Smell that? It's the smoky waft of a world gone mad for bacon. Recently, we've been hit with bacon cookbooks, bacon-scented air fresheners, a bacon food festival, and a national weeklong celebration of all things bacon. American author Heather Lauer taps into the phenomenon in her non-fiction book, Bacon, A Love Story.

No longer reserved for hearty breakfasts and savoury dishes, our favourite cured meat has been no stranger to the dessert world in recent years. Like salted caramel, bacon has the ability to cut through sweetness while intensifying the flavour of its surrounding ingredients, and sometimes adding texture, too.

Many believe we have Heston to thank; his bacon and egg ice-cream was one of the culinary drawcards of the Fat Duck and paved the way for other chefs to pull up their experimental sleeves. But Canadians have been dousing their streaky rashers in maple syrup for decades. Credits aside, here are some bacon confections to try.

Sydney

Bacon and maple cupcake at Black Velvet

Black Velvet baked their first batch of bacon and maple cupcakes as a special order for a client. After tasting their creation, they knew they were onto a winner. Their signature vanilla butter cake base is topped with vanilla buttercream icing and finished with its crowning jewel: crisp maple-candied bacon ($42 per dozen).

3a/110 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst, bvsydney.com

Blame Canada ice-cream at BL Burgers

The Bar Luca team has been busy opening standalone burger joints this year; both the Darlinghurst and soon-to-open Bondi BL Burgers menus feature the Blame Canada ice-cream ($6). Like their experimental burgers, it pushes the dessert envelope by combining vanilla ice-cream, "smoky beefy caramel", maple marshmallow fluff, maple bacon, chocolate-coated potato chips and parmesan. For an extra hit of salt, opt for the Blame FriesCream ($12): all of the above plus smoky caramel sauce, maple bacon bits and chocolate, sitting atop shoestring fries (pictured above).

1/151 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst; 71 Beach Road, Bondi, blburgers.com.au

Maple bacon bar from Grumpy Donuts

Twice-cooked maple-glazed bacon adds crunch to this fluffy, rectangular doughnut ($6). "It has that perfect balance between salty and sweet," says Elise Honeybrook, co-owner of the doughnut delivery service. "We specially shape our dough into a sizeable bar for this flavour."

grumpydonuts.com

Stoner's Delight at Ms. G's

No round-up of bacon desserts is complete without mentioning Dan Hong's ultimate dude-food celebration. Partly inspired by a sandwich Elvis Presley allegedly used to wolf down, version three of the Stoner's Delight (it's evolved slightly over the years, a previous incarnation is pictured at right) is a mash-up of doughnut ice-cream, peanut dulce de leche, peanut pretzel brittle, crisp bacon, Mars Bar brownie, raspberry curd, potato chips and deep-fried Nutella ($16).

155 Victoria Street, Potts Point, merivale.com.au/msgs

Victoria

Salted caramel shake at Grand Trailer Park Taverna

This retro-tastic burger joint, furnished with caravans and Winnebago motorhomes, recommends washing a bun down with a salted caramel shake ($10), finished with a long, crisp slice of maple bacon. Long day? Spike it with a nip of Bulleit bourbon ($19).

87 Bourke Street, Melbourne, grandtrailerpark.com.au

Bacon & smoked maple ice-cream sandwich at Bluebonnet Barbecue

Bluebonnet chef-owner Chris Terlikar's ice-cream sambo ($10) at his recently reopened Texan BBQ joint has amassed a serious following. Maple syrup is smoked with ironbark, then churned with bacon bits and sandwiched between two chewy chocolate cookies. "The bacon bits almost take on a praline texture and it has a little saltiness to cut through the maple," Terlikar says.

32 St Georges Road South, Fitzroy North, bluebonnetbbq.com.au

Queensland

Sitting on the dessert side of the breakfast fence, Artie & Mai's banana french toast ($17) is loaded with decadent trimmings: salted caramel, candied bacon ice-cream, tomato jam, and banana – roasted in its skin.

340 Sandgate Road, Albion, artieandmai.com.au

Doughnutfukwitdis at Ze Pickle

• Ze Pickle opens Sydney spin-off

"As you would be well aware, bacon makes most things better," says Ze Pickle's co-owner Nathan Zuckerman. Ze Pickle's collaboration with Doughnut Time on the Nutella smoked bacon burger almost broke the internet when it launched earlier this year. Bridging the divide between main and dessert, it features a wagyu patty, double jack cheese and house-made Nutella smoked bacon, sandwiched between a Doughnut Time original glazed and grilled doughnut "bun" ($18).

1 Prospect Street, Fortitude Valley; Connor Street, Burleigh Heads; also at 6/17-51 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, zepickle.com

Canberra

Bacon chocolate stout cheesecake at Rocksalt Restaurant

Cheese and bacon are longtime mates, so it's no surprise they work well together in Rocksalt's stout and chocolate cheesecake ($15). This time, it's candied caramel bacon that cuts through the other elements.

4/78 Hawker Place, Canberra, rocksaltcanberra.com.au