Buzzfeed Tasty offers a platform of captivating food instruction videos. In its four years, they have become some of the most-viewed videos online. With the recognition Tasty is gaining also comes speculation. Is the food as “Tasty” as it looks? 

       Among all of the appetizing videos shared from the Tasty account, the desserts seem to be most popular. To test these recipes and the unique format in which they’re shared, I baked three experimental desserts. I found the most popular dessert recipes and narrowed my choices down from there. I wanted three completely different recipes with separate ingredients to gain a well-rounded perspective on their dessert menu. Ultimately, I decided on Tiramisu Chocolate Truffles, Strawberry Cheesecake Poke Cake, and Upside-down Banana Bread. 

The Strawberry Cheesecake Poke Cake seemed like an afterthought to “Tasty.” I was instructed to use graham cracker to assemble a crust at the bottom of the cake pan. This crust was meant to be similar to a pie crust, like the ones used to line cheesecake pans. Although this recipe might lead someone to believe that this is cheesecake, the cake is actually a vanilla box cake with strawberry filling poured onto it, and whipped topping spread over the top. A graham cracker crust lines the bottom of the cake pan under the vanilla box cake. After carefully following the instructions, the cake became soggy and sickly sweet.

The upside-down banana bread recipe confused me. It reflected themes I see in a lot of these recipes: inconsistency and vagueness. Specifically, I was expected to make caramel, and the only instructions were “bring up the heat to medium-high, cooking until the mixture starts bubbling and the sugar has melted.” 

I tried this multiple times, every time either burning it or making a “caramel” with jello-like texture.

I was tempted to reference another website to explain help me through this, but I realized that if I felt I needed to resort to another website, Buzzfeed’s instructions were at fault. So, I decided not to include the caramel. Plus, the caramel flavoring might have ended up coming across too strong, so this was a way to test the flavor of the banana bread without it. The completed loaf had a rubbery texture and was very dense. Darryl would have been disappointed. 

   Shockingly, the chocolate tiramisu truffles recipe was a success. It was easy and uncomplicated. Nothing could really be messed up. It incorporates every flavor of tiramisu with the same ingredients, but in a way where the texture and consistency is different and unique. They were rich, and everyone who tried them wanted more. After all of the ingredients were assembled, this recipe took about 20 minutes. I was very surprised the results were so positive. 

      To conclude, I think the recipes “Tasty” offers are hit or miss. While these recipes appear to be very aesthetically pleasing, if you are looking for a reliable recipe, it might be a good idea to use a Martha Stewart Cookbook or the New York Times Cooking website, but maybe not Buzzfeed Tasty. No matter how good or bad their food tastes, the videos they upload will always be hypnotizing and will continue to mesmerize millions of viewers.