Fork or spoon? Woman sparks debate over correct cutlery to use when eating cake

28 January 2022, 12:44 | Updated: 28 January 2022, 12:45

By Alice Dear

And turns out there is a right answer.

Do you eat your cake with a spoon or a fork? That is the question causing major disagreements online at the moment as people reveal their preferences.

And while you might not think a conversation regarding cutlery would spark much of a reaction, a forum website is currently buzzing with the debate.

It all started when a Mumsnet user asked the simple question: "AIBU to ask what cutlery you eat cake with?"

She accompanied the question with an explanation which reads: "DH (darling husband) thinks it doesn't matter what cutlery you use. It does, it's a fork! A spoon is for soup and ice cream. I cannot enjoy my cake using a spoon, it's not right. Chocolate fudge cake incase anyone's interested."

Aside from giving us a major craving for chocolate fudge cake, the question sparked a flurry of replies with a variety of answers.

The answers ranged from spoon, to fork, to fingers, to a very blunt "does it really matter?".

There were also a lot of answers stating that a cake fork is the correct item of cutlery, however, others had never heard of the tool before.

One person on the forum post wrote: "Cake fork, unless cake is accompanied by cream or ice cream, then spoon."

Another user with a contrasting opinion commented: "I always use a spoon (or just fingers) and have never felt so different to other people as I do right now! I apologise for being so unreasonable - but will continue to use my spoon!"

Other people were left baffled with the fact some people (like us, sorry) use regular forks to eat their cake.

One disgusted person wrote on the post: "Nobody eats cake with a proper fork surely? Well, a standard fork isn't for cakes. In practice, I think a cake fork is the most suitable, mainly because of the appropriate size.

Well, we weren't going to leave this debate without an answer, so we've done some research and here's the answer.

As it turns out, the item of cutlery you use depends on the type of cake being eaten.

According to Etiquette Scholar, the way you eat your cake is all about the texture.

Dry cake, for example, should be "broken into small pieces and eaten a bite at a time with the fingers", while moist cake or cake with a gooey texture should be eaten with a fork.

For ice cream cakes, or cake that is served with ice cream, you should use both a fork and a spoon – the fork is used to "hold the portion while the spoon is used to cut and convey the bite to the mouth".

You learn something new everyday!