Food Fetishism: Cake vs. Pie

There was an epic debate on Google Reader this week on whether cake or pie is better. My stance is that the ideal cake defeats the ideal pie, with the caveat that pie is easier to pull off. You can order a pie just about anywhere, and it will be edible. Cake, however, is alchemy. Combine disparate elements, apply heat, and you end up with something magical that is more than the sum of its parts. With so many steps and so much science to the art of baking, it's easy to screw  up in myriad ways. You can end up with something too dry, too sweet, with too much frosting or not enough. Not to mention, cakes are so versatile - you can even make them look like other food! In fact, there will be another post later about Food That Looks Like Other Food (I'm kind of obsessed with it).

And please, could there ever be a show called Ace of Pies? No, don't even play.

Here's what really settled it for me, though:

#yourargumentisinvalid

After seeing that video yesterday, I was inspired to make a LOST mm . . . cake! for our weekly LOSTnite. I basically improvised and made a kitchen sink cake - thus Blueberry Buttermilk Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Sort-of-Ganachey Frosting.  It turned out very nicely - very moist and not too sweet. The  frosting was the best part. Don't judge the decorating - I didn't have any fondant on hand and had to use whipped cream. 

For the cake: 

2 c flour

1 3/4 c sugar

1/2 c buttermilk

2 sticks unsalted butter

4tbsp cocoa

1 c water

2 eggs

1/2 bag of frozen blueberries (or fresh when they're in season)

cinnamon to taste

1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the flour & sugar. Boil water, butter, & cocoa in a sauce pan, then add to dry ingredients. Add remaining ingredients (careful not to scramble your eggs in the hot cocoa!). Pour into an 8x8 pan, & bake at 375 for about half an hour. I always test to see if it's done VERY often - I'm paranoid about dry cakes!

Now for the "sort-of-ganachey" frosting. This part was really made up, and all measurements are  approximate. I used the last of my cocoa in the cake, so I grabbed a chocolate bar. I didn't have any heavy cream on hand, so I used buttermilk. The texture was a little too liquidy, so I added just a touch of confectioner's sugar. I added the mayo as an emulsifier, as per Alton Brown's suggestion. Sounds gross, but you can't taste it at all, and it's much easier than using eggs.

1 bar of Ghirardelli extra dark chocolate

Handful of Hershey's cinnamon chips

About 1/2 c buttermilk

Mayonnaise as needed

Enough confectioner's sugar to stiffen the mixture (not much!)