Maple Bacon Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

-The Original Maple Bacon Cupcake. Salty. Sweet. Awesome.-

From the Cupcake Archives. Originally posted in early 2007. Some of you may argue that the bacon dessert fad is passe and overdone. Yet this posted up way before the craze went overboard. Studded with bacon and with bacon grease and butter as the base fat you get plenty of bacon flavor. Brown sugar and maple syrup ensure an addicting sweetness. I've rewritten the post and taken new photographs of the recipe.

This is the original bacon cupcake recipe. Enjoy.

~Garrett


So the original impetus for this - as with so many other projects I take on - was an inside joke. Back in high school, in the ancient years of dial-up and when the Spice Girls were still on the radio, my friends and I had a little thing call The Passbook.

-Because we were nerds in high school. Probably still are.-

The Passbook was essentially a choose your own adventure-like story of inside jokes and snide humor that was crafted by our little group. One of us would start a story and then after some set-up, would pass it on to someone else who would write the next section. Often it was all rather inane, though after Columbine we had to keep it hidden as in many of the pages characters who were real people were often killed multiple times (always in humorous manner such as being run over by a HomeGrocer.com truck or death by irony). One of the inside jokes and characters we created was Beatis Goddessa, the Bacon Goddess. B.G. for short.

She became the central mascot of every little project we made and passbook we wrote. B.G. had white hair, spoke in Middle English, wore a skimpy little outfit, and had the power to turn anything or anyone into bacon. Her Ultimate Attack? The Hyper Bacon Cannon where she would fire a beam of bacon flavored pain at her enemies and, verily, smite them with much badassery.

It sounds silly now, I suppose. (Okay, I know.) However, we loved her.


I was talking with my best friend, Janelle, my bud since we were both five and whom our parents thought would be my future bride (if not for the whole, you know, gay thing on my side of the equation). She and I had been major participants of The Passbook and B.G. held a lot of meaning. As we chatted we moved from high school reminiscence to cooking and she suggested making a cupcake inspired by B.G.

A bacon cupcake? At the time, back in 2007, it was an odd suggestion. Practically unfathomable.

-Porcine madness!-

The first thing I decided to do at was call up friend and dessert chef extraordinaire Shuna Lydon. I explained that I knew the cupcake had to use maple syrup as it seemed a logical sugar to offset the saltiness of the bacon, and because, darn it, it tasted so good when the syrup lugubriously crawled over from my waffles to the bacon on my Sunday breakfast.

She gave me a few quick lessons in utilizing maple syrup in baked goods and how to keep a batter from breaking due to it's chemical composition. From there we seemed to have proper balance of salty to sweet.

Ahh, but how to cram in enough bacon flavor? Yes, you can add crumbled bacon on top of the cupcake or crumble it in, but it can get lost once you frost it. No, what you do is make bacon and allow the grease to solidify. Beat it with butter as your base fat, a classic southern baking trick often used for cornbread or biscuits, and you have a super bacony cake crumb.

This cupcake is an outside-of-the-box cupcake. A breakfast cupcake. A cupcake for those who eat with no fear.

Bacon.

In a cupcake.

-Because life is better when cake is filled with bacon.-

Yeeeah. That's right. It's okay to swoon, scream in lust, and throw your underwear at the screen in adoration. I'll pause for a second. Just be sure to wipe your saliva off the keyboard before you continue reading.

The maple frosting can be sprinkled with large grain turbinado sugar and flake salt to create layers of texture and flavor. Another way to go about garnishing the cupcake is a piece of bacon. Admittedly, the latter works better for appearance and is far easier, but using the large grain sugar and flake salt will ensure a far more satisfying and engaging treat (depending who you talk to).

I also encourage you to use quality, locally produced bacon. The fat will be purer, the taste not so artificially salty, and you'll get more pork with a huskier and meatier flavor.

If you're a fan of salty-sweet combos, then you'll like this cupcake as it shows off bacon's true versatility as not just a tasty breakfast bit, but a true key ingredient in sweet things. Bacon is a curious ingredient that's eager to preform for you, and prove its worth as more than a side to your scrambled eggs. I think if you like to dip your bacon in the pool of maple syrup around your waffles then you'll like this cupcake.

Special thanks to my best bud, Janelle, for the awesome picture of Bacon Goddess.


Maple Bacon Cupcakes
Makes 6-8 / 350F oven

4 1/2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 tablespoon bacon drippings (left in the fridge to become solid)
1 egg, beaten
5 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons Grade B maple syrup
1 1/4 cup self rising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
minuscule pinch kosher salt
1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup minced bacon, cooked and drained (extra for garnish, if desired)
large grain turbinado sugar (optional, for garnish))
flake salt (optional, for garnish)

1) Cook some bacon in a fry pan (about 6 thick strips). Reserve the drippings and place in the fridge to solidify. Mince 1/4 a cup of the bacon. The chef should eat whatever is left to assure that the bacon is tasty.

