Prepare all ingredients for the chicken thigh cake. Prepare the barbecue using the indirect method at a temperature of 120 gr.C. In the meantime, light the smoke generator with cherry pellets so that they start to smolder.

Make the chicken rub by mixing the Brown caster sugar, sea salt, paprika powder, black pepper, smoked paprika powder, garlic powder and cayenne pepper in a mortar. You can also use an electric coffee grinder for this.

Cut the chicken thighs into cubes. (Not too small!) Mix the chicken thigh cubes with 20 grams of the chicken rub. Let it ‘soak’ for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the onions into half rings and the red bell pepper into strips, roughly chop the garlic and quarter the mushrooms.

Add the bacon cubes to the chicken thigh cubes and mix together. Cover the cake tin (30 cm) with the bacon strips. Place the bacon strips in the cake tin on one of the long sides so that they cover the bottom partly and that they hang over the cake tin on the outside. Spread a little barbecue sauce on the part of the bacon strips that are on the bottom of the cake tin and sprinkle some chicken rub over it. Now cover the other long side of the cake tin (and part of the bottom) with bacon strips and finally also cover the 2 short sides, Make sure that the bacon strips party overlap each other. Coat the bacon strips that are on the bottom of the tin with barbecue sauce and sprinkle some chicken rub on it.

FIll the cake tin with some of the onions, bell pepper, garlic and mushrooms as the first layer. Place a layer of chicken thighs with bacon subes on top, preses Well so that every space is filled. Place another layer of vegetables on top followed by another layer of chicken thighs on top. Sprinkle a lot of chicken rub over the last layer of chicken thighs. Cover the rilling with a layer of vegetables. Fold the bacon strips over the chicken thigh cake over and over, so that the cake is nicely closed. Finally, sprinkle some chicken rub over the cake.

Place the chicken thigh cake in the barbecue* above the indirect zone and let it cook to a core temperature of 58 gr. C. Place the smoke generator with cherry pellets or cherry wood in the barbecue.

When the core temperature of the cake has reached 58 gr. C., drain the liquid from the cake tin. Collect this liquid in a container to make a glaze. Remove the cake from the cake tin and put it black on the indirect zone of the barbecue. Cook the chicken thigh cake to a core temperature of 78 gr. C.

For the glaze, bring the liquid from the cake tin to the boil together with the barbecue sauce while stirring and let it simmer for 5 minutes on low heat. As spoon as the sauce has reduced a little, glaze the cake all around and let it caramelise gently for a nice color and tasty crust.

When the chicken thigh cake reached a core temperature of 78 gr. C. It can be removed from the barbecue. Let it rest for another 15 minutes before serving it.

Look here for more chicken recipes: https://www.melebest.com/poultry-dishes/

Have fun barbecuing.

*Time indication: around 4 hours