What's The Difference Between Cream Cheese Pie And Cheesecake?

There's something retro and nostalgic about cheese-based desserts; maybe because cheesecake was the dessert of choice in the popular show The Golden Girls where the actors reportedly ate more than 100 cheesecakes over the show's seven seasons. Or maybe because cream cheese pies seem like the kind of thing people throw in other people's faces either in jest or anger.

Cream cheese pie is an American-centric dessert and can be considered a very simple pie because it has a base and filling (but without the fancy, lattice crust on top). Cheesecakes are beloved global treats and you can get anything from the well-known New York cheesecake which is creamy and dense to a custardy Basque cheesecake which is baked at high heat for a caramelized flavor.

While these two desserts sound and look tangentially similar, they differ in terms of ingredients, cooking methods, baking mold, and taste. Much of this has to do with eggs. Cream cheese pie does not contain eggs, which means it does not need to be baked. Cheesecake, on the other hand, includes eggs and must be baked, which makes it a bit more complex in flavor and preparation.

Cream cheese pie is arguably the simplest of the two desserts and has about four or five ingredients depending on the recipe: graham crackers, cream cheese, heavy cream (or condensed milk), sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Since it does not include eggs, it's often touted as a no-bake dessert that only requires assembling the crumbly biscuit base and cheesy filling. However, it's very common to add fruit toppings to cream cheese pies for extra flavor.

In comparison, cheesecake is a bit more finicky to make and takes some experience to get it right. Irrespective of the type of cheesecake, it will typically include eggs, which means it needs to be baked, or else you'll be eating a raw egg mixture. This also results in a common problem in baked cheesecakes: The top of the cheesecake tends to crack — something that doesn't happen with cream cheese pie.

Cream cheese pie requires the use of a shallow pie dish or tart pan, which means the final product is a dessert without much height. The graham cracker crust should cover both the bottom and the sides of the pie dish, similar to a pastry base for a standard baked fruit pie. This will allow it to completely encase the cheese filling.

Cheesecakes can be made with a pie or tart mold, but they're best baked in a springform pan. The crust for cheesecake is usually only on the bottom and not along the sides of the springform pan. The springform pan works with cheesecake for two reasons. One, it has higher sides than a usual baking dish, so the cheesecake can be towering compared to cream cheese pie. Second, cheesecake tends to have a wobbly center and the springform pan makes it easier to remove it. 

Finally, there is the question of taste. Because they don't have eggs, cream cheese pies are less rich in flavor but added fruit toppings can provide a nice bump in the flavor profile. While no two cheesecakes are similar, they are richer and more creamy than cream cheese pie. The flavor can range from sweet to tangy — and with the richness of cheesecakes, they're often served without any embellishments.