SQWIBS Proud Moment... Mancake

   Manday Cake ...aka, "Mancake" 

December 11th, 2015



My annual "Manday" event was coming up and I wanted to make something with a little "WOW" factor, I do have a reputation to keep you know, lol.

I was going to make a few fatties in addition to my already extensive list of items, but to be honest I really don't care for how the bacon cooks that sits up against the sausage. It never quite crisps up to my satisfaction. I reheated a piece of my Supreme Pizza Fattie from my last cook and absolutely loved it but removed the bacon because it was not cooked enough for me so after having a slice of the fattie I decided I really wanted to make my supreme pizza fattie

So I began my search for a bacon-less fattie. Yes, I said bacon-less.Doing a bit of research I've come across a few folks... BamsBBQ @ The Hot Pepper and one of our own @ SMF, forluvofsmoke, that made fattie pies. Eric's post from 2009 really helped me with this recipe. I was intrigued but couldn't find much info on these fattie pies, try googling Fattie Pies!!

Anyhow I decided to make a cake... a Manday cake... aka, Mancake to be exact.
I am posting this in addition to my Manday 5 post because I felt that this cook was worthy of its own post.However with this recipe there would be some obstacke sto overcome.

One of the obstacles to overcome would be icing. The sauce would need to be thick so I decided on using tomato paste, tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. I was worried that too much tomato paste or Parmesan would ruin the taste of the cake. I decided to cook the sauce down about an hour to thicken even more. The icing sort of had a, "tomato pie sauce"  taste...I love Tomato Pie.
Hopefully this would be thick enough to slather on. But how would I decorate it? My original plan was to use Velveeta cheese in a Ziploc bag, heated in hot water snip the end and squeeze the cheese out. My loving wife suggested squirt cheese... Pure genius.The next obstacle was the possibility of the cake bursting and holding up under it's own weight once removed from the spring-form pan, it would have to stand on its own in order to receive the proper amount of smoke.

To overcome this, everything was chilled

Then there was the problem of shrinkage (Seinfeld Episode) and excess liquid.
To overcome this, I cooked all the veggies and softened them and cooked off most of the liquid. This is then placed in the refrigerator and chilled.

The meat is placed in a spring-form pan lined with plastic wrap using three Chubb's then it's formed.
The filing is tossed with cheese and sauce then packed tightly into the cake.
The fourth Chubb is rolled out on plastic wrap and laid on top then the seams are sealed.
The cake is placed in the freezer for a few hours. The Cake is removed from the freezer then the plastic wrap is removed.
 

A wire rack is placed under the cake and it's flipped
The spring-form pan is removed then another wire rack is placed on the cake and flipped again... The seam needs to be on the top.
The cake is placed on the wire rack in the GOSM using cherry. The dam shelf actually bent a little.
I set the ice cold cake on the shelf and turned the heat all the way up and let her rip.
It reached 165°F in three+hours. Actually 167°F...I was amazed that there was no leakage at all... none. I let it rest about an hour then put on the icing, then my lovely wife done the decorating.
The cake warmed the icing and it was sliced. It sliced perfectly I couldn't beloved it... Now the most critical part...the taste... How did it taste. It cooked great... Looks great and sliced great.But how was it gonna taste?

Here is the detailed post with pics,

Manday Cake

Tools

• 9" spring form pan
• plastic wrap
• wire racks
• Lipitor

Ingredients

• 16 oz of Pizza Sauce
• Three 6 oz jar tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon crushed garlic
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder for sauce
• 2 teaspoon Oregano, one for sauce
• 1 teaspoon Sweet Basil
• 1 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• 1.5 Green Bell Pepper, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• Mushrooms, pieces & stems, canned, 12 oz drained
• 12 oz. Black Olives, sliced
• pepperoni slices, precooked
• 1/4 pound of bacon, chopped and cooked
• 1- 1-1/2 pounds Shredded three cheese blend
• 1 can of Canned Cheese "Kraft Easy Cheese Spread"

• Prepare the sauce using 16 oz of sauce, 2 cans of paste and 1/4 cup of Parmesan, garlic powder and oregano, cook on low and thicken, take one third and use for the filling, place in the refrigerator. 

• The Bacon and Pepperoni are chopped, cooked and set aside.

 

• Veggies are sauted to soften, then the garlic, olives, mushrooms and oregano is added to simmer off most of the liquid, then the bacon, pepperoni and sauce is added working in the sauce. Cook on low another 10 minutes or so, refrigerate overnight or at least til cold.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

• Into the refrigerator to chill.

 

• The sausage is placed in a spring-form pan lined with plastic wrap using three Chubb's then it's formed.

 

• The fourth Chubb is rolled out on plastic wrap.

 

• The filing is removed from the refrigerator and is tossed in a bowl with the three cheese blend and the 2/3rds sauce is added and tossed in as well.

 

• A little extra cheese is placed on the bottom.

 

• The filling is then packed tightly  into the cake. Make sure to leave some exposed sausage where the top piece will fit, this will insure a better seal and reduce the chance of coming apart at the seam.

 

• The top is then placed on the cake.

• The seams are sealed by pinching and tucking

 

• Here I'm just checking for firmness and weighing. The cake precooked is 6.5 pounds

 

 

 

• The cake is placed in the freezer for a few hours. The Cake is removed from the freezer, the plastic wrap is removed and the cake is placed top side down on a wire rack.  The spring-form pan is then removed and another wire rack is placed on top (which will be the bottom once flipped) of the cake and flipped again... The seam needs to be on the top. The cake is placed on the wire rack in the GOSM using cherry. The dam shelf actually bent a little. I set the ice cold cake on the shelf and turned the heat all the way up and let her rip. I don't worry about temps anymore,  I just fire it up and keep an eye on the water and make sure there's a bit of wood smoking.

 

• It reached 165°F in three+hours. Actually 167°F...I was amazed that there was no leakage at all... none. I let it rest about an hour.

• I was worried it would stick to the grates but it came off nicely here's the cake Plated and ready for the icing.

 

• Time for the icing. 

Time to decorate!

My lovely wife is doing the decorating. 

• Wait! It's not done yet!

• I let it rest a little bit before I brought it down, it would have been hell for the guys waiting for it to cool.

• The cake warmed the icing and it was sliced. It sliced perfectly I couldn't believe it... Now the most critical part...the taste... How did it taste? It cooked great... Looks great and sliced great. But how was it gonna taste? It passed with flying colors... Everyone raved over it, man was I happy!

HAPPY MANDAY!!!




I have another icing idea that I will try next, its a white icing using smoked provolone the last 20 minutes of the cook, i'm not sure if i'm going to try a textured looking icing like a pinata cake or a fondant type icing?