With regards to cutlery, do you prefer a spoon or a fork for eating cake?

Someone had to ask the questions that matter.

106 points · 104 comments · view on lemmy.world

104 Comments

Kolanaki@pawb.social · 58 pts · 158d (6 replies)

Regular cake? A fork.

Ice cream cake? Spoon.

over_clox@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 158d (5 replies)

You already know where I'm going with this, time to upgrade your woodwear homie!

https://lemmy.world/post/43650328

db2@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 158d (2 replies)

Sporknife.

sukhmel@programming.dev · 4 pts · 158d

Sporfe

over_clox@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 158d

Hey, when you see cake, come prepared..

Kolanaki@pawb.social · 3 pts · 158d (1 reply)

lol

My sister has some blank utensil things (wood blocks meant to be made into spoons and forks). Imma send her this and tell her to make it 🤣

over_clox@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 158d

I call it the Kitchen Weapon, and yes the cross section is just press fit, easy to disassemble for actual use believe it or not.

Feel free to copy the design, I just made it on a whim to hang over the kitchen sink.

edgemaster72@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 158d (1 reply)

I don't think I've ever eaten cake with a spoon before, sooo... I'm gonna go fork, myself.

Bonesince1997@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 158d

Save the spoon for your significant other.

hperrin@lemmy.ca · 18 pts · 158d (8 replies)

Who the fuck eats cake with a spoon??

jol@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 158d (3 replies)

You sound like a lovely person open to other cultures and perspectives.

hperrin@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 158d (2 replies)

I don’t care what someone does, but if I’m serving cake, it’s coming with a fork. Just like if I’m serving soup, it’s coming with a spoon.

sukhmel@programming.dev · 17 pts · 158d (1 reply)

I half expected ‘Just like if I’m serving soup, it’s coming with a fork. I just hate spoons’

hperrin@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 158d

Perfect joke opportunity ruined. Curse you, Perry the Platypus!

pishadoot@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 158d (1 reply)

Hey fuck you buddy

hperrin@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 158d

With a spoon or with a fork?

brb@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 157d (1 reply)

Why the fuck would you use fork for a cake? Do you also use a knife??

hperrin@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 157d

For serving, yeah. A cake knife. Do you cut the cake with a spoon?

Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 158d

I'm not above using whatever is available, but the correct answer is fork.

Sunsofold@lemmings.world · 15 pts · 157d (1 reply)

Yes. Eating it with a knife is just too dangerous and uncomfortable.

draco_aeneus@mander.xyz · 7 pts · 157d

You're just skipping over the obvious choice of chopsticks, I see.

PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S@lemmy.sdf.org · 14 pts · 158d (2 replies)

Fork for real cake, spoon for ice cream cake.

SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 158d (1 reply)

Ice cream cake is real

Mothra@mander.xyz · 5 pts · 158d

I've read the cake is a lie in many places, I wouldn't be so sure

faythofdragons@slrpnk.net · 13 pts · 158d

*holds up spork*

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 12 pts · 158d (9 replies)

Here in Denmark, it's almost unheard of to use anything but a teaspoon, but personally I prefer a fork.

Buffalox@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 158d (7 replies)

A small fork is generally considered the "correct" cutlery for cake in Denmark.
Obviously a teaspoon serves the purpose just as well, and those are standard to have.
And we are not a pretentious people, so many don't even have the forks. Since they are pretty useless for anything else. So the small forks are basically superfluous.

Seems to me their only purpose is etiquette, and most Danes don't really appreciate that when it has no purpose than the etiquette itself.

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 158d (6 replies)

A small fork is generally considered the "correct" cutlery for cake in Denmark

I must have missed that memo, but I completely agree. It's just the best tool for the job.

Obviously a teaspoon serves the purpose just as well

No they don't.

And we are not a pretentious people

Neither am I. My preference is purely practical.

many don't even have the forks

That's fair. I only have them because I got some as a cheap "here, have this too" Christmas gift a couple years ago.

Before that, I had no idea how much better they are for the purpose than tea spoons.

Since they are pretty useless for anything else

Mostly true, but you're allowed to own specialized cutlery, just like you're allowed to own kitchen appliances that do a specific thing better than others that do more things.

So the small forks are basically superfluous. not strictly necessary, but DEFINITELY useful

Fixed it for you.

Buffalox@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 158d (4 replies)

I must have missed that memo

Maybe you are not old enough, such things used to be way more important half a century ago.

