suppose.

Ok, then you have a cookie cake (yay!! ). This is basically a large cookie (as large as a cake) with icing on it. But it would flat (as a cookie) rather than fluffed up like a normal cake.

An American biscuit, apparently, is a type of bread. (This in British English would be called a scone.)

(Please don't ask what a muffin is, next... )

[__inthemaking]

I would classify cakes as anything made from batter that's covered in frosting/icing, maybe with fruits on top or inside of it. Example: cake

Biscuits and cookies are the same thing to me..sweet pieces of dough. Anything from chocolate chip cookies to almond cookies. Example: cookies/biscuits

Edited July 11, 2008 by __inthemaking

[IBStuck]

An American biscuit, apparently, is a type of bread. (This in British English would be called a scone.)

i din't know that they were the same thing. my mom always buys a fancy mix for scones, and they seem thicker than american biscuts. i also thought scones were sweet where as a biscut wasn't. my biscults always come out of a can from Pillsburry... they taste as good as homamead ones, and they are flakier..so in the end the ones out of the can are better. they are are just flaky bread that i always put butter and jam or jelly on.

[Ruan Chun Xian]

i din't know that they were the same thing. my mom always buys a fancy mix for scones, and they seem thicker than american biscuts. i also thought scones were sweet where as a biscut wasn't. my biscults always come out of a can from Pillsburry... they taste as good as homamead ones, and they are flakier..so in the end the ones out of the can are better. they are are just flaky bread that i always put butter and jam or jelly on.

I guess they're not totally the same, but similar.

But scones don't necessarily have to be sweet. They can be savoury as well...or at least here (Australia) they are.

Ok from wikipedia

British scones closely resemble a North American biscuit (many recipes are actually identical) — itself not to be confused with the English biscuit, which equates to the American cookie. In the United States, there is a growing tendency to refer to sweet variations as "scones" (perhaps under influence from espresso bars, where they are popular fare), while those eaten as part of savoury meals are known as "biscuits". American "scones" are often baked to a dry and somewhat crumbly texture, and are typically large and rectangular; more like a cross between a cookie and a muffin than a biscuit. In Canada, both tend to be called "biscuits" or "tea biscuits".

[IBStuck]

that is exactly it! wikipedia knows its biscuts.

[cranberry_isle]

ha. this reminded me of my incredible confusion about the spanish language. and that both cookies and crackers are called 'galletas' when the two are completely different things!

also, another thing that might help is that cake and cookies are sweets, and are eaten for dessert, while biscuits are more just like bread, and are eaten with the main course. (however, there are always exceptions, but that's a basic rule of thumb)

[Ruan Chun Xian]

also, another thing that might help is that cake and cookies are sweets, and are eaten for dessert, while biscuits are more just like bread, and are eaten with the main course. (however, there are always exceptions, but that's a basic rule of thumb)

American biscuits are bread. British/almost everywhere else biscuit is a cookie, i.e. sweet

(You have to love the English language, dont you?

[cranberry_isle]

oops we supposedly speak the same language, but I'll go to England one day, and be completely lost when they offer me a biscuit for dessert. I wonder when the definitions first started to change. When the English first colonized America, it must have been the same definition... yet somewhere in the past 300 years they kept stretching the definition.

sorry. random ponderings.

[Ruan Chun Xian]

Well according to wikipedia (and I think it sounds logical), cookie comes from the Dutch koekje. So I guess somewhere along the way that got modified and replaced biscuit.

[meganeloise]

1. Does the food item squish?

If YES go to question 2. if NO go to question 7

2. Does the food item have icing, icing sugar, or a sauce coating it?

If YES go to question 3-skip question 6, if NO go to question 3.

3. Is the food item larger than two women fists put together

If YES, congratulations! It’s a full cake! If NO go to question 4

4. Is the food item shaped like a block of triangular cheese?

If YES! Congratulations! It’s a slice of cake! If NO go the question 5

5. Is the food item cut into a medium sized rectangle in a café?

If YES! Congratulations! It’s a cake! If NO go to question 6

6. Is the food item bigger than one fist?

If YES! Congratulations! It’s a muffin! If NO go to question 6

7. Is the food item hard and flat?

If YES go to question 8. If NO, It’s probably a brownie or a cookie.

8. Does the food item have chocolate chips?

If YES! Congratulations! It’s a cookie! If NO, it’s probably a biscuit.

9. Is the food item chewey and bendy?

If YES! Congratulations! It’s a cookie!

10. Could your food item be dipped into a cup of tea without any major dissolvage occurring?

If YES! It’s a biscuit.