Was I The Last Person To Learn That You Can Bake A Cake With Baby Food?

The Daily Journal has released an interesting cake recipe with a special ingredient in it, and that special ingredient is baby food. Prune baby food, to be specific. It sounds strange at first, but when you consider that most baby food is just pureed produce, it's a time-saving step that makes use of an "ingredient" home cooks might already have on hand. (In fact, Takeout contributor Stacey Ballis uses a jar of baby food in these Sweet Potato Gougeres.)

The rest of the ingredients are pretty straightforward: Sugar, flour, eggs, and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. This actually sounds pretty good; considering there are cake recipes with applesauce in them, that does not seem far-fetched whatsoever. The applesauce keeps the cake moist without adding extra fat.

A cursory Google search actually shows that baby food is a pretty popular ingredient for certain types of cake—take this carrot cake recipe, for example. The prune cake recipe has two methods of baking depending on what you're in the mood for; whether you're in for a regular round cake or a beautiful baby food bundt cake, the world truly is your culinary oyster.

Another interesting secret ingredient I've found in some cakes is mayonnaise, (which is pretty much just eggs and oil, after all), but Food Network star Duff Goldman has one I've never seen before, and that's one that incorporates mayonnaise and leftover mashed potatoes. I'm not our resident expert baker, but this is a new one to me.

"Root vegetables, especially potatoes and carrots, hold moisture really, really well," explained Goldman. That's pretty cool, and if this was already common knowledge, please don't make fun of me. The last thing I baked was Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, and I'll have you know they were delicious. So next time I make cake, perhaps it'll be one with baby food in it.