My dad claims to not like sweets. Claims to. Though I’ve seen him sneak a few bites of ice cream and pie now and again. I’ve tried to force him into my love of baked goodies, but he wants nothing to do with them. My family has always been more than willing to eat his share. For this year’s Father’s Day, he’s getting a Meatloaf Cake with Bacon Roses.
My mom has always made this recipe for meatloaf, so I know it’s a proven winner for my dad. The onions give the meat a nice flavour, but if you’re wanting to add a bit more pizazz, add your favourite spices, and some salt and pepper.
When serving this cake, you’ll probably want to warm it up, so prior to serving, you can either re-heat the whole thing, or you can slice it after presentation, and microwave each piece for dinner.
I’m not a good cook, but this is a recipe that I was able to follow and execute easily! The trickiest part was getting mashed potatoes that were smooth, and had no chunks. I boiled the potatoes until they were soft, transfered them to my stand mixer bowl and then whipped them until there were only small chunks. I added milk, butter and sour cream, and continued to whip until they were perfect, and icing like.
Adding additional ketchup or barbeque sauce would be great accompaniment to this dish, as would some fresh veggies!
Meatloaf Cake with Bacon Roses
Ingredients (for one layer of meatloaf cake, double for two):
- 1 kilogram lean ground beef
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 8 soda crackers crushed
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/2 cup milk
- mashed potatoes
- bacon
- tomatoes
- carrots
- green onions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare 8″ cake pan(s).
- In a large bowl, combine beef, onion, crackers, egg and milk. Mix using your hands until all ingredients are combined.
- Press meat mixture into greased cake pan, and bake in preheated oven for 45-60 minutes, or until cooked thoroughly.
- Repeat for second layer of cake.
- Meanwhile, remove bacon from packaging, and roll individual pieces into rose shapes, and secure with a toothpick. Place bacon roses in a muffin tin and bake at 425F for 20-25 minutes. Place on paper towel to absorb grease when cooked.
- Once meatloaf is cooked, place one layer of meatloaf onto a plate and cover bottom layer with mashed potatoes. Place second layer on top, and cover entire cake with potatoes.
- Place remaining potatoes into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip opening. Pipe potato flowers along top and bottom border of cake.
- To make tomato flowers, use a vegetable peeler to peel a long piece of tomato skin. Roll the tomato skin up like a rose. Repeat for carrot, peeling a piece of thin carrot, and rolling. Place carrot roll inside of tomato roll. Cut off a one inch long piece of green onion, and fray one end. Place into carrot/tomato flower.
- Arrange vegetable and bacon roses on top of cake as desired. Using ketchup pipe desired message, or recipient on top of cake. Finish garnishes off with green onion and ketchup dollops on top of potato flowers.
- The cake will inevitably be cool once you have decorated it. To warm, either place in oven (be careful not to dry potatoes out), or slice and heat in the microwave.
- Serve once warm and consume within 2-3 days.
What? A cake with meat? Unbelievable . :0 whaaaaaaaa?