Is Cheesecake a Type of pie or cake?

I say cheesecake is pie... NOT CAKE! How bout u people around here?

I say neither, it's in a class of its own.

Who cares? It tastes good. Call it what you will, just share!

Cake. Hence cheesecake. A cheese pie is a pizza.

pizza is not a pie.

Cheesecake is a pie, and Boston cream pie is cake.

And sweetbreads are . . . disgusting.

#5-In NY, pizza is a pie. :oP~~~

LOL.

Is "I can't believe it's not butter!" butter?

Aren't sweetbreads the thymus glands of sheep? Who would put those in a cake : O

I am utterly and completely of the opinion that a cheesecake is actually a pie and here is my main reason: Pies have a crust. Have you ever had a cheesecake that didn't have a crust? Have you ever had a chocolate cake (prepared correctly, of course) that did have a crust?

Actually, this exact same question was asked to the millions of Wii owners last year, and they actually voted that cheesecake is a cake. I just have one strong word to those naysayers out there: PIE!

Also pizza is allowed to be considered a pie for the same reason, it has a crust, but the goodness of pizza actually surpasses the simple labeling it of pie.

Cheese pie just doesn't have the same ring to it. It sounds wrong in so many ways.

Cheese pie:


I decided not to show the picture of a cow pie.

And here's Boston cream pie:

>#10: The earth has a crust. Is it a pie?

Come to think of it, so does bread. Also me, if i don't wash for a while. Does that make me a delicious pie? I don't think so.

And MrA is crusty, so....

> 13: That's not a cheese pie. That's a scone. Perhaps with cheese in it. Or a biscuit. Or a poorly-formed Yorkshire pudding that, come to think of it, maybe isn't really a pudding after all.

#8 -- If they started marketing diet butterbeer in the Harry Potter world, would they call it "I Can't Believe It's Not Butterbeer"?

I have no strong opinions as to the cheesecake question. All I know is, now I'm really hungry for stuff I'm not allowed to eat on this diet.

#18 Me too. I want to make a real cheesecake.

Cheesecake is a cake. I have no doubt. I've never seen a cheesecake with a crust... Unless you're talking about the delicious biscuit base. Crust is pastry. No pastry in cheesecake. Not a pie. So there :-)

awesome #6 !!
u are smart
!

IT IS A PIE CAUSE IF THE CRUST!! BUT IT IS JUST PLAIN GOOD!

It is a cake. Making a cheesecake is very like making a standard cake, and nothing like making a pie (expect for the crust). If the crust throws you off, you could just call it a cake pie.

ITS PIE

I make cheesecake brownies. That way no one argues about the whole cake or pie issue.

thoes r REALLY good!! But i still think cheesecake is pie

*puts on spectacles*
Technically.....
Wiki says that cheesecake is actually a tart.
But if you scroll down just a bit, you'll find that HE is the 9th most popular discussion on this topic.

sets down spectacles*

Don't call it a tart! You'll hurt its feelings!

I'd say Cheesecake was really a pie or a tart.

But is a jaffa cake a cake or a biscuit?

I still think it's a pie, but I checked a number of dictionaries and many define it as a cake. Did not find any that defined it as a pie.

*reconsiders position*

I'm sorry, I'm very confused by this crust business. What crust? Surely a crust is around the outside edge.... I've NEVER seen this on a cheesecake. Or do we have different cheesecake over here?? No, I'm sure we don't - I saw inside Juniors in NYC. No crust! Just a delicious biscuit base, as I said earlier.

8-P~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Actually, my cheesecakes have a crust on the outside edge. I've made a really neat peppermint cheesecake that you freeze in a springform pan. When you take the pan off, you can see the crust.

I think that your "biscuit" is considered a crust over here. It is usually made out of Graham crackers crumbled and mixed, and is usually referred to as a "Graham cracker crust," one of the defining characteristics of a cheesecake. The biscuit (or graham cracker) base goes all along the pie dish that it is baked in. It does not extend to the top of the cheesecake because that would just be silly.

I consider that bottom part to be a "crust" even though I will admit that since it doesn't over the top the point is debatable. But if you reject cheesecake as a pie because the crust does not extend to the top, then you have to discredit all pizza (other than calzone) for the same reason.

ETA: EXAMPLE 1


EXAMPLE 2

many pies don't have a crust that goes over the top. all custard and cream pies don't have a top crust.

Thank you, Rissa. I was going to make that argument, but I didn't have any ready examples other than Lemon Meringue Pie or Key-Lime Pie.

And as ejj stated, the "crust" of a Boston cream pie is actually cake.

