Bacon Maple Cake

Happy Fathers Day everyone! 

Aaron made a special request for Fathers Day this year: a bacon maple cake! Aaron loves bacon and if it were up to him he would have bacon in everything. 

I know what you must be thinking, bacon does not belong in a cake. If I had not had a bacon maple doughnut a couple years back, I might have thought the same thing.

The way the flavors of this cake came together created a sweet, salty, and rich dessert that was delicious. The cake itself was a brown sugar cake. I love the variety from your average cake brown sugar adds. The middle frosting was a cream cheese frosting with bits of bacon mixed in, while the outside frosting was a maple flavor.

This cake was a huge success. We visited both our fathers on Sunday and brought the cake along. Not everyone was dying to try a piece, except for my 2 year old niece, but they were all very pleased after the first bite and even went back for seconds.

Brown Sugar Cake
3 3/4 cup flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cup buttermilk
5 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9" cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper and butter the paper.
2. In a large mixer bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the brown sugar, butter, and 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk to the dry ingredients. With the mixer on low, blend to incorporate. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Whisk the eggs with the remaining 1/4 cup of buttermilk and vanilla. Add to the batter in three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl well and beating only until incorporated. Divide the batter among the three prepared cake pans.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes; then remove from pan, peel off the parchment paper, and let cool completely on wire racks.

Bacon Frosting

4 tablespoons butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 lb bacon

4 teaspoons reserved bacon grease

1. Cook the bacon until crispy, set aside and let cool. Reserve 4 teaspoons of the grease, set aside.
2. Beat the cream cheese and butter together until well combined and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, mix until combined. Add the bacon grease and mix well.
3. In a food processor or blender, blend half of the cooked bacon until they are small pieces. Reserve the other half of the bacon for the outside of the cake.
4. Stir bits of bacon in the frosting until combined. Frost between the layers of cake with this frosting.

Maple Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup maple syrup

12 oz cream cheese, softened

6 cups powdered sugar,sifted after measured

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the syrup, raise the heat to medium-low, and boil for 5 minutes. Stir continually so the syrup does not burn.
2. Pour the hot maple butter mixture into a heatproof bowl and let cool to room temperature.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until lightened. Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy, making sure to scrape down the edges of the bowl as you go. Add the maple butter mixture and beat until completely blended.
4. Frost the outside of the cake with this frosting. Break the remaining bacon with your hands, so the pieces are coarse, and place on the edges of the cake.

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The Brown Sugar cake and Maple Frosting recipes are adapted from the William Sonoma "Sky High" book.

The Bacon Frosting and compilation of this cake are original.