Cake or Pie?
In general, which do you prefer: cake or pie? Imagine your eccentric Aunt Millie (who cooks both quite well) offers you one or the other, but refuses to tell you which kind either is. You can only have one or the other—not both. Which do you choose?
February 7th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Cake! The only pie I really crave is apple, believe it or not, so the odds of getting an un-wished-for pie are pretty high.
But wouldn’t eccentric (but goodhearted) Aunt Millie relent and give you a piece of each one????
February 7th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
She’s got so many people over, she only has enough for each person to have one or the other, otherwise, of course she would, you know that.
February 7th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Cake. 100% cake. Aunt Millie knows I like it dry and soaked in alcohol.
I often ask people if they had to give up one for the rest of their lives, would it be cheese or chocolate? My favorite recent answer-er said that if she gave up chocolate, which she loved, she’d grow to resent cheese, which would be tragic. But not the other way around . . . tho’ on the whole, most of my friends choose to keep the cheese . . . More than you asked for, I know.
February 7th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
PIE, no question.
I mean, there are just so many choices: apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, grasshopper pie, peach pie, blueberry pie, cranberry window pie, chocolate mousse pie, lemon meringue pie, fruit of the forest pie, banana cream pie, cherry pie, coconut cream pie, peanut butter pie, key lime pie, and who could forget strawberry rhubarb pie?! I mean, the list goes on and on. How could you go wrong?!
February 7th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Pie.
I agree with Aurora about the choices. I rarely have met a pie that I didn’t want to try, but feel I have encountered unappetizing cakes.
February 7th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
CAKE! Cake cake cake cake cake. Especially chocolate cherry cake for my birthday.
Or chocolate sour-cream cake, which is moist and delicious. You all can have the pie, which unless my mother-in-law is making, I would pass on anyway…
February 7th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Pie.
I like most fruit pies and I find that 99% of cakes (if I don’t bake them myself) are far, far, far too sweet. Although if cheese were an option I would take that over any pie, cake, or candy in existence.
February 7th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Cake (not to be confused with cheesecake, which would, of course, never be simply called “cake”)
While I love 95% of the pies out there, there are some pies that I don’t eat: banana cream pie, or any custard pies, for that matter. Any non cheesecake cake is fine by me. Although if I knew the type of pie, I’d probably choose pie over cake. Clear?
February 7th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
PIE, definitely. That Aurora is right on with the mouth watering catalog of pies (she is also my favorite guest columnist). Her list reminds me of the wonderful scene in the film Michael, where the whole table is filled with pieces of every pie the restaurant offers–certainly one image to consider when creating visions of heaven. And for those who like their pies aurally, check out Zoe Lewis’s song “Pies for the Public” on her CD Sheep.
February 8th, 2007 at 12:20 am
the more thought i put into this, the more my answer changes. my favorite cake may be chocolate with mocha frosting (made by mom, standing in for aunt millie), and my favorite pie is probably pecan (again, mom). i can’t choose between the two based on favoritism, so my vote is purely quantitative- the cake, i’ll eat the whole piece, every last dollop of icing, lick the napkin, ask for more; the pie, i’ll eat the whole thing except maybe some scraps of the outermost crust (the crimped part at the edge of the tin), unless there’s ice cream to accompany but regardless, i’ll lick the napkin and ask for more. for the sake of giving you an answer, due to the leftover scraps of pie crust on my plate, CAKE wins. barely.
February 8th, 2007 at 1:37 am
Cake, definitely. I’m very picky about pies and I wouldn’t want to be stuck with lemon meringue (which I abhor) or someone’s botched coconut cream (which I adore when it’s good).
Cake is cake - some is amazing, some is meh, but even dry cake is better than a botched pie!
February 8th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
My thinking is similar to Zil’s. My favorite pie (pecan) is better than any cake. But I like all cakes and don’t like all pies (coconut cream for instance). Therefore I take a page from minimax decision theory (minimizing the maximum possible loss) and opt for cake. It may not maximize my dessert enjoyment, but it will minimize my maximum possible dessert regret.
February 8th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Cake. Mostly because I like frosting. I will lick the frosting off of a cake and leave little denuded cake slices. And frosting is almost always good. Pie… I eat filling. Not so much crust and most often the filling is far too gelatinous for me anyway.
February 9th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Pie, no question. I prefer fruit to chocolate, and the chances of getting something fruit-based are much better with a pie than with a cake, IMO.
February 10th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Pie. It’s easier to decide what kind of dessert I will prefer: Is it creamy? Then I prefer it. Pies are usually creamier than cakes.
February 11th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Cake. Bonus points if it’s in cupcake format - but I’ll take the delicious frosting and spongy cake any way I can get it!
February 12th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Pie….nature’s most perfect food……well that’s what “Michael the angel” says in the movie Michael. I agree with Aurora…there are so many choices.
Well, with the exception of our famous Carrot Cake…..pie, pie, and more pie.
February 14th, 2007 at 11:22 am
It depends on what kind of cake and pie are being offered. I like both dessert formats equally, but I have one very notable food prejudice when it comes to desserts — no cherries. That prejudice is off set by a willingness to try new things. A slice of the same old thing will be ignored for something new and different — as long as it doesn’t include cherries.
February 15th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
I like both, but will usually choose pie.
Key to that decision, though, is knowing that Aunt Millie makes both well. While I really enjoy homemade pie, I’m not a huge fan of most store-bought pies. Thus, if I knew Aunt Millie were the type of person to buy her desserts from the grocery store, I would probably choose cake.