Maybe it does have to do with the general shape of the pans you bake these various treats in.

I still think it doesn't really fit into either category.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I see.... Thanks for clarifying! I've never seen anyhting like example one before, so this has been an enlightening thread, as many often are.

Still think it's a cake though ;-)

I make a cheesecake for which the crust is gingersnap cookies, candied ginger, macadamia nuts, and butter all processed in the food processor. The cheesecake is topped with mangoes, kiwis, and pineapple. It is staggeringly fabulous, if I do say so myself.

I guess I really think of cheesecake as an entity unto itself, neither pie nor cake.

And although I've heard of pizzas referred to as pie, I'd pretty much say the same thing for them--a pizza is a category all its own. Happily so.

Then you have to figure out what to do with dessert pizzas (like the infamous "Oreo Pizza"). If pizza is indeed a pie, then is it really Oreo pie? No, because I've seen restaurants with Oreo Pie and it's completely different from Oreo pizza.

*Disclaimer* I have not, nor will I ever eat Oreo Pizza or Oreo Pie, Oreo's are disgusting IMO.

Don't knock the oreo. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

The best cheese cake I ever tasted was dime bar cheesecake. O.M.G.

I say it's a custard pie variant. And it's yummy. My best I ever made was a lime cheesecake, although I did a Black Forest cheesecake for my sister's wedding shower that was super yummy.

I think I'm one of the only people in the world who doesn't like cheesecake. Although my best friend doesn't either, so I guess at least there are two of us!!

back to cheesecake bussiness, its pie right??? even though its cheeseCAKE i still think its pie cause of the crust.

mmmm Burger King has a Hershey Pie cheesecake thingy that's all chocolate and goodness. yum yum yum I think it's the kind of cheesecake I like. 8)

thats fake cheesecake. Try Eliese or something like dat!

tart! tart! It's a tart! *You know, that's hard to to say with a swollen tongue. Go ahead. Hold your tongue and try to say it.
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You're trying it arent' you?*

LOL HAHAHAH I started to do it and then I finished reading your post. I quickly dropped my hand from my mouth! LOL

Great. I must have cheescake or I will die.

#33 > the pics did not help. :-)

#48: I did it too!! ROFLMAO!! Thanks I don't feel so embarrased knowing someone else did it :D

Tart, pie, or cake, it doesn't matter. It's good. That's all I know. (And btw, I didn't hold my tongue and try to say 'tart.' Ha! ;)

You know, now that I think about it, we never ever have cheesecake here, and yet I had it so frequently in NY. Is the East known better for it? Or do they have better cheesecake than the West does? I think LG said something about this but can't be sure. She did say Junior's was the best, I can't forget that.

#40 bib:
Yes! Another oreo hater! I can't stand real oreos. They're nasty. That said, I believe I have tried oreo pie. I can't recall what I thought of it, so perhaps it wasn't good enough to remember.

I don't think it matters a bit whether it's pie or cake. If we started calling it a cheese pie than everyone would be confused. The world would grind to a halt! Nobody would be able to eat or sleep, because they would be too busy trying to figure out what to call cheesecake! People would running through the street with shoes hanging off their ears! Mice would have world domination!
So let's just say that it tastes good. The name doesn't matter. "A nose by any other name would still smell."

Mice already run part of the world...Haven't you heard of a little mouse called Mickey?

Oh, yeah, but that's more of a symbolic position. ;)

Ah yes. Goofy is the true power behind the ears, no?

Wow, this thread stayed on topic until post 53! Is it part of Puppetmaster's master plan to remove randomness from our little group? ;)

I'm impressed. 53 posts on topic. That's got to be a record.

#47: hehe, I did it! As always, whenever you guys say to try to do anything and then it turns out it's some sort of trick, I already did it!!! lol *blushes*

And I think I agree with K. If wiki says it's a tart, then a tart it is! It seems easier to classify it like that than trying to find if it's a pie or a cake no?

Perhaps it's a pake.

I think cheesecake is niether a pie or cake. Its just cheesecake.

Oh I had this wonderful Raspberry and White Chocolate cheesecake the other day at Cocos. It was like heaven in my mouth.

MrA: That might b true... put it in the dictornary!

I realize I'm getting in on this a little late, but...

I believe cheesecake is a type of cake, not pie, although I do admit that a strong argument could be made for it being its own class of dessert. The reason I believe it to be a cake and not a pie is due to the method of preparation and presentation.

