Bacon Cake

A couple months ago Ryann challenged me to create a Bacon Cake from the video game Freakpocalypse. Since his birthday was coming up, I thought it’d be good to try it out. Mind you he did not want a meat cake with mashed potato frosting, etc. He really wanted a cake with bacon. So I got to work and came up with this recipe. Bacon goes really well with maple so we’re leaning into it. Gotta admit that the look of the cake is not quite the same but I’m pretty sure we both would get diabetes if I try making a second cake just to nail the look. Perhaps next time. 🙂 Happy Birthday, my dear hubby! Great job raising over $20k for St. Jude!

Ingredients for cake:

• 0.5 cup (110 grams) sugar
• 0.5 cup (120 ml) boiling water
• 3 cups (390 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
• 0.75 teaspoon baking soda
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 2.25 sticks (9 oz. or 255 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup (220 grams) sugar
• 0.5 cup (100 grams) brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (240 ml) sour cream

Ingredients for frosting and decorating:

• 1.5 – 2 lbs. (675 – 900 grams) of bacon (I only used 1.5 lbs. but in all seriousness, please measure this according to your heart’s desire for bacon)
• 0.25 cup (60 ml) maple syrup
• 0.25 cup (60 ml) hot water
• splash of brown sugar bourbon (optional)
• 1.5 lbs. (or 680 grams) powdered sugar (sorry, no cup measurement here because I just took a 2 lb. bag and used up 0.75 of the bag)
• 3 sticks (12 oz. or 340 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1.5 teaspoons maple flavoring
• 0.75 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 cup maple syrup (optional)
• 1.5 teaspoon powdered gelatin (optional)

Directions (Imagine me taking a deep, deep breath because this is going to be a long one. That’s what she said!):

• First step: wear a long sleeve shirt/sweater and keep a pot holder handy. Place the 0.5 cup sugar in a small pan and set it over medium high heat. Let the sugar melt but do not stir it because stirring will form sugar crystals and clump up. However, if needed you can gently move the pan around to swirl it. The sugar will dissolve and then start to turn light brown. While the sugar is cooking, boil the water. When the sugar has turned a golden amber color and is smoking a little, take it off the heat. Hold the pot with a pot holder to cover your hand and arm, very carefully pour in the boiling water. The whole thing will sputter violently when you do this but do not be afraid! Return the pan to the heat once all the water has been added and stir until combined. Set aside to cool.

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• Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and both sugars and beat them until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and then add the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix the sour cream and 0.5 cup of the cooled down burnt sugar syrup from step 1 above. If you have any leftover syrup, save it and use it for coffee or tea.

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• Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter-egg mixture and mix until the flour is incorporated. Then add one-third of the sour cream-syrup mixture and mix also until just combined. Repeat until everything is mixed in. You can do all this by hand to make sure that you do not overmix.

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• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and prepare two 8-inch round cake pans. (Note that if I were to make this again I will likely use three 9-inch round cake pans because I think I would have preferred thinner cakes and more frosting layer but that’s also up to you. Ryann loved this cake as is.) Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and then butter up the bottom and the sides, then sprinkle evenly with flour to prevent sticking. Don’t forget to also tap out any excess flour. Divide the cake batter into both pans and bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. It’s also good to rotate the cake position about halfway through baking so they will bake more evenly. Let cool completely before unmolding. IMHO, frosting a frozen cake is much easier so I usually pop the cooled cakes in the freezer overnight.

• Take 1 lb. (approx. 450 grams) package of bacon and cut the whole thing in half lengthwise. Chop half into small bits and starting in a cold pan, cook over medium-low heat until you get crispy bacon bits and then set aside to drain on paper towels. For the other half, I learned this technique from sad_papi but I can’t find the video again so I’ll just describe it to you: Line a sheet pan with silpat (or parchment paper if you don’t have silpat), and then lay the bacon flat. In this case, half bacon pieces. Line the top with another silpat (or parchment paper) and then top with another sheet pan. Toss the whole thing in the oven (also starting in a cold oven) and turn the temperature to 350°F (180°C). This will make sure the bacon lays flat and will not curl up. Cook for about 20-25 minutes until entirely crispy. You need these to be very crispy because they will go on top of the cake as decorations.

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• Combine 0.25 maple syrup, 0.25 hot water, and splash of brown sugar bourbon (if using) and pour them into a squeeze bottle. Set aside. Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl and also set aside. Place the softened butter, maple flavoring, and salt into a clean mixing bowl. Using the whisk attachment (or a handheld mixer), whip butter for a few minutes until soft and slightly fluffy. Turn off the mixer and then put in about a quarter of the sifted powdered sugar. Start the mixer again on low, and increasing the speed slowly. Repeat until you mix in all the powdered sugar. The gradual mixing here is to make sure you get a nicely combined frosting and sugar doesn’t blow up in your face.

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• Take one of the cakes out of the freezer and if needed, cut the top to level it out. Using the squeeze bottle, squirt the cake with the maple syrup-hot water mixture. (This is bakery’s secret to moist cakes.) Frost the top of the cake and then sprinkle with the crispy bacon bits. Take the other cake out of the freezer, level if needed, squirt with the syrup, and place it atop the other cake. Spread a thin layer of frosting (crumb coat, if you will) all around the sides and the top of the cake. Then, put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to one hour. This will “solidify” the first coat to help you create a smoother frosting later on.

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• While the cake is cooling in the fridge, take 0.5 lb. (approx. 225 grams) of bacon and using the same two-sheet pan method, cook them in the oven. This time, do not let them get too crispy. You want them cooked through but still pliable so you can put them around the cake. Take the cake out of the fridge and apply another layer of frosting. Once you’re just about happy with the smoothness of the frosting (I lied, I’m never happy with the smoothness, I need to learn more), stick the whole bacon pieces around the sides, sort of shingling them to create a more artistic look. Stick it back in the fridge if you want to take the next (optional) step.

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• Optional step: the picture of the bacon cake from the video game has some drips around the sides so I did try to create that by thickening some maple syrup. Honestly I was too impatient for this step so it didn’t turn out quite how I envisioned it but again, I would have liked to try again in the distant future. Noting it here if y’all want to try it: dissolve 1.5 teaspoons powdered gelatin into 2 tablespoons of water and let sit while you heat up 0.5 cup of maple syrup in a small pan. Once the syrup starts to simmer, pour in the gelatin mixture and stir until completely dissolved. Cook for another few minutes and then take off the heat. Let it cool to lukewarm and then pour into another squeeze bottle. Let cool some more (gelatin will thicken and solidify as it cools) and test it out from time to time. Once you get the right consistency, then carefully squeeze it on top, around the sides of the cake, letting some drip over to create the look.

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• Finally, take your very crispy half bacon pieces and stick them on top of the cake in whatever pattern you like. These are the wow factor so go crazy here. Last but not least, present it while singing happy birthday to the bacon-lover in your life. 🙂