Brown Sugar Bacon Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream

Good afternoon, all! It's definitely been a while since I posted. It's mainly because I've had a dry spell in cake orders. :( But I've also been busy at work. This past weekend, Roger (my Betrothed) celebrated the completion of his first year at law school! So I wanted to surprise him with a delicious treat made with something he loves. I've done the chocolate, the peanut butter, and even chocolate and peanut butter. So I went a bit more out of the box...

BACON!!

And speaking of "out of the box," I made these cupcakes from scratch! :)

•  1/2 c bacon, cooked and chopped (about 8 pieces)
• 2 Tbsp bacon grease, cooled
• 1 c loosely packed dark brown sugar (you can also use light)
• 1 large egg
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 c milk
• 1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

 First, start by frying up the bacon.

Save the grease and let it cool!

Also, melt the butter and let it cool.
Then preheat the oven to 350 and line your cupcake pans. This recipe was intended for 12 cupcakes, but I ended up with 15.

In a bowl the dry ingredients go. Then stir them with a fork to blend.

In a larger bowl, whisk the brown sugar and egg until smooth. Then slowly pour in the melted butter, bacon grease, vanilla,and milk, whisking until all is combined.

Add the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until smooth.

Then fold in that chopped bacon!

Scoop the batter with a 1/4 c measure and bake for 16-19 minutes.

Check the bacon bits!

Yum!

While the cupcakes are cooling,candy some bacon to go on top. Toss 5 strips of bacon in 1/3 c of brown sugar and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Lay the bacon out on a parchment-line backing sheet and sprinkle the strip with the remaining brown sugar mixture.

Place another piece of parchment on top and another baking sheet on top of that, so that the bacon lays flat while baking. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes, then check the bacon. If it is still soft, place the bacon back in the oven for another 15 - 20 minutes. Remove top pan and parchment and let cool.

To make the maple buttercream, I added some prepared maple icing (found at cake supply stores) to my vanilla buttercream. Another alternative is adding 2 Tbsp of actual maple syrup to the buttercream, or adding maple flavor (although I don't know how authentic the flavor tastes).

 I added a drizzle of the leftover maple icing and some fudge icing (just for a little chocolate kick) and a piece of the candied bacon on top. These turned out amazing! :) I was super-excited that the cupcakes turned out awesome, and these will definitely go on the menu in my future bakery. :)

I also had a fun time making these cuppin' cakes. I felt like I was on Epic Meal Time, bacon-flippin', candying bacon, and a-drippin' that choc-uh-late sawse!

Congrats to Roger for completing his 1L year!