Bacon Chocolate Birthday Cake – September Short Projects

Last night my family had a special dinner to celebrate a very good friend’s birthday… her dinner choice? Breakfast for dinner. Awesome. It doesn’t get any better than that, folks.

I was making a cake, and to keep it in theme, I decided to add a little breakfast-flavour with some bacon. For those of you who follow food trends, I am told that caramelised/candied/maple bacon is just the thing to have with sweet treats these days. I’ve sampled some bacon popcorn, maple cupcakes with bacon and even a caramel slice with bacon, and I have to say that I am a fan.

Because the rest of my family were doubters (my mum emphatically said YUCKKK when I suggested it), I decided to make some bacon chocolate to put on top of the cake, so that it could be picked off if necessary. It turned out not to be necessary – everyone was a fan of bacon chocolate as it turned out (especially me!).

I decided to add some chocolate eggs to fit in with the ‘bacon and eggs’ theme of the night. Where will you find chocolate eggs in September, I asked myself. It turns out, anywhere you look. My mum was able to find multiple packs of yummy Cadbury eggs, and I snagged a Kinder Surprise. I think Easter might last all year now.

Anyway, the instructions are just below. Happy Birthday (again) Jacinta! <3 I hope you’re enjoying the leftovers. ;)

Bacon Chocolate Birthday Cake

Ingredients:

• Cake mix
• Cake frosting
• 3 rashers of bacon
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
• Approximately 70g chocolate
• Chocolate eggs for decorating

Method:

1. Mix up your cake mix and put it in the oven first thing – it will need time to cool before you decorate it.
2. Cut up the bacon (minus fat) into tiny pieces.
3. Fry up the bacon until it is well browned. Remove from heat.
4. Add maple syrup to the pan, and mix well with the bacon until it is coated fully. Return to a low heat if necessary. Set to one side.
5. Heat the chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave, removing and stirring every 30 seconds to ensure that it does not burn.
6. On a piece of baking paper, spread the chocolate out to form a thin disk.
7. Spring the bacon pieces over the melted chocolate, and place the bacon chocolate in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Once hard, break or cut the chocolate into pieces.
8. When the cake has cooled, ice it with the frosting. Place the chocolate bacon around the cake. Decorate with chocolate eggs if desired.