Let them eat cake!

Before we moved to Switzerland, I was obsessed with making Amish Friendship Bread. I love sweet, quick breads -- banana chocolate chip bread, pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, pineapple coconut bread, chocolate cherry bread and my new obsession, banana coconut bread.

I whipped up a yeast starter for the Amish Friendship Bread a few weeks ago and baked a couple loaves of pineapple coconut bread for new friends we've made here. I thought it would be fun to share a little American dessert tradition.

When I presented them the foil-wrapped loaf with the Sharpie label reading, "Ananas-Cocos," I said proudly, "This is pineapple coconut Amish Friendship Bread."

Smiling happily, they paused over the label, then asked, "It's pineapple BREAD?"

"Yeah, it's a popular kind of bread that people make in the States and give to friends."

"So, it's sweet or ...?" they continued, in growing confusion. "Do you make sandwiches from it?"

"No, no," I quickly corrected, surprised. "You eat it with coffee or for a snack."

"OH, so it's cake!" they replied.

"It's actually bre--, uh, yeah, it's cake."

This is how I stopped to reflect that in America, we call a dessert "bread" if it's shaped in a loaf (unless it's "pound cake"); if it's a rectangle in a pan, it's "cake" and if it's in a round dish, cut into triangles, it's "pie."

Over here, it is much simpler. Everything is just cake.