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Is cheesecake technically a pie or a cake?

I'm curious as to why. Are there solid definitions of what makes a dessert a cake or a pie?

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This is one of those endless debates that will never be solved. The only definitive answers can be found in pie- or cake-baking competitions. I have voted to close this as way too subjective and argumentative. – daniel Oct 20 '10 at 21:55
@daniel: Interesting, I never would have thought this would be subjective. – Paul Biggar Oct 20 '10 at 23:54
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It is, unfortunately. Is a pie covered with pastry or not? Does a pie need to have a pastry crust or a crumb? I personally would consider cheesecake to be a form of tart, but you could make equally compelling arguments that it is either a cake or a pie. These sorts of canonical "Is this X? Is this the right way to make X?" questions are inherently subjective. – daniel Oct 21 '10 at 0:23
@daniel: Really interesting, thanks. – Paul Biggar Oct 21 '10 at 11:25
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I like pie better than cake, and I like cheesecake, so that must mean cheesecake is a pie. – Bob Oct 21 '10 at 21:22
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5 Answers

up vote -1 down vote

I think cheese CAKE means that it has to be cake... look at the name for goodness sake.

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This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post - you can always comment on your own posts, and once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post. – KatieK Oct 5 '12 at 16:34
up vote 2 down vote

Cake

  • Straight sides
  • No fruit (except as an optional topping)
  • Holds its shape when sliced

Pie

  • Separate crust
  • Not frosted
  • Doesn't rise (except temporarily while baking)
  • No crumbs

Conclusion

Who cares, let's just have some cheesecake. :-)

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plenty of "rustic" cakes (ex: buckle) contain fruit. – justkt Oct 22 '10 at 12:32
up vote 1 down vote

While it has texture and body of cake, I would argue that cheesecake has more pie-like qualities.

  1. It has a discrete crust.
  2. It is more a filling than a batter.
  3. It does not need to be frosted.

My vote is "pie."

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up vote 8 down vote

In my opinion, cakes rise, pies have crusts that are filled (and do not rise).

By those loose definitions, I would consider it a pie.

edit: Wikipedia says it's neither.

Many types of cheesecake are essentially custards, which can lead a novice baker to overcook them, expecting them to behave like true cakes.

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@stephenmcdonald - I've seen an NY-style cheesecake rise more than some white cakes in my own oven. – justkt Oct 20 '10 at 16:47
@justkt - interesting...I must be making some other style of cheesecake then :) Did it taste lighter and fluffier than a regular dense cheesecake? – stephennmcdonald Oct 20 '10 at 16:50
@stephenmcdonald - it was pretty light and fluffy - first time I've had a recipe that was explicitly NY-style. And definitely yes to the wikipedia quote about overbaking! – justkt Oct 20 '10 at 17:08
@justkt what is the [rising/leavening] agent? Does it just rise from the heat? – mfg Oct 20 '10 at 17:18
@mfg - for this cheesecake, the sugar was beat into cream cheese, providing an air bubble structure (this is a best guess). – justkt Oct 20 '10 at 17:20
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up vote 13 down vote

Alton Brown and an Elvis impersonator called it a custard pie.

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+1 for the Alton reference – Dan Esparza Oct 21 '10 at 21:54
Bump also for the Alton reference, but ya gotta help folks out who haven't seen that show: youtube.com/watch?v=ycxKlc4aYy0 – Bruce Goldstein Dec 9 '11 at 21:07

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