Sweet Cornbread Cake With Buttermilk Ice Cream

I started to dream up the idea for this dessert during our trip to Hawaii.  We tried a piece of cornbread from the Diamond Head Market & Grille that was so sweet and delectable that it easily could have been mistaken for a cake.  So I thought, well, why can't it actually be a cake?  Why can't cornbread be part of a dessert?

Answer: it can, and it is completely amazing.

I live in Tennessee, and around here a typical cornbread is made with very little or no sugar, is nice and crumbly, and is cooked in a hot cast iron skillet to get a dark crunchy crust on the outside.  For this dish, though, I knew I wanted more of a cake-like texture on the inside with a softer and lighter crust.  Oh, and of course it should be sweet!

Then I started thinking about what to serve with this sinfully sweet cornbread.  In my family, as well as many other southern families, it was considered a treat to crumble cornbread into a tall glass of buttermilk and eat it with a spoon.  My granddaddy on my mom's side, that I unfortunately never got a chance to meet, loved to use leftover cornbread from the big family Sunday supper for such a treat when he needed a snack later in the evening.

So, how does one dessert-ify a glass of plain buttermilk?  Buttermilk ice cream, of course!  This homemade ice cream is pretty incredible, you guys.  Instead of a custard base it uses cream cheese which adds even more of a creamy tang to the flavor.  It's criminally easy to make and is the perfect complement to the sweet cornbread cake.

To send this treat right into the stratosphere of lip-smacking deliciousness, the whole thing gets a generous drizzle of honey.  Ohh man, is there anything better than cornbread with honey?  Not too many things, that's for sure.

The cake still has the hearty coarseness of a more traditional southern cornbread, but the higher flour to cornmeal ratio keeps it from crumbling so easily.  It's the perfect marriage of the best parts of a cake and a bread.

If you're looking for something new and unique to add to your arsenal of dessert recipes, this one might fit the bill.  And seeing as how it's so simple to make, the biggest problem you're likely to have is that it will disappear from your kitchen before you can nab a serving for yourself!

Sweet Cornbread Cake With Buttermilk Ice Cream

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• Total Time: 55 mins
• Yield: 1 cake and 1.5 qts ice cream

Ingredients

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• FOR BUTTERMILK ICE CREAM:
• 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 ½ cups half and half
• ¾ cup granulated white sugar
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 ½ tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
• ⅛ tsp salt
• FOR CORNBREAD CAKE:
• ½ cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated white sugar
• 1 TBS baking powder (scant)
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 2 TBS + 2 tsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 TBS honey
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 ¼ cups buttermilk

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Instructions

1. FOR BUTTERMILK ICE CREAM:
2. Add all ingredients into a blender and blend for 45 seconds or until very smooth. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. I like to make this the night before and leave it to chill overnight.
3. Pour mixture into freezer bowl of ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions.
4. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer until hardened.
5. FOR CORNBREAD CAKE:
6. Preheat oven to 350F and grease a light metal 8x8 square baking pan.
7. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
8. Add the oil, melted butter, honey, eggs, and buttermilk. Stir gently to moisten batter.
9. Transfer the batter to the greased baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Your oven may vary - I recommend starting to check around 30 minutes. Cake will be done when the top begins to brown and show cracks and a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached.
10. Scoop buttermilk ice cream onto warm cornbread and top with a drizzle of honey.

• Author: Erin Browne
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

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