Lord of the Sweet and Savory Cupcakes

“‘Aren’t there any grownups?’
’No.’
Merridew sat down on a trunk and looked round the circle.
’Then we’ll have to look after ourselves.’”

— William Golding, Lord of the Flies, page 19

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is one of those books that gets better every time you read it. You always notice more. It's unexpected, but it's unusuality stays with you. So I wanted to make a cupcake that was just as striking.

If you haven't read the book before (you really should), you can probably tell by the cover of my copy that pig is involved in some way. So I decided to incorporate pig into my cupcake... specifically, the frosting.

Like most people probably would, I immediate thought of bacon. But I don't really like bacon, so I decided to use a New Jersey staple: Taylor Ham (or Pork Roll).

But what else did the boys eat on the island? In chapter four we learn "they ate most of the day, picking fruit where they could reach it and not particular about ripeness or quality" (58). There are a lot of different fruits found on islands, in trees that young boys could reach. So now my question became: what goes with taylor ham?

Bacon goes with banana (and peanut butter), so I thought it would pair nicely with the taylor ham. Especially when it's roasted and paired with maple.

So I made a roasted banana cupcake with a maple and taylor ham buttercream, topped with candied taylor ham pieces.

On to the recipes!

Taylor Ham Spread (I made extra of this to give to my family, so the pictures make it look like I made more than this recipe yields because I quadrupled it (you can keep it in the refrigerator for a week)).

-6 oz  Taylor Ham (bacon would work too)

-1/2 of a sweet onion

-1 tsp  unsalted butter

-2 tbsp  pure maple syrup

-2 tbsp  brown sugar

1. Add the butter to a frying pan on medium-low heat and let it melt.
2. Add the onions and stir, coating them in the butter.
3. Slowly cook until the onions are golden brown and caramelized. Stir every 5 minutes.
4. Scrape the black bits off of the bottom of the pan, and add the maple syrup and brown sugar.
5. Cook for another 5 minutes to create a thick glaze. If it's too thick, you can add a bit more butter or water to loosen it up, but you're also going to be adding the grease from the taylor ham to it, so don't add too much.
6. Cut the taylor ham into cubes and fry in a skillet until crispy. You don't have to add butter.
7. Put the onion mix and the taylor ham into a food processor and blend until you hit the texture you want.

Banana Cupcakes

-1 1/2 c  all purpose flour

-1 tsp  baking powder

-1 tsp  baking soda

-1 tsp  vanilla extract

-4 large bananas (green)

-3/4 c  white sugar

-1 egg

-1/3 c  unsalted butter, melted

1. Place your bananas on a cookie sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. This turns them soft and black, but also brings out their sweetness. Let them cool.
2. Unpeel the bananas into a large bowl, and smash them down with your whisk or a potato masher.
3. Add the sugar, butter, and vanilla, and whisk until combined.
4. Mix in the baking soda and baking powder.
5. Beat in the egg.
6. In parts, whisk in the flour.
7. Place cupcake liners in your cupcake pan.
8. Spoon the batter into the pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Let cool.

Maple and Taylor Ham Buttercream

-3 sticks of unsalted butter

-3 c  confectioner's sugar

-3 tbsp  milk

-3-4 tbsp of Taylor Ham spread from earlier.

-2 tbsp maple syrup

1. Whip the butter in a large bowl.
2. Mix the confectioner's sugar in. Adding it in parts helps make a really smooth frosting.
3. Add the maple syrup and the taylor ham spread, and fold them in.
4. Whisk in the milk to help thicken the frosting.

I used a round tip with my piping bag because I wanted to keep the frosting design simple. The society the boys created on their island was simple, even if it didn't last. I then stuck small pieces of taylor ham, which I had coated in brown sugar, on top to add some texture.

And that's it! Your banana, maple, and taylor ham cupcakes are done! They sound like they shouldn't work, but they manage to surprise everyone who eats them, just like Lord of the Flies manages to surprise everyone who reads it.