Yes, I caved to the bacon craze. I've been trying to plan out these cupcakes for a while now thanks to a not-so-helpful suggestion from my dear little brother. I asked him for a suggestion of what I could pair with chocolate besides caramel or fruit and his first response was "BACON!" Now I must admit that I have never been a huge fan of bacon (I prefer sausage) but I do like it, especially with syrup or on burgers. I can't really say I've ever thought of it with chocolate, but my brother is a weird kid and he will eat anything.
Anyway, he did get me thinking about this bacon and sweets idea. I have a killer maple butter cream recipe and bacon and maple are a fairly obvious combo. I've done caramel butter cream with chocolate, so I figured maple would work pretty darn well as a substitute. That lead me to the brilliant plan of adding bacon to the maple frosting and using a not-too-sweet chocolate cupcake as the base. I started making the cupcakes and kept thinking about how to add the bacon to the frosting. Then I remembered I still had maple sugar which would be perfect to sprinkle on bacon as it was cooling and excellent in the frosting. After cooking the bacon and beginning the frosting I had the brilliant idea to add the bacon to the frosting. Best plan! It added more texture than just sprinkling it on top and it allowed me to add more bacon to each cupcake and keep it on top. So here is my masterpiece:
Chocolate-Buttermilk Cupcakes *makes about 24 cupcakes:
-2 C flour
-1 C unsweetened cocoa
-1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
-pinch of salt
-1 ½ C buttermilk
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 ¾ C sugar
-1/2-3/4 C butter
-3 eggs
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with liners.
2.In a bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. In 2-cup liquid measuring cup, mix buttermilk and vanilla; set aside.
3. In another, large bowl, with mixer on low speed, beat sugar and butter until blended. Increase speed to high; beat 3 minutes or until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Beat in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture just until blended, beginning and ending with flour mixture, scraping bowl occasionally.
5. Pour batter into prepared tins. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
Bacon-Maple Frosting:
- 1/2 c butter
- 3 1/2 c confectioners (powdered) sugar...or 1/4 c maple sugar, the rest powdered, if you have it (but it's still yummy if you don't)
-1/4 milk
-1/4 c or more of decent maple syrup (I like the darker ones because the flavor is more intense but really whatever you have on hand)
-about 5 slices of well-cooked bacon, sprinkled with maple sugar (if you have it) crumbled
1. Cook the bacon: heat a cast iron pan over medium heat and cook bacon until crispy. Pat with paper towels to drain, sprinkle with maple sugar (if using).
2. Make the butter cream: with an electric mixer, mix the butter and about 1/3 c sugar at a time, adding more sugar once it has been incorporated, adding milk as needed to thin the frosting out. *You may need more sugar to taste, so taste as you go
3. Drizzle maple syrup into the frosting and taste as you go so it doesn't get too sweet.
4. Crumble or tear the bacon into little, tiny pieces and mix into the butter cream with a big frosting knife or a spoon (you don't need the mixer here).
5. Frost liberally and serve immediately!
