This is singlehandedly one of the most bizarre flavour combinations i’ve done on my blog or YouTube channel… However it works really well. If you haven’t tried these before and like something a little different, this is the recipe for you.
To make the bacon candied, you’ll want to take your rashers of bacon and give each side a coating with light brown sugar, then place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes at 160˚c/320˚f. Once done, transfer to a plate and allow to cool fully. Keep enough bacon back to place a small piece on top of each cupcake (1 piece for 6 cupcakes or 2 pieces for 12 cupcakes).
The bacon isn’t just your standard type you’d have on your fry up – it been candied, which adds a different flavour and makes it sweet, savour and bacon-y. The first bite is a little confusing as you’re not expecting it to be sweet but it hits you with the sweet, the savoury and maple flavour. I used quite a lot of maple syrup in the recipe but it balances well with the bacon and adds a distinct flavour of its own (which isn’t a bad thing, it all ties together and turns out well).
The cupcake isn’t too different to my usual recipe, it uses light brown sugar over granulated white sugar (to add a certain caramel-y flavour to it, this works wickedly well with the flavours) and the buttercream isn’t a basic buttercream (butter, icing sugar and favouring), it’s my favourite Italian buttercream, which is richer and smoother and not overly sweet compared to a basic buttercream.
Making the cupcakes isn’t overly hard, you’ll want to use the creaming method to mix the cake. This is where you start by adding the butter and sugar into your mixing bowl and beating the two together until they are very well incorporated, you can tell when this stage is done as the mixture will be lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this can take up to 5 minutes using an electric mixer (stand or hand). Once the butter and sugar are light and fluffy, you can then add your eggs and maple syrup, beating well in-between each addition. Once the eggs and maple syrup have been fully incorporated, you can give the bowl a quick scrape down (this is just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in).
Next comes adding the plain flour, baking powder and salt but make sure you pass it through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the dry ingredients. Once in the bowl, mix them in to incorporate on a medium speed. Be careful not to over mix the cake batter at this stage, otherwise the cakes will turn out tougher in texture. Once your dry ingredients are just about incorporated, add in your chopped bacon and mix again just enough to fairly distribute the bacon in the cake batter.
Now that you’ve got your batter done, you can divide it between your cupcake cases. You can fill a piping bag with the cake batter and pipe an equal amount into each case or using two spoons, spooning equal amounts into each case, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes (or until well risen and a tester comes out clean). Allow to cool fully before finishing them.
The buttercream takes a little longer to make but is totally worth it. Start by placing the water and sugar into a small saucepan over a medium-high heat until it reaches 121˚c/250˚f – this takes about 5-7 minutes. While you wait for the water and sugar to come to temperature, you can place your egg and egg yolks into a mixing bowl and beat them together until lighter in colour and consistency – this doesn’t take very long. Once the sugar water mixture has come to temperature and your egg mixture is ready, you can slowly and steadily start to pour the hot sugar water mixture into the egg mixture – do this on the lowest speed your mixer can go. Once all the liquid has been added, switch the mixer onto high speed and mix until you can touch the bottom of your bowl. Once the bowl is cooled down enough, start to add your butter a little at a time, allowing it to beat in well – once all the butter has been added it will look sort of like butter but this is normal, once it’s flavoured and placed into a piping bag it doesn’t look so much like butter. Once all the butter has been added, feel free to flavour it with some maple syrup, you can add more or less to suit your preference.
To finish the cupcakes, you’ll want to place your buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle (I opted for my favourite open star tip but use whatever you prefer). Then go ahead and pipe the buttercream onto each cupcake, then top with a piece of bacon and optionally, drizzle over some more maple syrup.
So that’s my recipe for maple bacon cupcakes, I hope you enjoy. Don’t forget to let me know if you make one of my recipes. Don’t forget to check out my social medias and YouTube channel.
Ingredients:
Candied Bacon:
10 Rashers of bacon.
100g Light brown sugar.
Cupcake:
175g Butter.
175g Light brown sugar.
2 eggs.
45-60ml Maple syrup.
175g Plain flour.
1 tsp Baking powder.
1/2 tsp Salt.
8 Rashers of bacon, chopped.
Buttercream:
35g Water.
125g Granulated white sugar.
1 Egg.
2 Egg yolks.
250g Butter.
Maple syrup (flavour to suit you).
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