Most cakes (and there are exceptions, I grant) are removed from their baking pans prior to serving/eating, and are able to stand alone without need of a pan for support. Most pies (again, there might be exceptions, although more hard pressed to think of any), need the pie pan/dish to retain their shape, and are NOT removed prior to serving/eating. The angle of the pie crust cannot adequately support the weight of the filling, and in addition to being terribly difficult to remove from the pie pan in one piece, would collapse upon release from the pan. Springform pans, in which cheesecakes are made, can also be used to make traditional cakes (I use mine for a delish chocolate whiskey cake), but cannot be used to make pie.

Darn it, now I want cake AND pie AND cheesecake...and it's not yet 10:30am!!

>62 grkmwk:

I find your argument to be both logical and compelling. Plus I want the recipe for the chocolate whiskey cake!

Here you go, ejj:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/05/cook_the_book_chocolate_whiskey_cake....

PS - I don't remember how to make "attractive links" in LT...

Here you go G (I can call you G too right?) Just delete the spaces except the one between "a" and "href":

LibraryThing

Oh and welcome back, though I wasn't around the time you were here...So Nice to meet you too

*WHispers to Renald* Wrong G. gpwts is the one thats back.

Thanks, tho' shorthand I'm known by some as grk...

And although we've been around some the same time, I'm please you've joined HE!

BTW: anybody know what's up with the wonky editing?

Ok grk then :$ and MrsG I'm welcoming you from yesterday kik and finally saying Nice to meet you

whistles like nothing has happened

But, but, but . . .

I make cheesecake in a pie pan!

Maybe they should make pie pans but just call them Cheesecake pans.

Hmm, interesting. I've never seen it done that way. Guess this proves there are exceptions to everything! Perhaps we should simply abandon the cake vs. pie debate, and put our energies into advocating an individual dessert classification!! :o)

Got this from dictionary.com (my best friend)

Cheesecake:
A CAKE having a firm custardlike texture, made with cream cheese, cottage cheese, or both, and sometimes topped with a jamlike fruit mixture.

So is the debate settled?

>64 grkmwk:

Thanks! I think I'll try this the next time I invite folks to dinner, I'm sure they'll like it (and, well, so will I).

#74, ejj: I've only made this a few times, but received massive compliments all-around, so I think this is a great dinner party dessert. Also, I think it's best on the second day, post-refridgeration, so it can also be fixed in advance, which is something I'm always pleased by!

>75 grkmwk:

I have to admit I love that part of making dinner for others--the compliments! I've been wanting to make coq au vin for my friends and I think this would be a great dessert for that meal.

#76: Oh yes, the compliments do make it wonderful! Plus, I find having people over is much more enjoyable and relaxing than meeting at a restaurant. The pre-meal gabbing in the kitchen, then lingering over the table with dessert and drinks, without the pressure or interruption of wait staff, create a much more intimate atmosphere. And I'm slightly odd in that I really enjoy cleaning the kitchen (having my hands in warm, soapy water is soothing), so I don't even mind that part! Good luck with the cake!!

#58 picolina:
I think that was kirby. I couldn't decide. If forced to choose between pie and cake, I would say pie. With tart among the options, though....*ponders*

#73 MrsG:
Which dictionary was that from? I would love to check another to see if it says the same thing. ;)

I like MrA's idea of calling it pake.

>78 Kerian:

If you check www.onelook.com, you get a whole list of dictionaries that any given word is in (I love this website!). I checked a bunch of them and they all define it as cake; I didn't find any that defined it as pie. So even though my head says "pie," I have to go with the evidence.

Thanks, ejj! :)

Or like I said on dictionary.com.

its PIE

Its defined as cake.

idk in my book its pie. :)

I was going to say the name cheeseCAKE would usually suggest cake

just saying

Yes they shouldve called it Cheesepie if it was a pie.

good point... still

I'm tired of trying to convince you of the truth. Dictionaries are often wrong. Maybe in the future this egregious error will be corrected, but know that I will always consider cheesecake to be a pie and none of your logical arguments will ever be able to sway me. Maybe calling it a cheesecake was meant to be a misnomer like "The Incredibly Deadly Viper" or "Speed Bumps." People often use desserts for humor, and I am sure that the inventor of the cheesecake would be laughing his or her head off right now to see how wrong the "facts" are.

From now on, I shall only refer to it as "piecake".

#89 - schnarf! "piecake" it is!

Man....I have quite bad cravings for piecake thanks to this thread....

eta: Heck!!! How can we be sure it isn't "cakepie"? Perhaps it depends on whether you add the sugar to the cheese, or the cheese to the sugar... *...thinks...*

ummmm...I like pie!

