How Cake Strips Will Change your Life (YouTube video review)
By: Neill Dehaan
Tags: Review, Baking, Humor, YouTube

‘How to’ videos are a large part of my life. I’ve managed to accumulate a lot of skills on things like playing pentatonic piano scales, drawing Bezier curves with my computer mouse and building a loudspeaker from a flat piece of wood — none of which I will ever use or be able to do properly, but I find learning the techniques onscreen fascinating.

When I saw ‘How to get flat cakes’ on my YouTube feed, naturally, it was impossible not to click. I have occasionally baked the odd chocolate forest gateau, and when I say ‘odd’ I do mean odd. The alien-shaped objects that can appear from my oven look like they are about to take over the planet, beginning by devouring me — so flat and moist cakes are an attractive proposition to a sometimes-when-I-can-be-bothered home cook.

Preppy Kitchen, the chef and owner of his own YouTube channel, told me that all I needed was cake strips. Yes, you know, don’t you? Cake strips. Right, you’ve never heard of them either. Join the million other people commenting below the video and displaying their ignorance to the whole food world.

Mr Preppy, or maybe that’s Mr Kitchen, is a smiler. I wish more people could smile for as long as he can. In a smiling contest, he will beat you. He could be the Olympic smiling gold medallist if they had such a thing. I’ve read about hipsters but I’m not exactly sure what they are as we don’t have them where I live, but from what I’ve seen reported, I think he might be one. He teaches nicely, has a clear voice and is filmed in a bright and hygienic kitchen — a kitchen to die for as opposed to my kitchen, which is one you might die in. The only thing in the video whiter than the kitchen are his teeth, which beam at you constantly. His favourite cake-related adjective is “fluffy”. If he has a cat, my guess is that that would be the feline’s name, too.

Back on to cakes strips. He has a shop-bought option of cake strips (which I’m guessing are expensive) and a home-made cheaper aluminium foil and paper version that wouldn’t be out of place in a segment on children’s TV entitled: ‘Let’s make a toy castle’. Preppy Kitchen is endearing throughout; if you don’t like or subscribe, you should face the fact that you are a heartless monster. I had to view some of his other videos just to double-check his smiling stamina and I think he must be on some kind of Viagra-for-the-mouth-corners (which would no doubt be spotted by judges in the Olympic smiling marathon).

Back to the cakes, of which he bakes three: one with the commercially made cake strips, one with the DIY version and one without cake strips, which acts as a control. Yay! Science in action. I appreciate people who try their best to adopt the scientific method, even if it’s simply in trying to find the right level of yumminess. The eagerly and hungrily awaited results show success for both the ‘buy it’ and ‘make-it-at-home’ versions over the domed, dry-edged, disgusting control version — just throw it away already. Wow, my life has changed! I’ll never make a cake without cake strips again. They are going to be essential to my life in my semi-annual baking escapades and they will be to yours too. Of course, you still don’t know what cake strips are but you can watch the video to find out.

VERDICT: Watch and learn — whether you bake or not.