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 158d (3 replies)

Yeah, half a century ago, I was minus seven years old 🤷🏻

Buffalox@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 158d (2 replies)

I suppose you mean "minus" instead of minutes.
I suspected something of that sort. Back then using teaspoons was considered somewhat casual.
And now you find the old ways kind of neat. Yes the old cake fork has a slight advantage in that it can be used as a fork, and it typically has an edge to "cut" if it's a proper one. But in reality those "advantages" don't really matter, at least not for most people.
A cake can be cut with a teaspoon just as well, and for most cakes the fork function doesn't really work, and in my experience the fork is used as a spoon anyway.

But hey, have fun. Do what you like. 😀

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 158d (1 reply)

I suppose you mean "minus" instead of minutes

Yeah, that was an autocorrect error lol

those "advantages" don't really matter, at least not for most people.

Whether they agree with me on the relative merits of dessert forks and tea spoons, I guarantee that most people prefer to use whichever one they find most convenient.

Deciding that it doesn't matter AT ALL to most people just because you seemingly consider using the slightly better option to be elitist compared to using an inferior (at the specific use) but more versatile utensil os a very weird take 😄

A cake can be cut with a teaspoon just as well

Nope. That's categorically untrue.

Some might prefer a teaspoon based on other properties, but the flatter profile of the fork makes it moderately better at cutting and infinitely better at stabbing your cake like a pitchfork gathering hay.

for most cakes the fork function doesn't really work

Again, that's categorically untrue. More fluid-adjacent cakes might benefit from the scooping capabilities more than the stabbing and superior cutting abilities of the fork, but they're by far the minority rather than the majority.

But hey, have fun. Do what you like

Weird thing to say after spending so much time and effort telling me how doing what I like is wrong and unpopular, but thanks for the permission, I guess 🤷🏻😄

Buffalox@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 158d

Weird thing to say after spending so much time and effort telling me how doing what I like is wrong and unpopular,

I have no idea what your problem is? I never claimed in any way it is wrong, I also showed that it used to be way more popular than it is today.
I just state the reasons I think it kind of fell out of fashion.

but thanks for the permission, I guess

It is not a permission, that wouldn't make any sense whatsoever. On the contrary it's an acknowledgement of you not just following the mainstream but doing what you like.

I have no idea why you would be butthurt about any of this?

cabbage@piefed.social · 2 pts · 158d

I moved to Denmark a few years ago, and have been picking up a line of cutlery whenever I see stuff I need in red cross stores. I have small tea spoons, big tea spoons, and one tiny cake fork.

I prefer the smaller tea spoons not only for ice cream cake, but anything served with ice cream. So typically that's also a lot of pies. The fork is better for dry crumbly cakes, but the spoons are better for creamy cakes. I wouldn't eat a tiramisu with a fork if I have a spoon available.

The bigger tea spoons I mostly only use for yogurt and stuff like that.

jxk@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 158d
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nocturne@slrpnk.net · 12 pts · 158d

Spooooooon

HakunaHafada@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 10 pts · 158d

Fork.

ClownStatue@piefed.social · 10 pts · 158d

Depends on the cake. For most cake, either will do, but I prefer a fork. For tres leches ice cream cake, or similar cakes, spoon.

schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de · 9 pts · 158d

A fork works better for most cakes, but it may depend on the exact consistency.

lordnikon@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 158d (3 replies)

Chopsticks I eat it slower and thus enjoy it more

disregardable@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 158d (2 replies)

Do you also cut bites of it with the chopsticks?

lordnikon@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 158d

Yep make a few holes then tear it sway for the next bite.

SayJess@piefed.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 158d
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trashcroissant@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 8 pts · 158d

I don't have a preference, but the rest of my family has very strong preferences. My mom was convinced for the longest time that I was eating with the "wrong" one (I can't remember what the "right" one is for her), so she'd always get me the "wrong" one, which is also what my sister likes. I just went along because I genuinely don't care. Then my mom got very upset one day when I was using the "right" one, cause she was insistent that I always liked the other one. Nah, I just like cake.

18107@aussie.zone · 6 pts · 158d (5 replies)

I would eat soup with fork if could.

Mothra@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 158d

You and I have the same spirit animal I'm sure

Iconoclast@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 158d (2 replies)

You can eat all the important bits of the soup with a fork.

18107@aussie.zone · 4 pts · 158d

I choose to misinterpret your definition of "important" and die of dehydration.

Vandals_handle@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 158d

Good luck with tomato soup, squash soup, and vichyssoise to name a few.

