Pastry vs. Cake: What's the Difference?
Edited by Aimie Carlson || By Janet White || Updated on October 7, 2023
Pastry is a dough-based food often with fillings or toppings, while Cake is a sweet, baked dessert typically made from flour, sugar, and eggs.
Key Differences
Pastry and Cake are both beloved baked goods, yet they differ fundamentally. Pastry primarily refers to a type of dough made from flour, water, and fat, which can be sweet or savory. Cake, on the other hand, typically refers to a sweet dessert made from a mixture of flour, sugar, eggs, and other ingredients.
Pastry can come in various forms and is often used as a base for other dishes. For instance, pies, quiches, and tarts have pastry crusts. Cake is primarily standalone and is usually sweet, coming in forms like sheet cakes, layer cakes, and bundt cakes.
The texture and consistency of Pastry and Cake are distinct. While pastries tend to be crisp or flaky due to the layers of fat within the dough, cakes are generally soft and spongy, attributed to the leavening agents like baking powder or baking soda.
In terms of ingredients, Pastry typically has a simpler composition, often excluding elements like leavening agents. Cake, conversely, can include a range of ingredients like cocoa, fruits, nuts, and flavorings to achieve varied tastes and textures.
Another notable distinction is in their presentation and consumption. Pastries can be both main dishes (like meat pies) or desserts (like fruit tarts), whereas cakes are predominantly served as desserts or celebratory dishes.
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Comparison Chart
Basic Definition
Dough made from flour, water, and fat
Sweet baked dessert
Typical Use
Base for dishes or filled items
Standalone dessert
Texture
Crisp or flaky
Soft and spongy
Ingredient Complexity
Generally simple
Can include a variety of flavorings and additives
Occasion
Can be for main dishes or desserts
Primarily for desserts and celebrations
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Pastry and Cake Definitions
Pastry
A category of baked goods in bakeries.
The bakery has a diverse selection of Pastries.
Cake
A mixture of flour, sugar, and eggs.
The Cake batter was smooth and ready to bake.
Pastry
A dough of flour, water, and fat.
She made a flaky Pastry for the pie crust.
Cake
A dessert with layers and frosting.
The wedding Cake had five layers with cream frosting.
Pastry
A sweet or savory filled baked item.
He ordered a chocolate-filled Pastry at the café.
Cake
A sweet, spongy baked dessert.
She baked a chocolate Cake for the birthday.
Pastry
A base for dishes like pies and tarts.
The apple tart had a buttery Pastry crust.
Cake
A celebratory baked item.
They celebrated their anniversary with a red velvet Cake.
Pastry
A term encompassing dough-based items.
She has mastered the art of making French Pastries.
Cake
A sweet baked food made of flour, liquid, eggs, and other ingredients, such as raising agents and flavorings.
Pastry
Dough or paste consisting primarily of shortening or another fatty substance mixed with flour and water, often baked and used as a crust for sweet foods such as pies and tarts.
Cake
A flat rounded mass of dough or batter, such as a pancake, that is baked or fried.
Pastry
Baked sweet foods made with pastry
Viennese pastry.
Cake
A flat rounded mass of hashed or chopped food that is baked or fried; a patty.
Pastry
One of these baked foods.
Cake
A shaped or molded piece, as of soap or ice.
Pastry
(Informal) A sweet baked good.
Cake
A layer or deposit of compacted matter
A cake of grime in the oven.
Pastry
(countable) A baked food item made from flour and fat pastes such as pie crust; also tarts, bear claws, napoleons, puff pastries, etc.
That pastry shop sells not just pastries, but all kinds of baked goods.
Cake
To cover or fill with a thick layer, as of compacted matter
A miner whose face was caked with soot.
Pastry
(uncountable) The food group formed by the various kinds of pastries.
That pastry shop sells not just pastry, but all kinds of baked goods.
Cake
To become formed into a compact or crusty mass
As temperatures dropped, the wet snow caked.
Pastry
(uncountable) The type of light flour-based dough used in pastries.
