Overly Manly Man Cake: Dunkel Beer and Bacon Cake with Salted Caramel Filling and Maple Syrup Buttercream Frosting

Jason’s Birthday and i had to do something special! đŸ˜€ Last year i did a JD and bacon cake with JD dark chocolate ganache! and this year i had to up the stakes!  We were supposed to be home this year and we had to suddenly go to Goa for the paper work for Jason and my Lil one (still sorting it out!) It took me almost 6 hours to finish this cake in my moms tiny lil oven but it turned out great even tho i failed miserably 3 times trying to make salted caramel the proper way… 1. the sugar wasnt brown enough 2. i burnt the sugar black 3. I burnt the sugar dark and bitter… I told myself no more of this damn salted caramel… but i found a quick 7 minute salted caramel recipe online which saved the day! 
The cake itself is a 3 layer cake each of 6×2″ , filling – salted caramel filling, frosting – maple syrup buttercream, topped with candied bacon and few pink pig sprinkles! 

Candied Bacon:

  • Bacon – a small pack (150-200gm)
  • Dunkel (dark) beer – 2 tablespoon 
  • Maple syrup – 1 tablespoon 
  • Brown sugar – as required

Cake:

  • Flour – 330 gm
  • Eggs – 6 large
  • Butter – 300 gm
  • Vanilla – 1 tablespoon
  • Baking powder – 1 tablespoon 1 teaspoon 
  • Sugar – 300 gm 
  • Dunkel beer – 2 cups
  • Candied bacon – handful or more!

7 Minute salted caramel (recipe from “52kitchenadventures“):

  • Butter – 60 gm
  • Brown sugar – 200gm 
  • Heavy / double cream – 120 ml
  • Sea salt – 1/2 teaspoon 
  • Vanilla – 1 teaspoon 

Maple syrup Buttercream frosting:

  • Butter – 250 gm
  • Icing sugar – 450 -550 gm 
  • Vanilla – 1 
  • Maple syrup – 5 Tablespoons
  • Milk – a dash
Method
Candied Bacon:

  • Soak the bacon in a mixture of the dunkel beer and maple syrup for 15- 20 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to about 220 degrees celsius. 
  • On the baking tray, line the base with silver foil and line the beer-maple syrup soaked bacon strips. 
  • Sprinkle brown sugar on both sides of the bacon strips and bake until golden brown about 30-45 minutes. 
  • Once golden brown, chop the bacon into small bits when its hot or it gets difficult to chop!
  • Do this carefully as it is extremely hot sticky and delicious!!! :D 

Beer and Bacon Cake: 

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius, butter and line the cake tin with parchment paper. 
  • Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
  • Beat in one egg at a time until completely light and airy. Add in Vanilla.
  • Sift in the flour and baking powder in small batches, while mixing in the beer. 
  • Once incorporated well. Fold in the bacon bits into the beer batter of the cake. 
  • Divide the batter into 3 batches, bake for about 32-30 minutes. Check from about 30 minutes to see if fully baked.
  • Once baked, let it cool on a cooling rack. 
7 Minute Salted caramel:
As mentioned earlier i failed miserably at this salted caramel, even though i have made it few months ago for my coffee and toffee cupcakes! So here it is 

  • In a heavy bottom saucepan, add in butter, brown sugar, vanilla and heavy cream. 
  • Bring it to boil, once boiled whisk it on the heat for about 6 minutes. 
  • After that add the vanilla and bring it to boil for a minute. 
  • Just sprinkle the salt at the end and give it a good mix. Voila… 
Maple syrup buttercream frosting:
As much as i would like maple syrup in pretty  much everything i want to eat.. i cant its not easy to find some things in india and even if u find it… its pretty expensive… such is this.. i was glad we were in Goa for Jason’s bday coz Goa is probably one of the places you would literally find everything you wont in most places in India.  

  • Cream the butter until light, fluffy and pale. 
  • Beat in the icing sugar in small batches, add the maple syrup and vanilla in between. 
  • Beat until the right consistency. 

It is quite difficult to work with buttercream in India when its hot.. most times it melts while i am piping! so i keep cooling it and frosting and cooling. 

Assembling the cake: 

  • Place a layer of the cake on a cake board or even a chopping board, which ever you have. I got myself a cake turntable but i couldnt travel with it.. so i just used a plate. 
  • Put a big dollop of salted caramel and smoothen to fill a uniform layer. Place the second layer and repeat. 
  • Cool the cake for a while covered in cling film to set.
  • Crumb coat the cake with the maple buttercream, this fills out the gaps inbetween the layers or on the cake if needs be. 
  • Let it cool for about 30 -45 minutes until it sets.
  • Give the cake the final frosting coat. I just used a palette knife for a rustic look.. also i am still learning to decorate big cakes! cupcakes seem more easier to decorate for me. I topped with few pieces of candied bacon which looks like pieces of jewels on the cake! 
Happy Birthday Jason 
aaaaand 
Happy Baking
xoxo

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