Pumpkin Cake Taste Test

 I compared 3 sweeteners in this Pumpkin Cake recipe. I was inspired to do this by my son's science book. One of his projects was to design an experiment to test a cake sweetened with sugar versus a cake made with honey. I did that a couple weeks ago. It was really hard to tell the difference. We did a triangulated blind taste test. We learned this type of test from Ann Reardon's YouTube channel: How to Cook That. I recommend her if you are interested in food science.

Last Saturday I decided to run another experiment. I wanted to compare sugar, honey and maple syrup. This time we didn't do a blind taste test. We just observed and compared the cakes.

This is the recipe I followed:

Pumpkin Cake 

1/2 c. Sweetener (Honey, Sugar, or Maple Syrup 

1/2 c. Vegetable Oil

2 Eggs

1 c. Pumpkin Puree

1 c. Flour

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon 

1/4 tsp. Ground Ginger

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

1/8 tsp. Ground Cloves

Mix sweetener, oil, eggs , and pumpkin until light in color.

Add dry ingredients. Mix to incorporate and then beat for 30 seconds.

Pour into prepared 9 inch round cake pan.

Bake in preheated oven at 350° F. for 25-30 minutes. 

Cool for 10 minutes and then turn out onto wire rack.

I had to bake the honey and sugar cakes at the same time in my toaster oven. I rotated them half way through baking to get them cooked evenly. The maple cake got to have the oven all to itself when it was baking. It was right in the middle the whole time.

The pumpkin I used was from a Blue Pumpkin that my neighbor gave me last year. I wrote about the pumpkin processing I did last year. You can read my blog post where I compared the different pumpkin flavors Here. (Blue Pumpkin is my favorite. Very deep orange color, sweet flavor, and dense flesh.)

Anyway, back to cake comparison.

A. = Sugar

B. = Maple Syrup 

C. = Honey

The honey I used is creamed honey from Canada. I know there is a lot of variation among honey in the flavor so this could be much different with different types of honey. The honey I am using is pretty mildly flavored.

 

The maple syrup is from Indiana trees. My Dad made it and gave me a jar this spring.

 

The sugar I am using is the Zulka brand cane sugar.

 

The Sugar Cake:

Very moist

Sweet

Pumpkin flavor a little more noticeable 

The Maple Syrup Cake:

Moist

Less risen

Larger air bubble

A little tiny bit less sweet

A darker flavor. Not caramel-y nor molasses-y. Just more cloudy and murky.

No maple flavor detectable.

Honey Cake:

Very difficult to tell apart from the sugar cake.

Very moist. Maybe a tiny bit more moist than the others.

Sweet with a little extra stickiness. Maybe caramel like but just a hint.

These cakes were hard to tell apart. They all tasted very good. We all tried to pick up the differences and compare notes. 

The reason that I decided to do this taste test last Saturday was because we were going to the Pumpkin Festival in Libby's hometown. I wanted to get everyone in the pumpkin mood before we went to the parade on Saturday morning. We had pumpkin cake for breakfast and did a fun little taste test while we were at it!

Happy first day of fall! (For those in the northern hemisphere)

P.s.

I have got to tell you about this taste testing coincidence -

Yesterday, I chose to watch Ethan's Chlebowski's lastest video. It is all about honey. About halfway into the video he does a taste comparison by testing honey, maple syrup, and sugar in a cake recipe to compare outcomes. What! I had to smile. How did I just do that for myself only days before his video released? I thought it was funny.