SlurpingPus@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 157d

You can adopt the Chinese method of bringing the bowl up to your mouth and energetically shoveling the soup into it, then drinking the remainder.

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 157d (1 reply)

Is there ice cream on it or in it? Spoon. Otherwise, fork.

JoeTheSane@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 157d

This.

Bazell@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 158d (1 reply)

It depends on cake's texture. Some cakes are way to soft to eat them with fork.

T156@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 157d

An ice-cream cake is better eaten with a spoon, for example.

captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 158d

I don't. Preferences set one up for disappointment. I simply use what is offered or whichever has more clean.

Forks for ice cream fresh from the freezer though, they break into it better

jxk@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 158d

A little spoon ("tea spoon")

undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch · 5 pts · 158d (1 reply)

Fork. I hate when the spoon can’t be easily cleaned by the mouth which tends to be the case when it comes to cake. Yuck

Mothra@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 158d

Yup and the deeper the spoon the worse it is! Agreed

FearMeAndDecay@literature.cafe · 5 pts · 157d

fork

paraplu@piefed.social · 5 pts · 158d

It depends on the cake. If there's ice cream, whipped cream, or some other sort of sauce then I'd prefer a spoon.

If it's just cake, I don't super care.

Vinylraupe@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 157d

A fork. The spoon is for kids and neanderthals.

Una@europe.pub · 4 pts · 158d (3 replies)

Why not combine both, spork, best of both world.

Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 158d (2 replies)

Blasphemer! The followers of the almighty Foon will erase your heretical nonsense from the earth. Foon commands you to worship no other utensil but it.

Ardyssian@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 158d (1 reply)

Why not combine both, Fospork, best of both world.

Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 158d

Jihad!

RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 158d

Spoon normally, any cake I stab with a fork falls off so I might as well use a spoon.

Codpiece@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 158d (4 replies)

Neither. What’s wrong your fingers, not bourgeois enough for you?

Patrikvo@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 158d (3 replies)

For starters, we don't know what and whose orifices those have been in.

Codpiece@feddit.uk · 8 pts · 158d (2 replies)

Well I do, they’re my fingers. And I washed them.

I’m not taking the gamble of using other peoples fingers.

Una@europe.pub · 2 pts · 158d (1 reply)

I recommend adding dandruff from your hair as seasoning.

Codpiece@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 158d

Sigh. Another kick in the teeth for us bald folks.

jol@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 158d (1 reply)

Mostly with my hands, otherwise with a fork.

essell@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 158d

Gotta agree. What kind of aristocrats are we dealing with here who eat cake with cutlery? 😁

Theatomictruth@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 158d (1 reply)

I almost never use a fork for anything, spoon for sure. 95% of foods I eat with spoon, chopsticks, or hand.

BillyClark@piefed.social · 4 pts · 158d

I knew a guy like that. We went to a restaurant together and he ordered a salad, and started eating it with a spoon.

Normally, when a person does something unusual, I don't say anything, but I was surprised. It had never even occurred to me that a salad with broad leaves could be eaten with a spoon.

So slightly taken aback, I said to him, "Why aren't you eating a salad with a fork?" And he replied, "I am accustomed to eating with a spoon."

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 158d

This question is why some overly clever and yet still useless fellow invented the spork.

Though, the answer for me is simple. Is Icencream involved? Spoon. No ice cream? Fork.

Squirrelsdrivemenuts@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 158d

I use a mini-fork (dessert fork?)

scytale@piefed.zip · 4 pts · 158d

Spoon, so I can completely clean my plate. Also prevents crumbs from falling.

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 157d

chopsticks.

Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 158d

Spork! Obviously!

over_clox@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 158d

Umm, does this count? I carved it myself, and sometimes actually use it..

https://lemmy.world/post/43650328

blarghly@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 158d

Cakes disintigrate if you try to stab them, and often fall off a fork if you try to balance pieces on it. The socially acceptable answer is fork, but that's for groupthink-following losers who probably went to college and shave every day.

Intelligent people like myself use a spoon.

YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 157d

Fork for everything that isn't liquid. I actually kinda prefer chopsticks because they keep me from just shoveling shit in my gullet, and I don't eat until I'm super full.

Nemo@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 158d

Butter knife and fingers in casual situations, fork in semi- and formal situations.

mavu@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 157d

Fork of course, i'm not a barbarian.

