Day 28: French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream and Candied Bacon

I recently discovered the IRON Cupcake Challenge! here in San Francisco.  This month's challenge: Bacon.  I signed up too late to officially participate, but I was so inspired that I felt the need to make something anyway.  I'm going to need to sign up early next month.


I was torn between this and a Potatoe Cupcake with Sourcream Frosting and Candied Bacon (thank you Kate for the idea!).  Next time I'll expirment with the vegetable based cupcake.  This time around, I worked on consistancy and presentation.  

The cupcakes are so good.  Candied bacon is going to go on everything now.  I walked around San Francisco with these cupcakes for half a day with these cupcakes and I got so many ooh's and aah's.  One person even mentioned selling them at a coffee shop.  Please note my extremely excited husband.








French Toast Cupcakes
Originally adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson.  I got this from The Busty Baker.
Makes 14 (I only got ll)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and then cooled
2 eggs
1 tsp maple extract
1/2 cup milk
10-12 slices bacon

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line baking pan with paper liners.

2. Make Candied Bacon (See below for recipe)

3. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Whisk in maple extract. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour mix and two of milk, beating until smooth. Fold in small bacon pieces. Mix until evenly distributed throughout batter.

5. Scoop batter into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.

---

Maple Buttercream
Originally adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson.  I got it from The Busty Baker.
Makes enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes

2 cups confectioner's sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (I used some pure Maple syrup made right here in Ohio!)
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
Pinch of salt

1. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add maple syrup, maple extract, and salt, and beat until well combined. Add confectioner's sugar, half cup at a time, and beat until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

2. Frost or pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Top with inch-long bacon pieces.

---

Candied Bacon
Originally published in Gourmet, February 2007.  I got the recipe from Epicurious.

• 1/2 lb bacon slices (10 slices)
• 1/2 cup Demerara sugar (I used raw brown sugar)

• Special equipment: brown paper such as a grocery bag or butcher paper

Cook bacon in 2 batches in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning over once, until bacon is lightly browned on edges but still flexible, 5 to 6 minutes total per batch. Transfer bacon as cooked to paper towels to drain.
Pour off fat from skillet and arrange bacon in skillet in 1 layer. Sprinkle Demerara sugar over bacon and cook over low heat, turning occasionally with tongs, until sugar is dissolved, caramelized (sugar melts very slowly and burns easily; reduce heat if necessary after sugar begins to caramelize), and coats bacon, 8 to 10 minutes. (Bacon will be dark and look lacquered.) Transfer bacon with tongs to brown paper to cool.

Cooks' notes: 

·Don't be tempted to transfer bacon to paper towels to drain — the sugar will make the bacon stick to them.
·Bacon can be made 1 day ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature, but it will become less crisp.
·Before cleaning skillet, add a few inches of water to it, then add tongs and boil to dissolve hardened sugar from pan and tongs.

Side Note: Big shout out to Mama Bear, for the lovely outfit (as seen above) and the frosting bags to make my cupcakes so pretty. xoxoxo