Halifax baker creates donair cupcake, with the meat baked right in

A donair cupcake is seen in Halifax on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018. The THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX -- It would only be created in Halifax: The donair cupcake.

A local bakery has created the unlikely confection to go on sale this Saturday -- National Donair Day.

It's vanilla cake with donair meat baked in, topped with donair sauce-cream cheese frosting and sundried tomato sprinkles.

Susie's Shortbreads owner TJ Peach said she couldn't bring herself to include the onions in her sweet take on the city's official food, and she had to substitute sundried tomatoes to avoid a soggy mess.

But she said the odd creation tastes surprisingly good, comparing it to the popular maple bacon cupcake.

"Donair has a sweet sauce to begin with so it was kinda easier for me to incorporate that into our sweet treat," Peach said.

The experiment is drawing a range of enthusiastic reactions from excitement to disgust, but Peach is happy to see her creation generating the same love-or-hate buzz as a donair itself.

"People are either like, 'Oh yeah, I can't wait, I need to try it,' or people are doing the little green puke face on my comments, so it's one way or the other," Peach said.

"We're just doing it to have fun."

Halifax's King of Donair chain supplied the meat and sweet sauce for the baked good, which will be sold at Susie's and at the donair shop's Quinpool Road location on Saturday. King of Donair is also hosting a donair-eating contest alongside the cupcakes.

Peach said she'd been toying with the idea for years but finally decided to give the experiment a try after a Twitter conversation challenged her to the task.

The novelty treats are expected to sell fast, so Peach advised excited patrons to order ahead of time, as she thinks it's unlikely to become a permanent offering.

Halifax regional council made the donair -- a beloved delicacy consisting of a warm pita piled high with spiced meat, sticky-sweet donair sauce and other toppings -- the city's official food in 2015.

It has been praised by the likes of Anthony Bourdain.