Cake vs. Pie

The eternal question: cake or pie?

I have to admit, if I had to pick I would say the very best cakes take my heart. Mrs. Abernathy's chocolate cake is one of my favorite all-time desserts, and carrot cake is always a solid choice. But in terms of variety, I'd have to go with pie. Rhubarb pie, apple pie, peach pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie... there are so many varieties I adore. So really, I'd have a hard time choosing one or the other.

Luckily, Seattle's local Cakespy hosted an event tonight to resolve the matter once and for all. Ten cakes, ten pies, four judges, and far more sugar than is healthy in a very small room. Absolute deliciousness.


Flavors ranged from normal (chocolate cake, blueberry pie) to downright odd (bacon cherry pie--which was devoured in minutes).

There were plenty of beautiful cakes, including this chocolate cake with pretty almond flowers:


What a gorgeous idea! And pretty impressive, to boot.

The "lemony chocolate cake" was described as having a flourless chocolate sponge, lemon cream, chocolate almond crunchies, and a vanilla bean white chocolate mousse. The cake was served very cold so the custard portions were almost like ice cream, and the dense chocolate didn't overpower the lemon flavor. Not to mention it had a pretty awesome garnish.


I'm not much of one for cream fillings, but I was told that these fancy ding dongs were fabulous.


A beautiful honey cake with sour cream frosting blew me away with all its even layers:


And somehow I didn't manage to get photos of my two favorite cakes, a classic carrot cake and an Italian creme cake that seemed to have a little something extra--was it amaretto?

Of course, there were also plenty of pies. This peach ginger pie had a perfectly flaky crust and won best in show. Love the use of the pie bird, too! So old fashioned somehow. (Update! Here's the recipe, from baker Kate Lebo.)


My vote for prettiest pie of the night goes to this peach blackberry pie, which was baked in a seafoam green Le Creuset skillet. What a great idea! (Now, if only I had a skillet of this size.)


The judges had some hard decisions to make.


And we had a hard job as well: eating everything! Considering how many people were packed into Jessie's small shop, I'm completely surprised there was even this much left at the end of the night.


Then again, I'm sitting here with a massive sugar coma. So perhaps it's for the best that we didn't polish off every morsel.

So who has your vote if it comes to a street brawl: cake or pie?