Birthday Cake or Pie?

[Pomai]

Everyone knows the tradition for birthdays is a cake.

IMO, cakes are boring, and sometimes just HORRIBLE. I don't care what it's filled with. The bottom line is they're usually simply sweetened bread (and often dry), and covered with sugar and shortening-based frosting so thick you need a bulldozer to scrape it down to a reasonably consumable level. All that frosting and fondant gives me the {{{{{{willies!}}}}}}

On the other hand you could have a moist and fruity pie, dripping with a glaze or some kind of cool custard, and encased by a nutty, buttery, crispy crust. So simple, yet it touches all the senses of flavor, temperature and texture. Now THAT's what I'm talkin' 'bout! If you ever come to my birthday (or other celebration), you're gettin' PIE, not cake!...


Pies from Sunny Side Bakery in Wahiawa

Sure, there ARE some great cakes out there, but even the greatest cake cannot TOUCH just a moderate pie, let alone a great one. Just no comparison, IMO.

How many of you have said to yourself, "I'd much rather have pie than this cake" on your or someone else's birthday or other celebration? Then you go on skipping the cake (no thanks), and just eat the ice cream?

So goes this bias-based start for a poll!

[nikki]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

Yeah, I know what you mean... wow, great pics!

But, my fave is chocolate mousse cake. Chocolate cake layers with chocolate mousse filling... oh, it's heaven! The best I've had are Stillwell's Bakery and Mana Foods (Maui). My coworkers get that for me every year.

[tutusue]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

As long as it's infused with dark chocolate I wouldn't care if it was an omelette!

BTW...I make a mean chocolate omelette filled with mint flavored cream cheese and fresh strawberries...AKA Breakfast Brownie!

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

I just celebrated a B-Day this month with an "Endless Summer" Pie from Johnson's Farmstand of Swansea, MA, that some fellow plowboys gave to me as a gift. An Endless Summer Pie from Johnson's is a fresh apricot, peach, and sour cherry pie. Incredibly good.

Pie over cake any day or occasion. Wish I could visit Anna Miller's for a slice of cherry...of course, only for the pie. I really don't think about the waitresses in their too-short Alpine-style get-ups when I'm there. Really!

[woodman]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

Oh yes, Pie!

Cake is mothing more than a big fat piece of bread.

If I want bread, I'll eat a sandwich.

Give me Pie for my b-day!

[cynsaligia]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

a good cake is, generally, exceedingly harder to create than a good pie, and a good cake can go not-so-good quicker than a good pie can go not-so-good (unless it's a meringue).

i'd rather have a good cake than a good pie, but yes, bad cake is far, far, far--did i mention far? cause it's pretty darned far!-- more ubiquitous than bad pie.

lately, a lot of people i know have been buying costco cakes. costco does a wonderful rotisserie chicken, and maybe some fairly good pies, but cake? it's okay cake.

a good cake is hard to find. i'd daresay that most people have never had a good cake. this is proven, in my opinion, by statements in this thread comparing bread to cake. yes, bread is a precursor to cake, but the differences between the two are rather like the differences between bicycle and motorcycle. to say cake is merely a fat peace of bread is about as simplistic as it is to say "a motorcycle is just a noisy bicycle.".

a good cake takes a lot of skill and control over many different variables to be created. a good pie? not so much. even i, spaz-o-baking that i am, can make a a fairly decent pie any day of the week (similarly, i can bake a decent fudge brownie from scratch, but asking me to bake sugar cookies is like asking me to commit a crime--i just won't do it).

[Pomai]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

Wish I could visit Anna Miller's for a slice of cherry...of course, only for the pie. I really don't think about the waitresses in their too-short Alpine-style get-ups when I'm there. Really!

Oh no, we believe you. The cherry pie, not the waitress. Maybe both? Happy belated birthday Randy!

Tutusue, I haven't had one of those "Breakfast Brownies" before, but it sounds interesting. Chocolate in an egg omelette is just way out there.

I recently tried a slice of Okinawan Sweet Potato and Haupia Pie from Uncle's at Pier 38 (next to Nico's)...


Okinawan Sweet Potato and Haupia Pie from Uncles @ Pier 38, $2.50/"slice"

Ono! Moist, with a buttery crispy crust, and the sweet potato and haupia layers complimented each other perfectly. Not too sweet... Jussss right (in the words of Rap). Ani's Bakery in Halawa also has a version of this, which I think is better, but this one is not far behind.