2) Beat the crud out of the butter and solidified bacon fat 'till light and creamy. Add the brown sugar and maple syrup and beat well until combined.

3) Add the egg and beat until incorporated.

4) Sift the flour, salt, baking soda and powder together. Seriously, do it. You want a fine crumb for this recipe.

5) Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix, then 1/2 of the milk, then continue to alternate the dry and wet ingredients, ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in the bacon.

6) Scoop into cupcake papers and bake at 350 F for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Be sure to rotate the pan after the first 15 minutes for even baking.

Maple Syrup Frosting

4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons Grade B maple syrup
1 cup of powdered sugar

Combine the syrup and butter until combined. Add the sugar, a bit at a time, and whip at high speeds until combined. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes. Sprinkle on flake salt and turbinado sugar or top with crispy shards of bacon for decoration and a lot of added flavor.

125 comments:

  1. This sounds great! Have you ever had the maple bacon bar at VooDoo Donuts in Portland? But: When does the bacon go in? How long do they bake? Did the whole recipe get posted?

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  2. Well now, I can't think of anything better to do with our delicious Irish bacon than to turn it into a cupcake!!

    Fair play to you for creating this recipe. I doubt I would ever have had the courage to try and turn meat into a cupcake...

    I will however hold you personally responsible for the extra girth this is going to add to my waistline...

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  3. I think I'll be trying these this weekend. McGriddles are great and syrup on bacon is a must for breakfast.

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  4. You sure come up with some creative flavors Garrett.Each one you come up with always looks and sounds delicious.This one can be a breakfast cupcake. It really does sound good.

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  5. Heather - thanks for catching that! the rest of the recipe is up now!

    Rob - Bah, you make the cupcake, you take the risk. ;)

    blake - make sure you let me know how they go over!

    Julie - this was more of a peer pressure inspired cupcake, haha

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  6. Hey Garrett,

    Dang, I can't remember well, but I did a cupcake with bacon in it a while back. Mine was kinda stoopid. Yours has a certain, way. A good way, like it would taste better. An junk.

    xo from the Meathenge Labs of Richmond,

    Biggles

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  7. No offense to my mama, but I think I'd love these more than anything else in the world. ;)

    Reminds me that there's a bacon toffee that I want to try, too... And now I'm inspired to make it bacon maple toffee.

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  8. I am already happily married but...
    would you marry me?
    Any one who could make bacon into a salty sweet cupcake form is a god in my books. I can't wait to try this recipe!!!

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  9. Would you marry me?
    I am already happily married, but any one who could turn an already kick ass piece of bacon into a salty sweet cupcake form is a god in my book. I can't wait to make this one!

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  10. Oh my I think I may have to try this! I don't have self-rising flour but I think I can find a substitution. Is there a reason why you prefer using it over regular AP flour?

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  11. Amy - Self rising flour just has a bit of baking powder added and a tiny touch of salt. The wheat I think is also a slight bit processed more so there is less of a chance of really thick gluttenous bonds, as to prevent really dense dense bread.

    Really AP Flour is just dandy, just add a pinch more baking powder, but for this recipe, avoid more salt.

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  12. art thou married?

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  13. Where do you get good bacon in the Sac area? I've tried the Co-op, but the selection there is not all that great. I usually buy Niman Ranch at Trader Joe's, but if there's better to be had, then I'm all for it. Bonus points for Irish style bacon.

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  14. johnmc. - The Farmer's Market in Sac miht be good, i usually got the bledsoe pork bacon at the Davis Farmer's market though. I think that Corti Bros or Taylor's Market might have what you need as well.

    Leena - no, not married, supreme court kinda shut me down on that one, the bastards. LOL. But if you or anyone else makes this, please post your experiences up in the comments section! :)

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  15. These are just crazy. I love it! Does your friend draw comics? I use to go to the Comic Con in San Diego every year. Lots of fun. Got a few friends at DC and Marvel. Great recipe for the cupcakes!

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  16. Hurray for bacon in baked goods! Spread the gospel brother!

    go on wich yo baad self.

    xo
    shuna "cornbread" fish.

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  17. I made a batch for tomorrow's BBQ, and there were 2 extras so I got a preview - great! My frosting doesn't look as pretty as yours, though - not shiny or smooth, but still tasty.

    I'm looking forward to trying the pistachio rice pudding cupcake recipe sometime, too.

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  18. ChrissyJ- YAY! Thank you! I'm glad they came out well. I made a few more myself this morning but I added a lot more bacon cause, well, I wanted too.

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  19. A Canadian's Worst nightmare??? Maybe Not.
    Hehe....Good One, Garrett.