Cake
A rich, sweet dessert food, typically made of flour, sugar, and eggs and baked in an oven, and often covered in icing.
Pastry
A place where pastry is made.
Cake
A small mass of baked dough, especially a thin loaf from unleavened dough.
An oatmeal cake
A johnnycake
Pastry
(uncountable) The act or art of making pastry.
He learned pastry from the great Gaston Lenôtre.
Cake
A thin wafer-shaped mass of fried batter; a griddlecake or pancake.
Buckwheat cakes
Pastry
Desserts of all kinds, whether or not these incorporate the baked item made from flour and fat, or that section of a kitchen that prepares these.
I used to work in the fish section, but now I've been moved to pastry.
Cake
A block of any of various dense materials.
A cake of soap
A cake of sand
Pastry
The place where pastry is made.
Cake
(slang) A trivially easy task or responsibility; from a piece of cake.
Pastry
Articles of food made of paste, or having a crust made of paste, as pies, tarts, etc.
Cake
(slang) Money.
Pastry
A dough of flour and water and shortening
Cake
Used to describe the doctrine of having one's cake and eating it too.
Pastry
Any of various baked foods made of dough or batter
Cake
(slang) A buttock, especially one that is exceptionally plump.
Mmm, I'd like to cut me some of that cake!
Cake
(pyrotechnics) A multi-shot fireworks assembly comprising several tubes, each with a fireworks effect, lit by a single fuse.
Cake
(transitive) Coat (something) with a crust of solid material.
His shoes are caked with mud.
Cake
(transitive) To form into a cake, or mass.
Cake
(intransitive) Of blood or other liquid, to dry out and become hard.
Cake
A small mass of dough baked; especially, a thin loaf from unleavened dough; as, an oatmeal cake; johnnycake.
Cake
A sweetened composition of flour and other ingredients, leavened or unleavened, baked in a loaf or mass of any size or shape.
Cake
A thin wafer-shaped mass of fried batter; a griddlecake or pancake; as buckwheat cakes.
Cake
A mass of matter concreted, congealed, or molded into a solid mass of any form, esp. into a form rather flat than high; as, a cake of soap; an ague cake.
Cakes of rusting ice come rolling down the flood.
Cake
To form into a cake, or mass.
Cake
To concrete or consolidate into a hard mass, as dough in an oven; to coagulate.
Clotted blood that caked within.
Cake
To cackle as a goose.
Cake
A block of solid substance (such as soap or wax);
A bar of chocolate
Cake
Small flat mass of chopped food
Cake
Made from or based on a mixture of flour and sugar and eggs
Cake
Form a coat over;
Dirt had coated her face
Cake
A term for a compacted mass.
The mud had dried, caking on the boots.
FAQs
Is Cake always sweet?
Typically yes, but there are savory cakes like cornbread.
Which is flakier, Pastry or Cake?
Pastry, due to its layers of fat.
Can Pastry be a main dish?
Yes, as in the case of pot pies.
What's a common type of Pastry?
Croissants or tarts.
What is Pastry?
It's a dough made from flour, water, and fat.
How is Cake defined?
It's a sweet, baked dessert typically made from flour, sugar, and eggs.
What occasions suit Cake?
Birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries.
What makes Cake spongy?
Leavening agents and the creaming of sugar and fat.
Can Pastry be savory?
Yes, like meat pies or sausage rolls.
How is Cake typically decorated?
With frosting, icing, fruits, or decorative items.
About Author
Written by
Janet WhiteJanet White has been an esteemed writer and blogger for Difference Wiki. Holding a Master's degree in Science and Medical Journalism from the prestigious Boston University, she has consistently demonstrated her expertise and passion for her field. When she's not immersed in her work, Janet relishes her time exercising, delving into a good book, and cherishing moments with friends and family.
Edited by
Aimie CarlsonAimie Carlson, holding a master's degree in English literature, is a fervent English language enthusiast. She lends her writing talents to Difference Wiki, a prominent website that specializes in comparisons, offering readers insightful analyses that both captivate and inform.
