recipe: thanksgiving plate cakelettes

Fair warning: If you do not like it when your foods touch or when food that look like one thing tastes like another, stop reading now. (This recipe is all about touching and trickery. And fun.)

I made a variation on chow.com’s Thanksgiving Turkey Cake recipe last year by using different recipes for the layers and adding cornbread stars to kick up the carb factor. I was pretty obsessed with the recipe (IT LOOKED LIKE A CAKE but IT WASN’T), so I knew I would bring it back in a different way this year. It recently dawned on me: mini.

Introducing the Thanksgiving Plate Cakelettes.

These little cups of joy have a base layer of turkey meatloaf that is topped with cornbread apple sausage stuffing. Mashed potatoes are piped like frosting and topped with a dallop of whole cranberry sauce. Turkey gravy is served on the side so guests can drizzle or drench to their hearts’ content.

The Thanksgiving Plate Cakelettes were brunch perfect from the moment of conception, so I developed a menu around them that also included Candied Yam Tartlettes, Green Bean Casserole Quiche and Wild Arugula Salad with Mini Brie en Croute.

My testers and brunch guests can attest to the delicious homey quality of the Thanksgiving Plate Cakelettes, but lots of the fun comes from the fact that IT LOOKS LIKE A CUPCAKE but IT ISN’T. Crowd-pleaser. Trust me.

I used the large cupcake cups but you could go even smaller with regular sized cupcake tins. Or even super mini in mini cupcake tins! (Oh wow. That might have to happen.) Read on for recipes and assembly.

Would love to know what you think! Comments can be made below the recipe. {xo celine}

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Thanksgiving Plate Cakelettes (aka Turkey Cupcakes)

• 24 Large foil cupcake cups

• Turkey meatloaf (Mix together 2 lbs lean ground turkey, 1 egg, 2/3 cup ground crackers, 1/2 cup milk, 1/3 cup small diced onions, 1/3 cup small diced bell pepper, 2 tsp salt (I use a lot of salt with ground turkey), black pepper, mustard, worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, fresh flat leaf parsley. Change proportions/ingredients to preference.)

• Boxed cornbread stuffing (follow directions) + 1/2 diced apple + 2 cooked crumbled sausage links mixed in when the croutons are added.

• Boxed mashed potatoes + homemade mashed potatoes (3 russet potatoes, diced cooked and drained, mashed or whipped with butter, milk, salt and pepper to taste. smooth but not runny)

• Can of turkey gravy or homemade gravy

• Can of whole cranberry sauce or homemade cranberry sauce

Divide the turkey meatloaf into 24 cups, or use more meatloaf in each for bigger cupcakes (but fewer cakelettes). I made 19. Cook at 350 degrees F until cooked through, about 20-25 mins. Layer stuffing to top of cupcake cup. Press down a bit.

Make 8 servings of boxed mashed potatoes. Thoroughly mix them with your homemade mashed potatoes. Reheat slightly if necessary. (The warmer and smoother the better. My potatoes were too chunky.) Use a piping bag or ziplock bag with a corner cut to pipe a spiral of mashed potatoes on each Thanksgiving Plate Cakelette.

Warm them in a 350 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes. Tope each cakelette with a spoonful of whole cranberry sauce. Serve with turkey gravy on the side.

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