Cheesecake: Pie or Cake?

There is an unanswered question floating about. It has been there since the concept of turning cheese into a dessert emerged long ago.

Is cheesecake pie or cake?

The Pie Supporters:
There are some who believe cheesecake falls under the pie category. Their reasons are listed below:

1. Cheesecake looks, and is eaten, like a pie.

Cheesecake typically is shaped in a circle, which is the universal shape for pie. Along with that, cheesecake is eaten top down, whereas cake is often flipped on its side and subsequently devoured. Also, cheesecake has a crust around it - just like a pie would.

2. Cheesecake does not show cake characteristics.

Cheesecake does not follow cake guidelines. Cakes often have frosting on the top, cheesecakes often do not. Cakes also have a breaded center, while cheesecakes have no bread aside from the crust.




The Cake Supporters:
Another group of people believes that cheesecake is cake. These are their stories:

1. CheeseCAKE.

Many people cite the word "cake" in cheesecake to be obvious proof of cheesecake's cake classification. Says one cake supporter, "Cheesecake has to be cake. It's cake with cheese on it. The name has 'CAKE' in it. Those pie people are outta their minds."

2. Cheesecake cannot be pie because it does not always have a baked shell.

A common characteristic of pie is that there is a crust surrounding fruit or some other filling. Cake supporters say that while this is not always the case, cheesecake rarely has a shell and thus must be cake.

3. Cheesecake has no filling.

Some, but not all, cakers say that cheesecake has no filling. "You got the bread, you got the cheese, that's it. No filling, which means it can't be pie." Pie supporters say that "the cheese IS the filling."


The evidence is here. Choose wisely.

This was a question on the Everybody Votes Channel a while back.

I voted cake then, but I have since changed my mind.

There's no spongy layer at all, plus that crust is distinctly pie-ish.

Cheesecake is the extremely fattening version of my own personal favorite pie (pecan pie).

Instead of the gooey goodness of pecan pie, there is the "cheesieness". Instead of the pecan halves on top, there are maruchan cherries.

Decidely PIE.

Besides, as Phoenix Rider says above, the spongy layer (a colloid-like suspension of air in baked batter) is completely absent.

I would also bet that the chemical changes produced during the "cooking" phase are nowhere near in semblance to that done during cake baking, but rather more like pie (heating and crust-browning).

Originally Posted by Phoenix Rider

This was a question on the Everybody Votes Channel a while back.

I voted cake then, but I have since changed my mind.

There's no spongy layer at all, plus that crust is distinctly pie-ish.

Was it?

Crap.

Everything's been done before

I say Pake. It's the only logical conclusion xD.

In all seriousness, though, it's more of a pie.

On the thred I made (same subject, different time) (made before yours) CheeseCake: Cake Or Pie? a lot of people say that it is a cake rather then a pie.

YAY!
i love pie..its niice^_^

Originally Posted by Zelda Ninja

On the thred I made (same subject, different time) (made before yours) CheeseCake: Cake Or Pie? a lot of people say that it is a cake rather then a pie.

Well, crap. I searched Cheesecake...

At least we can see that opinions have changed.

I choose Pake because it was a headache reliever. I can't think of a solution. It's one of those questions you ask a smart man whose name is...uh...I forgot.

Originally Posted by Zelda Ninja

On the thred I made (same subject, different time) (made before yours) CheeseCake: Cake Or Pie? a lot of people say that it is a cake rather then a pie.

Originally Posted by Grevados

Well, crap. I searched Cheesecake...

At least we can see that opinions have changed.

No need to fret, this thread will remain the way that it is (it won't be merged or anything). Zelda Ninja's thread stopped being active on 2/17. Your thread was created yesterday on 3/18. So technically, Zelda Ninja's thread has been inactive for over a month, and you have the right to post a new thread about the same subject.

So sayeth the mod!

Now as for the debate, I say it's in a different category: Custard. Flan is another custard dish, along with quiche, and they can't be located in either pie nor the cake category.

But if my fourth option isn't elligible, then I vote for Pie (dispite it's name). For too long it's been named "Cake", that people often refer to it as just that (just like Tomato being a vegetable, when it honestly is a fruit).

-BGS

Pie. Reasons can be found in other posts...

Anyway, on the potato/tomato question, it's what the British prefer. Tomatoes are botanically fruits, but culinarily a vegetable.

Originally Posted by BigGoronSword

No need to fret, this thread will remain the way that it is (it won't be merged or anything). Zelda Ninja's thread stopped being active on 2/17. Your thread was created yesterday on 3/18. So technically, Zelda Ninja's thread has been inactive for over a month, and you have the right to post a new thread about the same subject.

So sayeth the mod!

Now as for the debate, I say it's in a different category: Custard. Flan is another custard dish, along with quiche, and they can't be located in either pie nor the cake category.

But if my fourth option isn't elligible, then I vote for Pie (dispite it's name). For too long it's been named "Cake", that people often refer to it as just that (just like Tomato being a vegetable, when it honestly is a fruit).

-BGS

I know my thred has been inactive for a month or more BGS, I was just saying that in the thred about 90% of the members said that is was cake rather then pie. Your ''sayeth'' was never needed. XD

I vote pie, not because of the facts that might swing to one side (cake/pie) or even how it looks. A lot of people are used to the word cheesecake and not cheesepie because of who ever named it named it that. People are used to saying and hearing cheesecake instead of cheesepie. I like pie better anyways.

No matter what anyone saids: Cake=lie, Pie=truth.

Originally Posted by Mini-Link

Well, is it:
Toma(y)to or Toma(h)to?
Pota(y)to or Pota(h)to?
Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit?

A tomato is a fruit, as it has seeds.

As for cheesecake, it's technically a pie. Cakes are made with flour and are spongy and soft. Cheesecakes have both filling and crust, which are pie characteristics. They do not possess flour or frosting, which are cake characteristics.

Definition of pie: A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling.

Definition of cake: A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, eggs, and baked in an oven.

Pizza is a pie. The best pie ever.

In that light, I can easily see cheesecake as a pie.

Originally Posted by Lysis

A tomato is a fruit, as it has seeds.

A tomato is a fruit, and is used in cooking as a vegetable.

Biologically and scientifically speaking, however, a tomato is a fruit. I don't care how it's used in cooking, as that is not relevant to actuality.