Okay, I know what you are thinking. There’s no way this is going to be good. Or, then again, maybe you have already tasted the wonders of the chocolate and bacon combination. My first taste was with a very expensive chocolate bar at Whole Foods: Mo’s Dark Bacon Bar.
Folks, it was good. Really good.
In my humble opinion, dark chocolate and crunchy bacon go great together. It reminds me of chocolate covered pretzels in the sense that it is a salty and sweet, crunchy taste sensation. I cannot eat pretzels so….why not add bacon?!
My husband, G, just had a birthday and I was trying to convince him to let me make him a paleo-friendly coconut flour birthday cake. He was reluctant because he, unlike me, is not crazy about coconut flour. To gain his acquiescence I suggested a chocolate cake. He was more interested. Then it occurred to me that I could make a chocolate frosting that included some bacon. So did he come around, you may ask?
Let’s just say I had him at “bacon”.
Here’s what I did to make the chocolate ganache bacon frosting:
I found some high quality 100% dark chocolate – there’s no sugar added, just cacao.
I chopped up two of these 4 ounce bars into small pieces.
I melted the chocolate with some coconut oil and maple syrup until it was smooth, creamy and pleasantly sweet.
I baked some bacon (here’s how to bake bacon) until it was very crispy.
I chopped up the bacon into small pieces.
Mmmm bacon….
I used the chocolate ganache bacon frosting on the paleo chocolate coconut flour mini birthday cake.
It turned out great. G was very happy and both our boys loved it.
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dark chocolate (preferably 100% dark/bittersweet baking chocolate)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 4-6 tablespoons maple syrup (amount depends on your taste and the % of cacao in your dark chocolate)
- 4 pieces of bacon – cooked crispy and chopped into bits
Instructions
- Chop the dark chocolate into small pieces and place in a double boiler or a glass bowl on top of a pot of water that you will bring to a simmer.
- As the chocolate begins to melt add the coconut oil and maple syrup.
- Stir gently until the mixture melts and is smooth.
- Check the taste and add a little more maple syrup if you prefer.
- Allow the chocolate ganache to cool.
- Stir in the bacon bits.
Notes: You can obviously make this chocolate ganache frosting and leave out the bacon if you prefer. The taste and consistency are similar to the LoveBean fudge I bought in Austin. The recipe makes approximately 1 cup of chocolate ganache bacon frosting. It was enough for a small layer cake (5″ cake pans). If you want to use it for a full-size cake you might want to double the recipe.
I plan to post the recipe for the paleo birthday cake very soon so stay tuned. (In the meantime you could try it on Chocolate Paleo Snack Cake)
See how cute it is!
PrintChocolate Ganache Bacon Frosting
Bacony Chocolate Frosting. Ever had chocolate covered bacon? Good huh? Well it’s just like that except it goes ON A CAKE!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 1 cup of frosting 1x
- Category: Frosting, Dessert
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dark chocolate (preferably 100% dark/bittersweet baking chocolate)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 4–6 tablespoons maple syrup (amount depends on your taste and the % of cacao in your dark chocolate)
- 4 pieces of bacon – cooked crispy and chopped into bits
Instructions
- Chop the dark chocolate into small pieces and place in a double boiler or a glass bowl on top of a pot of water that you will bring to a simmer.
- As the chocolate begins to melt add the coconut oil and maple syrup.
- Stir gently until the mixture melts and is smooth.
- Check the taste and add a little more maple syrup if you prefer.
- Allow the chocolate ganache to cool.
- Stir in the bacon bits.
What do you think? Does this sound like a good idea or would you turn up your nose to chocolate bacon frosting?
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I would eat a chocolate-bacon anything in a heartbeat. I just had a big lunch, but this recipe made me hungry again. 🙂
Sound good? IT’S GENIUS!
It sounds A-mazing! Chocolate, coconut AND bacon? Heaven sent! I just reblogged this at http://bigcheflittlekitchen.wordpress.com/. I hope you don’t mind. I am looking forward to trying it with the cake recipe so I’ll hang on your every word until then 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Hi Alicia. Thanks for linking to my post. I’m glad you like the idea of the recipe and I hope will like the recipe when you try it!
It does sound delicious!
I would have not associated chocolate with bacon but why not.
I am going to make my own chocolate though (from cocoa butter and cocoa powder). I gestimate that I will need around 2/3 cups of melted chocolate?
Thank you.
I am looking forward to your cake recipe.
Sounds delicious. I love bacon and chocolate together! A friend of mine takes half strips of crispy bacon then dips them in melted chocolate and sprinkles them with crushed pistachios. Using a half strip makes them the right size for finger food. She brought them to a superbowl party as an appetizer and they were gone about 45 seconds after she walked in the door.
Oh my goodness, I want to make that!
I thought it sounded pretty bad initially but when you compared it to chocolate covered pretzels it made more sense, the salty-sweet thing, and actually sounds quite good to me now. I haven’t had a chocolate covered pretzel in years since going paleo so this sounds like a great once in a while substitute. Thanks for the post. The little piggies on the cake are hilarious and tie in perfectly with the bacon.
Aw, thanks. It does take a bit of effort to sort of wrap one’s mind around the concept of chocolate and bacon. But I do believe the combo works under the right conditions.
Tonight, I’m going to go home and make this with one modification. Why add palm oil when you’ve just rendered out all that bacon fat? MMmmmmmm…..
Hi. I don’t buy chocolate much anymore but I stock up on cocoa powder and I was wondering if I could use cocoa powder instead of dark chocolate. Would it turn out okay? And if so how much cocoa powder would I need? Thanks!
I haven’t experimented with using cocoa powder in this recipe so I’d have to experiment with it before making a recommendation.
If you replace chocolate with cocoa powder, you’re leaving out the fat that comes with the chocolate. That will render a very different texture, if it works at all. Ganache is about the fats. So if you remove the cocoa fats, you’ll need to replace them with something. The bacon fat might work, so might more cream.
But either way, just replacing the chocolate with cocoa powder will result in a poorer texture.
Yes! I made the chocolate birthday cake for my little girl’s party, but I reserved one portion so that I could try out this ganache. I’m so glad I did!
And the cake got rave reviews! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I don’t know if I did something wrong, but i followed the recipe to the letter and my Ganache turned into a hard shell over my cake. This is the second time this has happened to me. Is it supose to be like a hard shell coating or am I missing step?
Turned out awesome! Made this today for my little guys 2nd birthday and wow what a hit! All the non paleo family couldn’t believe it wasn’t bought! Have to brag about the maple syrup I use, my parents make their own maple syrup out of up state New York, grade A amber (aka the best syrup ever)
Oh how much I love this. I was so surprised at how good the consistency is. I’m a professional caker and did this along with your paleo birthday cake as we get healthier and change our taste buds. We will be cutting the cake tonight for my husbands birthday but I couldn’t wait to leave this comment about his ganache. It’s everything you want a ganache to be plus a little more. I was able to neatly ice my cake just like I do with my regular ones.
I forgot to say we left the bacon out. But again. What a dreamy ganache
Larissa,
Wow, I’m so happy you liked the ganache. I really appreciate the great feedback and that you took the time to leave a comment.
Thanks again, Lea