RBWells@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 157d

A dainty little fork, for most cakes. I make easy cakes not fancy cakes though. Ricotta cake, yogurt cake, pineapple upside down cake. Not so fluffy, more springy. Sort of a cornbread recipe, modified to make different cakes. So often it's reasonable to cut a wedge and just eat it without a utensil.

Alvaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 158d

Depends on the cake:

Hard to cut with a spoon: fork

Anything else: spoon

Professorozone@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 157d (6 replies)

It seems to always be served with a fork but now that you mention it I think a spoon would be better.

Mothra@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 157d (5 replies)

This is the opposite of my experience. I find usually, not always, cake comes with a spoon. I prefer a fork.

Professorozone@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 157d (2 replies)

I'm surprised to hear that. Not sure I've ever been given a spoon. Why do you prefer a fork? Doesn't some fall through?

Mothra@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 157d (1 reply)

It doesn't fall any more than with a spoon, unless we are talking about something extremely crumbly such as thousand layer cake. Which to be fair is also a pain to eat with a spoon, or any kind of cutlery. I find the flat profile of the fork is excellent to cut a small portion of the cake away without upsetting the rest of the cake structure. I can't say the same about the curve of the spoon, which forces a scooping motion that often messes up the cake. I also find that the curved edge of the spoon makes it difficult to lift any crumbs from a flat plate surface. If I can't lift crumbs with the fork's edge, I can always press them down flat between the prongs and lift them. The curved shape of the spoon doesn't allow for this. Finally, I prefer how the fork feels in my mouth as opposed to the spoon.

So, these are my reasons for preferring a fork over a spoon when eating cake. Interesting to see people making a case for the opposite, but hey that's exactly what I wanted to know.

Edit: clarification on first sentence

Professorozone@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 156d

Well my opinion may be skewed a bit since I have celiac and can only eat gluten free cake which usually falls apart. I can see your point as I remember crushing the crumbs with the tines back in my gluten years. Harder to do with a spoon.

hperrin@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 157d (1 reply)

On a ddg image search, most images that include cutlery include a fork. Only a few include a spoon.

https://noai.duckduckgo.com/?q=cake+slice+on+a+plate&iar=images&t=ffit

Mothra@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 157d

I'll show this to the staff in the places I frequent next time they give me a spoon with my cake order, thanks

NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 157d

The noble cake fork: "Am I a joke to you?"

devolution@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 158d

Spoon keeps more of the cake on it.

agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 158d

People who prefer using a spoon for (non ice cream) cake are the type of people who make a song and dance out of succumbing to temptation when they order it.

jonesey71@lemmus.org · 2 pts · 157d (1 reply)

I don't normally eat cake, but when I do it is a fork. If it were pie I would do a fork for apple, but a spoon for blackberry and cherry. If someone offered me a pie that wasn't blackberry or cherry I would re-evaluate my friendship with them.

jonesey71@lemmus.org · 2 pts · 157d

Edit to add: My friends wouldn't serve me cake that isn't moist enough to cling to a fork. There are some assumptions that might be specific to my particular friend group. If your friend group delivers you dry cake you might need better friends.

pressedhams@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 158d (2 replies)

I don’t eat cake.

listless@lemmy.cringecollective.io · 8 pts · 158d (1 reply)

wow way to shit on everything Marie Antoinette died for.

pressedhams@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 158d

I love this comment so much. 🍰

Thoven@lemdro.id · 1 pts · 157d

I prefer a spoon, but I've found that for most cakes a spoon isn't long enough to take a proper vertical bite

Agent641@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 157d

I eat most things with a spoon, but not a regular spoon, a teaspoon. But not ass.

ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 158d

Cake is finger food. I like feeling my food whenever possible before it goes in my face hole. It adds to the experience to me, especially licking my fingers after. Very.. natural feeling. Also a lot easier, usually. Social norms be damned, I'm not stabbing leafs with metal spikes, I’m picking them up with my monkey hands like evolution intended.

But more important than my love of tactile sensations, I’m just not huge on refined sugar. Usually 1-2 tbsp for my ~6 cups of coffee, if I have coffee, and that’s it, so cake is well too much sugar for me to eat any faster than pinch by pinch without getting queasy. Might as well play with it while I’m there. Icing usually has a great texture (tho the increased use of palm oil in place of actual quality oil/butter leaves an oily film on my fingers -and mouth- that I don’t care for), and the variety of cake options are great to explore digitally as well, prior to orally. I find angelfood fascinating.

angrystego@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 158d

Spoon