Sweet and Savory: Bacon Chocolate Cinnamon Cake

Last weekend was my friend's birthday party and I wanted to bake something different for him because I was bored with the usual cake flavors. I was thinking about possible flavor combination when an idea hit me. Bacon chocolate cake! I had this amazing bacon chocolate chip pancake cupcake from Phoebe's cupcakes in Chicago and it was one of the best cupcakes I have ever sunk my teeth into. The cake was moist, the sweetness of the frosting was just right, and the bacon made the perfect smokey savory topping. Seriously, it was sooooo good! I had to find a way to replicate that cupcake into a bigger cake. I looked for recipes in my baking books and I decided to use the genoise and cream cheese frosting recipes from Sherry Yard's "The Secret of Baking" with slight modifications. I added cinnamon, nutmeg and maple syrup to the genoise batter and cream cheese frosting to make them more breakfasty. Then, I made the best part of the cake, bacon dipped in chocolate! I crumbled the chocolate-dipped bacon for the filling and topping, glazed the cake with chocolate ganache, and decorated the cake with a few whole pieces of the bacon, done! Mmmm.... it tasted very similar with the cupcake, but it was a little bit drier probably because I put the cake in the fridge. It was still very delicious though. Some of my friends were skeptical about it, but most of them liked the cake after they tried it :D For those of you out there who are not convinced, just try the cupcake or make this cake then you can decide whether you like it or not. Be careful though, you can get addicted ^^