I thought this might be interesting.
Biggest cheesecake world record set by Mexico chefs

Here's a quote from the article:

Chef Miguel Angel Quezada says 55 cooks spent 60 hours making the world's biggest cheesecake - a 2-ton calorie bomb topped with strawberries.

That's a big pie.

Now i am hungry!

mmm my husband brought me both a chocolate milkshake and a Hershey Pie last night when I kicked him out of the house at 10 pm and told him not to comeback without chocolate goodness. I drank the milkshake last night and am getting ready to eat the pie. Happiness and fairy dust everywhere!

Mem, where can I find one of those?? (I mean, one of those husbands who will go out and buy me pie...)

LOL well I met mine in school but his natural habitat is any where there is a cool car to work on or a dorky computer game to master. Though I doubt it was husbandly devotion that sent him off into the night so much as a fear of staying in the house with a chocolate needing, hormonally challenged pregnant woman. 8)

Hmmmm.... this may take some planning....

LOL! You can do it! The thing is, to catch one of them 'thar male persons, you have to distract them with something bright and shiny in one hand (car keys or hard drives work really well) and throw the tranquilizer dart with the other hand. Then *poof* all you need is a preacher and a Taser and you are on your way!

Who will eat all of that cheesecake? It is going to go to waste. How will they refridgerate it? It must be stored in a walk-in freezer.

MEM, that sounds like the best kind of husband!

#99 - LOL!!!!! n Thanks for the tip off!

*disappears to find a preacher and a taser....oh, and something shiny...*

HAHAHAHA happy hunting, er, dating I mean!

Just in time for Valentine's Day, too! They can have some cheesecake shipped from Mexico.

#96-another good idea is to find one that doesn't speak English well. My father kids that that's how my mom "caught" him.

#100-LOL! we said the same thing! Whenever they make these super huge dishes we wonder what will become of it. Hopefully someone...some city...will eat the cheese-whatsit.

A few cities, more likely.

Cheese-whatsit...Yes, I was also thinking it wouldn't be much of a cake or a pie, they way it would be served on plates. Crust for plate #1, cheese filling for plate #798, strawberries for plate #2,198. ;)

its pake hee hee

I had Peanut Butter Pie on Sunday night...It's one of my favorite pies. And it was YUMMY

DONT EAT PEANUT BUTTER! IT BAD! HEE HEE BUT I LOVE CHEESECAKE! AND ITS PIE!

P.S.(The peanut butter thingy depends on were u live!)

Ummm ok. Do you live in an anti-peanut butter society?

Surely you've seen all the news stories about peanut butter and salmonella.

from what I've seen it's only a couple of brands of peanut butter which aren't sold to the public. so unless you are eating peanut butter in a hospital or school cafeteria you should be okay.

I went and looked at the list of what had been recalled, and a lot of the peanut butter was in packaged things like crackers and peanut butter or peanut butter cookies. Nothing in my pantry, though.

>#110: nope. And if there's been news reports about cheesepake and salmonella, keep them to yourself.

>#108: PIANO!

Whats up with you and pianos?

It's because of the shouting MsG. MrA is demonstrating one of the few appropriate times to shout.

But he always shouts PIANO.

Yes, because it's okay to shout if a piano is about to fall on your head.

So you would shout Piano?

What else would you shout? It has to be short and fast. Piano can be said very quickly.

Why not just the classic AHHHH?

Oh, I see the problem. I'm the one shouting, you're the one standing under the piano. If I were standing under the piano I probably would shout Ahhh!

You could shout DUCK! but this might be confusing since the piano is falling over the other person. They might also think you are pointing out a bird and yell WHERE?

You could also shout LOOK OUT! but that would be assuming you could say it faster than the piano is falling. MOVE! might be helpful, or the victim might think you are the most rude person they've ever met. Which wouldn't be the greatest of last thoughts to have.

Hmmm....yes, MOVE would work. I was working under the assumption that piano's are huge and it would be weird not to have noticed it over your head, therefore piano being the most definitive way to tell you why to run.

you know what would be hard. If a safe was falling on you and someone yelled "SAFE!" you might just think you made it home. I think "HEADS UP!" works or "NICE KNOWING YOU"

Nice Knowing You is a mouthfull. How about "RUN!!"

What I'm getting from this is that if someone yells "PIANO!" I should look up while simultaneously running or jumping sideways. Instead of, say, cocking my head to listen for the pretty music.

You are confusing "PIANO!" with "Piano. :o)"
If some says "Piano. :o)" you should stop and listen to the delicate melodies, stop and smell the flowers, and feel the warmth of the sun on your face.

But if they say "PIANO!" take cover.

We've only covered pianos that are falling from the sky. What about pianos that are rolling down a hill or flight of steps from behind?

