As yet, I don't have a good chocolate cake or banana cake recipe. So my plan is to bake a few different recipes, and have friends taste test them. The winner will go into my recipe book as my go-to chocolate cake recipe/banana cake recipe.

Has anyone done this before? How many cakes is too many? Any other tips? I am looking forward to this, and want to make a song and dance of it, I think it will be fun!

I've never conducted a taste testing formally.. but my friends/family are always asking for samples or leftover cake I may have lying around!

It's definitely a fun idea and if your friends are like mine, they will definitely let you know which one they like or don't like.

i did it before and got lots of good feedback!! I made cupcakes and made about 5 different flavors and put them in a gable box and each one was decorated differently so they could distinguish each one. I had slips of paper for each flavor and asked them about texture, flavor, sweetness, etc.

I am the most popular employee at work because I always take in new recipes for others to try. Get great feedback. However, I found the guys where I used to work gave me better feedback than the gals!!

All the time.

I did it with my 2 favorite red velvet cakes, wanted to just have one recipe and stick with it. I did 8 mini cakes of each recipe and put them in boxes marked A & B and gave them to 8 friends, neighbors etc and asked them to pick their favorite and tell me why. Well, it didn't work. Half went with A, half went with B. lol

We had a cupcake party and invited all our family and friends. We told them in advance we wanted to them to answer a questionnaire for us, and they didn't have to put their names on it.

We made mini cupcakes in about 8 different combinations. We also have veggies and dip and other finger foods, figuring they would want more than just sweet. Well, we were wrong. All anyone wanted was the cupcakes and coffee.

Everyone kinda felt like naughty kids and we all laughed and had such a great time. And we found out what flavors they liked, what flavor combinations they liked, what flavors they wanted to us to try in the future along with flavor combinations.

It helps us alot and we spend the day giggling over the cupcakes and having fun. We get asked regularly when the next one is going to be.

My coworkers have been my guinea pigs many times. I do find I have to ask very specific questions, though. Most of them won't give constructive feedback unless I lead them to it (for which I'm grateful, btw). For instance, "I thought this one was a little dry, what do you think of it?" "This is one of my husband's favorites so far, do you like it better that the other two?"

Also, for the few who don't need encouragement to give feedback, I make it very clear when I'm testing a new recipe or flavor combination and when I've just made them something because I love them. Not everything is open to constructive criticism .

Oh yes, when I first started I had a cupcake tasting party, I posted it on Facebook, and went so far as to invite total strangers to come taste free cake. I hid all the jewelery in my house and opened the doors. I made 15 different cake samples, had score cards and survey sheets. Great turn out but was even better because I had total strangers tell me not only if the cake was good, but what was good/bad about it and most importantly... how much they'd be willing to pay for it.

i like this idea.. i may do that this spring for some of my acquaintances.

My husband's co-workers were my taste testers and they took it serious! They knew I didn't want patronizing comments. I wanted a real critique and they gave it to me .... including one where they said, "Don't EVER make this one again!"

I have tasting parties about once a year or so in my catering business and include real food and desserts.

I do the same as others - score cards - no names.

I tell them point blank - if you are not honest and tell me it's great when it's no t- my blood is on your hands when my business fails and my family has to live in a cardboard box at the corner.

All the time, I do it with kids too - they are sooo honest and usually have a slightly different palate to adults too.
Only problem is they all want to 'taste test' all the time!

I am thinking about doing a large tasting for my family and friends. I have some new recipies to try out and want lots and lots of different feedback. I think it will be a "Happy Hour" of cake (instead of the liquid kind). I will let you know how it goes.

I have loved hearing about everyone's experiences, thanks for the replies! I'm even more excited about it now.

For anyone interested, here are my results of the great banana cake test! I surveyed 21 of my friends until the cake ran out.

http://flickr.com/gp/zestee/6b1684