Sssshhh, Can you Keep a Secret?

About 13 years ago, my sister and I were in a birthday party of our neighbor. One dessert that captured both our attention was a jelly-pudding type that tasted really delicious especially that it was our first time to try it. We politely asked our neighbor what that dessert was and all we got was, "hehehe secret". Wtf! On our way home, we kept babbling how greedy she was for not even telling us the name. What was she so scared of? That we'd copy the recipe and make our own? What then? We thought she wouldn't loose anything, anyway. She wasn't into dessert business.

That's when we started to keep our recipes secret too. Until now all they could do was crave more for our chocolate cake everytime we got a celebration at home. They never dared to ask maybe because they were afraid my sister will just tell them, "hehehe secret".

By the way, not long after, while vacationing in Cebu, my aunt made a similar dessert. We got the name Cathedral Window or Window Cathedral. Of course we got the recipe too and were ecstatic. I couldn't tell how many times we have made Cathedral Window in the past and oh boy, it's been like more than 5 years since I last eaten one. We really grew tired of eating it, honestly. I'll post separately my recipe for Cathedral Window and another one I got from the net.

Okay, let's go back to keeping secrets. Of course, all of us have secrets and for bakers or homebakers like me, we are tempted to keep our recipes secret too. A few times my mom would tell me before to keep our chocolate cake recipe secret. Now, in the age of technology, I don't see any reason anymore why recipes are best kept secret.

Two years ago when I started with baking and cake decorating, I had very limited knowledge. I only got good recipes to back me up. Experience wise, I was a nobody. With the power of the internet, I learned the trade mostly for free. I acquired new recipes for free. I learned cake decorating for free. I earned my spot in the heart of my loyal customers all through the power of the internet. Almost any information you need nowadays you can get for free.

Even KFC's best effort to keep their secret recipe secret would be futile to me. One may not get the exact KFC recipe but out on the net are copycat recipes that would taste as good. And heck, even if I get hold of the original recipe, I would still go to KFC as not everytime I want to eat chicken I'd want to cook one too. Besides, keeping their recipe secret doesn't prevent competitors from having huge success in the chicken business too. In the Philippines, Jollibee is more preferred than KFC.

There's really almost no point in keeping recipes secret. Even if everyone in the world will get a copy of your best butter cake, not everyone will have the time to bake. Not everyone has oven. Not everyone is your neighbor. Not everyone will buy from you even if you are neighbors.