Wikipedia has done it again! It came to the rescue last night when it solved a classic dinner-party question – what is the difference between a cake and a biscuit? The answer is that it’s all about moisture content.
“The difference between a cake and a biscuit is that a cake has a higher level of moisture than the average moisture content of air, whereas a biscuit has a lower level of moisture than air. Hence, a cake will go hard when left in air and a biscuit will go soft.”
What a nugget!
Many thanks for that important scientific update. On the subject of biscuits, have you successfully undergone the biscuit identification quiz on the ultimate biscuit site, http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com ?
It’s a deeply reassuring site, and I recommend their book, too.
There was a court case a while ago about whether a Jaffa Cake was a biscuit or a cake. It affected taxation or something. I think in the end it was a cake.
Yeah – that rang a bell – it turns out it was a VAT case in 1991. Biscuits attract VAT and cakes do not (or didn’t then, anyway). Part of the evidence McVities used to show that they are cakes was the fact that they go hard rather than soggy when left out.
I was shown a copy of the brilliant Nice Cup of Tea and Sit Down book last night. It has a fascinating Venn diagram of what constitutes a biscuit, cake or bread and even tells us where scones, baps and Kitkats fall in.
Apparently, McVities also created a 12 inch jaffa cake for the Inland Revenue case to prove it could be a cake. Mmmmmm.