Confections of a Foodie Bride

Reserved for later use. Could anything be sweeter than seeing those words next to “bacon grease” in a recipe? I think not

Our love of bacon extends beyond nostalgic breakfast memories. Imagine our excitement when David Lebovitz announced in our cooking class that we would be making a savory Bleu Cheese and Bacon Cake! Bacon and cake. From the man that brought you Candied Bacon Ice Cream. And to think, my husband wasn’t very excited about the class

Within minutes of popping the cake into the oven, the smell of warm bacon had wafted to our table. Each slice is bursting with a range of salty and savory flavors and is even better the second day. Serve it as an appetizer or as an after-work snack with a glass of Pinot Grigio.

Next to the Lemon Madeleines, it was our favorite treat from our educational and tasty trip to the great grocery mecca that is Central Market.

Bleu Cheese and Bacon “Cake”
8 strips (5oz) of bacon or pancetta, cooked to a crisp, grease reserved for later use*
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup plain whole milk yogurt
1 1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard (recommended brand: Edmond Fallot)
1/2 small bunch of chives, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup) or scallions
5 oz well crumbled bleu cheese or Roquefort**
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

*I used pancetta
**To make the bleu cheese easier to crumble, put in in the freezer to firm a bit.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from the pan, reserving the grease. When the bacon has cooled, crumble.

Grease a 9-inch loaf pan (I used a 10-inch pan) with reserved bacon grease and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, chili powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, olive oil, yogurt, mustard and chives until smooth. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to stir in the wet mixture, stirring just until the wet ingredients are almost incorporated. (there should be a bit of flour still visible). Do not over mix. Fold in the bleu cheese, parmesan, and bacon bits until everything is just moistened. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour (45 minutes was enough for a 10-inch pan), until the top is golden brown and the cake springs back when you gently touch the center. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes, then tilt it out onto a wire cooling rack. Peel off the parchment paper and let cool upright before slicing.

Storage: The cake can be wrapped in plastic and kept for up to three days. It can also be frozen, well-wrapped, for up to two months.

Yields: One 9-inch loaf cake
Source: Adapted from Parisian Desserts, by David Lebovitz

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 10:08 am and is filed under Bread. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.