Cornbread - It's Just Savory Cake Really

Meeta at Whats For Lunch Honey loves to set us a challenge. Her Monthly Mingle is always great fun to take part in though; last month we had to make sweets for our sweeties and previous months have seen us Giving Thanks and using two notable ingredients.
This month she has excelled herself with her ingenuity and is making us work hard for her. This months theme? Savoury Cakes! That title certainly set my mind whirling. I couldn’t even remember having ever eaten a savoury cake. Surely cake is for pudding or Sunday Tea? Or when you’re craving the consolation of a sugary Victoria sponge cake after a hard day at work?
Well, apparently not. There have been various impressively imaginative entries already, ranging from Courgette Cake to a Tourtiere Bon Femme to a Bacon and Prune Cake.
I’m sure that this had a lot of people scratching their heads, me included, but after toying with the idea of a savoury cheesecake, I finally settled on a cake by any other name: Cornbread.
But not just any old Cornbread. Ina Gartens Cornbread from her latest book, The Barefoot Contessa at Home. I know what you’re thinking, boring! Cornbread is Cornbread! And until I made this recipe, I did think that too, although I made some delicious Cornbread Muffins last summer.
However, Ina’s recipe is superlative. The addition of chopped green Jalapenos, Spring Onions and Strong Cheddar Cheese make the Cornbread as moreish and comforting to eat as a slice of chocolate cake.

Interestingly, because this recipe uses flour in addition to the cornmeal, plus the rising agent of Baking Soda this is sometimes referred to by Southerners as Yankee Cornbread as this version originates from the North of the country and it is not considered true Cornbread. These additions make the Cornbread more 'cakey' and it loses that delicious, slightly grainy texture that true Cornbread has. Actually though, I would defy anyone not love this tasty variation, traditional or not, because it combines everything that's great about baking and cooking: cake, hot chillis and cheesy topping. It's what I dream about.

I halved the recipe because I know how large the Barefoot Contessa recipes are and, whilst I certainly could have eaten another batch, I don’t think my arteries would have appreciated a battering from another half pound of butter. My tastebuds might have appreciated it though...
I won’t replicate the recipe here as I’m sure most of you will have the book anyway but I will make note that the recipe halved perfectly, using 2 eggs instead of three (because it’s quite tricky using 1 ½ eggs) for those of you who can’t manage Ina’s catering style portions.
We had planned on serving this with the Pork and Beans I had been slow cooking last night but, because the Cornbread was cooked first (always a bad sign) and we were irrationally hungry, we just filled our aching bellies with that instead. The Pork and Beans have gone into the fridge for consumption tonight. But that's no bad thing. I sometimes enjoy dinners that involve me putting a pot in the oven. But more on that later.