Savory Ham and Cheese French Cake

Don't let the mundane name of this bread mislead you. It is a gem, so tasty, so easy, and every chef should have it in their repertoire. The New York Times wrote about this French Cake the day before Bastille Day, and I've been thinking about it ever since I made it for the first time that week. I have baked this French cake, along with zucchini cake, to send along with my boyfriend who is going to Baltimore to visit a mutual friend who is teaching there through Teach for America. I also plan to make it while I am in Texas and my parents are around to buy more exotic fillings than ham and cheese; for my family I was thinking of adding shrimp, emmentaler/gruyere and scallions. The wonders of this bread are its ease and versatility. You can put any (tasty) flavor combination into the base of flour, eggs, a bit of dairy, and oil, mix briefly and this cake will turn out well.

This cake is packed with fillings to the extent that the fillings create very pretty mosaic when you cut in. Because of its heartiness, it can be used to create a light meal when served with salad or fresh vegetables. I ate my first cake for an entire week with whole fresh tomato and a green salad.

Here is the recipe from the original recipe from the article and below is my improvisation.

Ham and Cheese Cake:

1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup yogurt (you can use milk, buttermilk, any type of dairy for acidity)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 pound of cured ham, diced into 1/4 squares (this is about 10-15 slices)
2 cups (or a bit more) cheddar cheese, half diced into 1/4 cubes, half grated

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F.
2. Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and pepper in a large bowl
3. In a small bowl beat eggs, add yogurt, olive oil, and combine well.
4. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until they are barely combined.
5. Add the ham and cheese and fold all the ingredients together until the ham and cheese is lightly covered with the batter.
6. Coat the bottom of a loaf pan with olive oil and pour the bread batter into the loaf pan. (I say pour, but the batter is quite dry so it's more like mold the batter into the loaf pan)
   
7. Place the pan in the center of the rack in the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes, until the top of the loaf is a light gold color.
8. Serve the bread at room temperature with wine and a salad (like the French would do).
   

A few notes: Don't be worried if the batter looks dry once you add in the cheese and ham. The dough base of the batter is only meant to coat the ham and cheese and act as a glue for the fillings. This cake is so tasty because the bread is 60% cheese. Also, I increased the olive oil because even with all the cheese this cake the propensity to dry out.
I wanted to post my own picture of the "pretty mosaic" pattern I mentioned earlier, but I left the cake in the oven too long while I was watching Top Chef DC and the top turned the color of bronze instead of gold and the top ham bits were black...not so pretty. Trust me when I say that my cake is even prettier than the cake in the NYT picture. However, I tried a piece and the cake was still delicious--hopefully the benefactor of the cake will post a comment about how tasty my cake turned out. I'll post a picture of the cake I make while I visit my family in Texas.