Turkey Cake-- a silly food adventure

Last week some time, Amy sent me a link on facebook that was a cake made out of thanksgiving foods. My first reaction was "eew, sick" Followed quickly by "cool!" and "I'm going to make that!" Now I generally go through several ideas before I decide what to cook for dinner group, and I had to test the water and make sure people would eat it. The consensus was positive. So I set about to use the ten pound bag of spuds I got for $.97 and make the deliciousness that is a turkey cake.

For the Turkey loaf:

For the turkey layers:

• Pam for coating the pans
• 2 pounds ground turkey breast (I would do more turkey next time... it pulls away from the pan but I also used 9" pans because that's what I've got). 
• 1 cup (plus a little) quick-cooking oats
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup finely chopped yellow onion
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley (I used all dried spices because that's what I had and it turned out fine)
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh sage leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2-4 medium garlic cloves, minced

Place all  ingredients in a large bowl and mix, using clean hands, until combined (don’t squeeze or overwork). Divide the mixture evenly between the pans, spreading it to the edges and smoothing out the top. Bake until cooked through and the cakes begin to pull away from the edges of the pans, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven (but leave the oven on), and let cool for about 10 minutes. Using a paper towel, blot away any excess fat from the cake layers’ surface; set aside. (While the turkey cakes are cooking, make the sweet potatoes.)

For the Sweet Potatoes:

• 1 pound sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick)
• 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
• Pinch ground mace or nutmeg
• Freshly ground black pepper

Place the milk and butter in the saucepan and heat over low heat until the butter has melted. Turn off the heat, add the reserved sweet potatoes and the brown sugar, salt, and mace or nutmeg, and mash with a potato masher until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired; keep warm.

My roommate peeled and mashed the sweet potatoes for me. She's the best!

Make your own favorite recipe of mashed potatoes. The recipe calls for 3 lbs of spuds, I used the whole bag so that we'd have extras for dinner group. You'll need about 5 cups for the 'frosting'.

2 boxes of Stuffing (or 2 1/2 cups of your favorite stuffing recipe)

1 Can cranberries (whole berry)

Gravy (for serving)

Then you start layering it. I just did it on a cookie sheet and didn't worry about putting it on a platter...

First Turkey, then spuds, then cranberries:

Follow that with a layer of stuffing. That was the tricky part for me. I wish I'd put more on, just use your hands and hold it while you pack it on. (this is also where a firmer, ie not out of a box, stuffing may come in handy.)Then you do more spuds and the next layer of turkey-loaf.

Frost the whole thing with mashed potatoes. Oh, as a side note, I wish I had made the spuds a little smoother. I just didn't want to pull out the hand mixer, so I just used my masher.

Put the sweet potatoes on the top, then stick the marshmallows on top of that.

Move the rack in the oven lower so the cake will fit in the oven. I baked it at 350* till the mallows were Crispy and toasty brown. Had this been more than ten minutes before I wanted to serve the cake, I would've turned off the oven but left the cake in there. But it came out just in time to look delicious!

And for dessert... Blue Ribbon Peanut Butter Pie from Sister's Cafe. I would give it a blue ribbon. I will tell you though, it's not fat free. Butter, peanut butter, cream cheese and whipped cream... nope, not fat free. Shelly decorated the one on the right. it says "You Want Me." Mmmm I just had leftovers!