Yeah, it turns out I did let things slack off here.  My mistake.

I really ran into an issue of frustration, because I ended up not getting the help I needed for being able to do the competition, so I ended up not doing it.  Alas.

That said, for those curious as to how I made it work, I basically took a standard yellow cake recipe, and modified it as follows:

For the sugar, I replaced 50% of the white sugar usually used in such a recipe with brown sugar, and 50% with blackstrap molasses.  Then, where the recipe usually calls for butter, I completely replaced it with the same amount, by weight, of lard.

This results in a cake with the right texture that tastes a bit, but not completely, like barbecue sauce.  From there, it’s pretty simple to top with bacon and the frosting of your choice.

I will take ice cream making next – some exciting developments on that front.