Joshua Party

Joshua's birthday was low key and turned out to be a truly fabulous time. We hung out in a brewery with a lot of our friends in a cozy room covered in paneled wood. We had his favorite pizza, Ballard pizza, delivered even though we probably could have walked to get it faster, where's the fun in that? Shared some pitchers and ate some cake with bacon in it, win! Best of all Joshua had a really great time, thanks to all for making it so!!!

To the cake- I saw this cake on a blog and was dying to try it, luckily it was Joshua's birthday and his birthday cake is always up for my experimenting. The cake was so fluffy and light, the almond paste made it sweet and the cardamom bacon cut the sweetness delightfully and then who doesn't love a ton of whiskey ganache (answer no one)

Almond cake with cardamom rubbed bacon and whiskey ganache:

10 slices thick cut bacon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

8 oz almond paste

6 eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1/2 cup sugar

1    preheat oven to 400 degrees F and mix together cardamom and brown sugar in a bowl
2    gently dredge bacon on both sides through the mixture
3    cover a baking sheet in aluminum foil and place on a lower rack and then place bacon slices on rack above baking sheet, bake for 10 minutes on one side, flip and bake until done - about 7 more minutes. Remove from oven and let cool then chop bacon slices into pieces
4    preheat oven to 350 degrees F and flour 2-8" cake pans
5    combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl
6    in another bowl beat almond paste for a few minutes, then beat in egg YOLKS, once well mixed beat in vanilla
7    in another whisk beat egg whites and pinch of salt until it forms soft peaks, then slowly whisk in sugar and whisk until they form stiff peaks
8    then fold egg whites into the almond paste mixture, then fold in the flour mixture, and finally fold in the bacon pieces
9    pour half the batter in each cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, a toothpick should come out clean


Whiskey Ganache:
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
8 oz dark chocolate
3 tbs whiskey

1    fill a small saucepan with a little water and then place a small pot in it
2    place cream, chocolate and whiskey in pot and melt it all together over medium heat
3    once it is all melted together remove from heat and let sit until cool, about an hour
4    then once cool whip it all up so it's fluffy and spread onto cake layers