Friday, September 4, 2009

International Bacon Day!


The curious up-front truth is that meat really doesn't squeal my wheels, and every day I step further and further away from it. That said, if I could only eat one meat the rest of my life, as much as I adore fish, I would choose pork, and I'd even be willing to narrow THAT choice down to bacon/ham. I. Love. Bacon and Ham. YUM.

I do my level best to thank the hapless pig that gave its life so that I might savor the pleasures of its flesh and continue to life, but for someone as sensitive as I am to the plight of animals and our planet, loving pork as I do goes TOTALLY against the grain. So does my love of leather and fur, and I hope someday to come to terms with my cravings. Not today, though. And not tomorrow, for tomorrow is International Bacon Day!

In celebration of those incredibly delectable, crisp strips of fat and meat, I'm planning to make maple cupcakes with rich chocolate ganache, and topped with (drum roll, please) BACON!

Alas, I didn't make up such a wonderful idea, it came from the folks who started International Bacon Day; Tee & Cakes in Boulder, Colorado, USA. As logistically, I cannot possibly get to their shop tomorrow, I hope to replicate...or come close, anyway...their lovely bacon cupcake (shown at the top of the page). I'm considering two different recipes, though one is definitely in the lead as the other is from "Cooking Lite," and "Lite" just seems wrong somehow when celebrating bacon.

This is real...currently available in L.A.

Once I've created the cake, I have to address the dark chocolate ganache that will hold the bacon pieces on top. One recipe I have calls for instant coffee, the other for dark rum. Now believe me when I tell you that the coffee makes a frosting too rich to believe...and hey, coffee, maple, cream, and bacon? Obviously, this is breakfast in the making! So many choices, and only a single day of celebration. Oh well, there's always next year.

If I had some of this (available in Seattle), my choice of ganache would be easy.

So what d'you think? Which dose of death by maple, chocolate, and bacon should I choose? *sigh* So much sacrifice in the name of porcine glory.

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