US cake recipes, why are they always too sweet?

[ratcreature]

I made some this upside down apple cake, and I already reduced the sugar by a third in the cake (and put no sugar in the whipped cream), yet in combination it was still so sweet as to be almost inedible. This always happens to me with US cake recipes. Are other people having this problem? In principle I like sweet things, and the cake recipes that came with my mixer for example I make without reducing the sugar, so it's not like I'm against a sugary taste, but whenever I try a recipe from an US blog, things turn out too sweet. I guess I should bake more often to get a better feel for tolerable sugar amounts so I don't have to depend on the recipes.

Comments

[bluemeridian]

I am so very amused because it doesn't surprise me at all. I was horrified the day I happened to idly read the ingredients list on the can of kidney beans I was buying: kidney beans, salt, sugar, and water. "Sugar?!" I had to buy the organic beans just to find one that didn't have sugar in them. I don't even know why I read the ingredients - I certainly didn't expect to find anything in them except beans and salt and water!

[ratcreature]

Canned kidney beans here also sometimes have sugar added, so that is not a uniquely US problem.