Meet the Most Epic Thanksgiving Side Dish of All Time
Even for the healthiest eaters among us, Thanksgiving is a time when it's socially acceptable to let loose when it comes to calorie intake. And if you really want to treat yourself this Thursday, allow us to introduce you to the Thanksgiving Cake. This cornbread layer cake has been filled with stuffing, iced with mashed potatoes, drizzled with gravy, and topped with a fried chicken crown, of course.
Inspired by a recipe developed by Bree Miller of Bree's Cakes in Los Angeles, which was featured on Delish.com, my sister Lyndsey decided to add a Thanksgiving twist by adding stuffing into the mix. The results were nothing short of life changing.
Want to make your own? Here's how to do it:
Ingredients
3 9-inch round layers of cornbread
Tools
10-inch cardboard cake round
Bench scraper to get frosting extra smooth
Piping bag with star tip
Notes on Making the Individual Components
When making the cornbread, modify your favorite recipe to make it fluffier and more cake-like by adding an extra egg, doubling the butter. Then, separate the egg and whip the egg whites until they're stiff, and fold them in at the end, right before putting the batter in the cake pan. The bottom line is that any cornbread recipe will work as long as it's more cake-like instead of dense. So look for recipes that use butter instead of olive oil and separate the egg whites to add a bit of loft to the cake. Multiply any basic recipe by three and divide between three 9-inch round cake pans.
For the mashed potatoes, any recipe that has lots of milk and butter added in to make them extra creamy will work. If you want to make the potatoes look even more like frosting (read: smoother) pass them through a ricer.
Any gravy that's relatively thick and darker in color will work for
this—add in a teaspoon of paprika for a darker color.For the stuffing, you can make your own from a favorite recipe, or take a shortcut by using Pepperidge Farm and following the instructions on the bag.
Take another shortcut by picking up fried chicken from a local restaurant, or use a homemade recipe. Or make give the recipe an extra dose of Thanksgiving flavor by topping it with fried turkey.
This cake tastes best and is more easily assembled when the mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy are all warm. If you make these components ahead of time, be sure to reheat them before assembling the cake, as they will spread more easily when hot.
How to Assemble the Cake
Level the 3 layers of cornbread to remove the domed tops so you have a flat surface for "frosting."
Place first layer of cornbread on a 10-inch cardboard cake round.
Thinly spread cornbread with a layer of mashed potatoes (this will act as surface for the stuffing to adhere to).
Top mashed potatoes with about 1 cup of stuffing.
Drizzle stuffing with ¼ cup of gravy.
Place second layer of cornbread, flat side up, and repeat steps 3-5.
Top with third layer of cornbread, flat side up, and "frost" entire cake with hot mashed potatoes (run a bench scraper around the top and sides of the cake to get them as smooth as possible).
Put about 1 cup of mashed potatoes in a piping bag with a star tip and pipe around the edge of the cake to cover the edge of the cardboard cake round.
Drizzle a small amount of gravy on top of the cake (using a spoon to gently push it off the edge of cake).
Arrange 6 fried chicken drumsticks on top of the cake so that they stand up on their own.
Serve warm.
The final product will serve around 20-25 people, especially if you're planning on serving additional sides at your Thanksgiving dinner. Oh, and one last tip: Be sure to wear pants with an elastic waistband. Happy eating!
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