HA ha ha ha ha ha ha!! At all the piano stuff. Thanks guys! :-)

I'm glad you explained that JP because I just assumed he had gone totally loopy.

But seriouly,MrA, cheesepake is not on for somonalla... at least i dont think so...

lol I LIKE CHEESECAKE!

(i mean cheesepake :) )

Bib, You just have to make sure David Tennent is nearby with a cricket ball, then the piano won't hit anyone.

128 JP> Well in that case you have much more time to say something more witty. "Dear God why is there a piano rolling toward me? Aint that peculiar?" Then you run for it.

I like "RUN!" but am still thinking over how shouting that won't have somone who the piano would miss to begin with become hit after running toward the piano by mistake had they not looked up to see where it was. ;)

Afer viewing all the things to shout when a piano is falling, I have to agree with bib in post #124. That's an excellent point. Some people might not run until they know why. Whether we mean to or not, people react slow. They might look around a bit before heading out of harm's way.

That said, I'm contradicting myself a little I think with the last paragraph versus the first. If I hear someone shout piano where there are multiple floors and I'm outdoors on a sidewalk, I would take cover indoors. Unless, that is, it was some place like where I live now and running in the street won't get you hit because there's a lack of real traffic.

PENGUIN!

I'd look if someone said Penguin, but then again someone might accuse me of seeing things if I said penguin. Because...

MrA and I once went looking for Penguins in the middle of the night in a place called Penguin (the coldest spookiest place on earth) in Tasmania. The recommended viewing place was close to a graveyard and I was too scared to get out of the car, so Mr A went off looking for the penguins (yes that's right he left me in the car by myself in the middle of the night next to a graveyard) do I hear anyone say don't split up, stay together?

Not long after he had gone, a huge 'group, pack, flock, gang?' of penguins started walking in front of the car (I had left the headlights on so I could spot the zombies). He came back ages later all excited because he had found one penguin... He had also taken around 50 photos of this poor little penguin which he had chased all over the rocks. Unfortunately I was unable to take photos because he had taken the camera.

#136: LOL! Oh The Irony!! What did he say when he got back and you told him you had actually seen a flock and not only one?

ETA: the correct word for a group of penguins (It's flock no? I mean they are birds after all)

KIK!!! Thats soooo funny! Thats what MrA gets for willingly giving his wife to the zombies.

I made a crustless cheesecake last night, so that's more like a custard, right?

Yeah I guess. Was it good?

Yep! Not as good as cheesecake with the crust, but since we're cutting carbs wherever we can, crustless works.

>137 Renald128:

One website I checked says that a group of penguins is a colony, which I think is fine for the whole group living together but not really a collective term for a bunch going by your car in a graveyard at night.

Another website says there is no official name for a group of penguins, but that some people call a group "a waddle" (too cute) unless they are at sea, where they are known as "a raft."

*still not sure how this discussion ended up in the cheesepake thread*

141: lol thats true. cheeseckae without thecrust isent as good! :)

142: I was very bord one night and i had cheesecake on the mind ;)

A group of penguins is called a colony, rookery or waddle.
And thank you for my best laugh of the day, MsD!

CHEESECAKE IS PIE (cheesepake!)

PIANO!

145> *cough*Its cake*cough*

#136 MsD:
ROFL!

#142 ejj:
A waddle of penguins! That is cute.

I also found a parcel or huddle of penguins. Maybe it depends on the species.

A group of crows is a murder. Mwahahaha!

Other fun animal groups:
A business or flensing of ferrets
A tower of giraffes
A parliament of owls
A murmuration of starlings
A bloat of hippopotami
and
A clowder or clutter of cats! Which is appropriate around here.

*coughs really loud cause is sick but in a dramatic way* its pie* Cough cough*

A lot of the so-called collective nouns for animals were made up at one go by someone, rather than developing naturally as part of the language--which is one reason you can find different versions of the list. They're fun, but for most of them there is no "right" answer.

whocares! lol *pie!*

*no ada cake!*

*scribbles on a piece of paper than makes a paper airplane out of it and throws it at puppet she opens it and it reads:*

"PIE!!!"

YAY! *ouch, that hurt!* **rubs head**

A conundrum of cheesepakes.

so ture!

#132: Yes, I was thinking about that during the entire piano discussion!

*its pie, cough cough*

PIE PIE PIE!!!!

*just gettin this up there... SOMEONE COMMENT!!! I WANT TO SEE IF I CAN AT LEAST GET ONE MORE PERSON TO COMMENT ON THIS BEFORE ITS DEAD*