[scrivener]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

I once had a very, very expensive piece of cake (it was during high school, and I can't remember what the occasion was, but I was hot for the honoree) and it was better than any pie or even ice cream I'd ever had. At least, my memory of it is.

But yes. While I think I'd rather have that cake over just about anything, it's THAT cake. Every other cake falls far, far short of even a decent pie. Give me a good Dutch apple, or a simple custard, or a nice spicy pumpkin pie any day. When I get married (ha!), I'm going to beg my wife to let us get a wedding pie instead of a wedding cake.

I make a pretty wicked Okinawan sweet potato pie.

[woodman]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

I've had it with these cake supporters!

A good pie usually tastes as good as it looks, but cake usually tastes like exactly what it is, overglorified and oversized BREAD.

I suspect the cake lobby is behind all of these "pro-cake" posts, probably supported by big money from the cake & bread industry.

You'll have to do better than that. I can see you people coming a mile away.

Stop supporting the bread industry.

Boycott cake. EAT PIE INSTEAD!

[tutusue]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

[...]Tutusue, I haven't had one of those "Breakfast Brownies" before, but it sounds interesting. Chocolate in an egg omelette is just way out there.

Think of it as a dense chocolate souffle!

I recently tried a slice of Okinawan Sweet Potato and Haupia Pie from Uncle's at Pier 38 (next to Nico's)...

Now, that's something I'd loooooove to try!!!

[nikki]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

lately, a lot of people i know have been buying costco cakes. costco does a wonderful rotisserie chicken, and maybe some fairly good pies, but cake? it's okay cake.

Yeah, the taste and texture of Costco cakes are like institutional stuff... not worth eating, IMO.

[Erika Engle]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

Sorry woodman, I'm not a member of any vast cake-wing conspiracy, but for birthdays, I'm a cake girl.

Chocolate dobash (always moist) and Chantilly cake are my favorites, though guava chiffon held the top spot in my heart for a few years.

That said, I do loves me some pie: Ted's Chocolate Haupia pie; the double-crusted banana pie at Flamingo*; pecan pie with whipped cream or ice cream; apple pie, similarly dressed (I never acquired the taste for apple pie served with a slab of cheddar cheese, though I know some folks can't enjoy their apple pie without it); peach pie; pumpkin pie; peanut butter pie (OMG!!! I tried and tweaked, with some mini chocolate chips, this recipe that Paula Deen got from a friend. Super rich. Find it on the Food Network Web site using the term Salter's Peanut Butter Pie.)

*The recipe -- or at least a similar one, is in "What Hawaii Likes to Eat," the new Muriel Miura/Betty Shimabukuro cookbook the Star-Bulletin is selling for $20 through Oct. 1. A portion of the proceeds goes to a nonprofit. I forget which one.

Oh -- and here's my monkey-wrench contribution to this thread:

CHEESECAKE

[Pomai]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

Oh -- and here's my monkey-wrench contribution to this thread:

CHEESECAKE

Oooohhhhh... you had to go there.

Well, I hereby declare that Cheesecakes are NOT cakes! They're pies!

And I LOVE Cheesecake. Especially blueberry.

Once again, repeat after me:

CHEESEPIE

CHEESEPIE

CHEESEPIE

[Erika Engle]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

Oooohhhhh... you had to go there.

Well, I hereby declare that Cheesecakes are NOT cakes! They're pies!

Repeating after you, cheesepie, cheesepie, cheesepie ...

Should they rename the restaurant chain CheesePIE Factory?

Somebody once brought in a pumpkin cheesecake, er, cheesepie to K59 around the holidays ... oh MAN that was scrumptious!

My favorite type -- aside from that pumpkin one -- would be a marbled type; marbled chocolate, mocha, etc. Fruit-topped types would come in below those on my preference list and raspberry would be totally excluded.

Monkey wrench yes, and sorry -- sorta.

Cheesepie cheesepie cheesepie ...

[Karen]

Re: Birthday Cake or Pie?

I'm a cake person, but we only have them in-house a few times a year.

There is Boston Creme Pie and when done well & the chocolate is truly like homemade fudge, OH YES! I am then, for a little while "a Pie person."

Cake...carrot cake with true spices and made from scratch is gourmet at its best. There's a million versions? of chocolate cake and many of them, when made from scratch are also gourmet.

Man, I gotta stop thinking like this and at least "visit" the eliptical, LOL.