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  20. Alright Garrett. You have my entire photo studio/food stylist team drooling for bacon cupcakes. So, we raided the test kitchen pantry and we will be trying them tomorrow. EXCELLENT IDEA!

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  21. Holy Catz, these are sooo yummy! My bacon-freak photographer loved them. I want to make them again, my cake texture could stand to be a little more moist, but overall a huge hit! My next venture is going to be a mojito cupcake...stay tuned.

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  22. My friend and I made the bacon cupcakes, and they were DELICIOUSNESS. We doubled the bacon drippings and minced bacon, hee hee ... explosion of bacon in each bite. We even hid some bacon pieces under the frosting - shh!! And, we listened to the band Bacon while baking *gasp* haha!!

    Thanks so much for the recipe!

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  23. these are incredible. i would DEFINATELY eat one of these (maybe more!!)

    :)

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  24. Built a whole dinner around serving these as dessert-- omelette aux fines herbes, and a salad I can best describe as a deconstructed bloody mary panzanella. Had grapefruit/orange juice with blood orange bitters and sparkling water to wash it all down. Breakfast for dinner! (BRILLIANT. Thanks so much for this recipe!)

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  25. Not sure if you left it out or not, but in the batter there is no step for adding the bacon(!) just the bacon leftovers.

    We did modify your recipe a bit though... more bacon!

    For the batter, we added a step at the end where after you finish mixing everything together you add bacon bits to the batter and stir in.

    For the frosting, we stirred more bacon bits into it.

    Otherwise, amazing recipe! Very very good.

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  26. Thanks Megan for catching that. God my actual job is proofreading, but when it comes to my own work, fuggedaboudit. Ha ha.

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  27. Was browsing around looking for a gluten-free flourless cupcakes recipe and somehow ended here. I did have a bet with a friend that it is possible to make tasty bacon cupcakes. I guess I will have to run with your recipe! Thanks!

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  28. I made these today for my husband for Valentine's Day. Purely sinful. Luckily the rest of the meal is healthy. Next time, I'll chop the bacon a little finer. It's a weird sensation, finding a bit of bacon in your cupcake. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but then again, I am lacking the Y chromosome.

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  29. Made them, love them, will bake again.

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  30. I am so happy to have found your recipe! Who isn't a fan of bacon?! After having made my own version of chocolate chip bacon cookies I am quite excited to try this recipe this weekend.

    By the way, the bacon maple bars at Voodoo Donuts in Portland are fabulous!

    Thanks again for the recipe! :)

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  31. looks delicious!! i promised a friend id make a bacon cake for her bacon party! can i just pour this all into one cake pan? it's a sculpted cake that will need a nice thick frosting that will hold shape, i'm not sure if the maple frosting recipe will work....any suggestions?

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  32. I made these today and they're amazing!!! thanks for the recipe!

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  33. Really great recipes and photos! Love it!

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  34. i always say everything is better with bacon. Meg's the cupcake queen here. she'll make em, we'll eat em'

    oh and very funny black angus post.

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  35. Bravo for this savory/sweet inspiration! I am just in awe and so inspired that both you and Shauna worked together in creating this cupcake. It's such a brilliant recipe and will definitely try it one day.

    I'm sure we'll be one of those who will love it! Thank you again.

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  36. This sounds very doable and delish!

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  37. These sound very good. Much better than the Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies we tried as a whim in the bakery where I work.

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  38. I made a batch for my friend's birthday party on Saturday. It sounded like a genius idea to me, but I wasn't really sure if it would actually catch on with anyone else. Turns out they were a big hit!!! For the rest of the night I caught people left and right, talking about the bacon cupcakes, hah! I guess I should have made a bigger batch!!! Thanks a lot for this AMAZING recipe!

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  39. Lollyphile (http://www.lollyphile.com/) has a maple-bacon lollipop that would compliment the cupcakes nicely!

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  40. Wow.. so yummy cupcakes but this cupcakes is new for me. Let me make and taste. Thanks for recipe.

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  41. I need to second the question about making a cake instead of cupcakes -- I promised my son a maple bacon cake for his birthday -- he doesn't like cupcakes (I know, it's sad)
    Please please help, the party is Saturday!
    BTW Garrett I've been reading your blog for a long time, but somehow I missed this post!!!

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  42. LizinCedarRidge-Just pop the batter into an 8X8 and bake for about 30 minutes is my guess. Never made it as a regular cake. =)

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  43. Excellent recipe. Recommended by an overseas friend. I must say i was a little skeptic at first after never having heard of strange ingredients such as Bacon in a Cupcake... but what a fabulous surprise.. and delicious treat. Kudos.. Mum wants the recipe in her ancient recipe book, so it must be good xD

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  44. I just made these-gluten free!-last night. I got raves from my roommates and my co-worker said "these could sell for $5!" The frosting wasn't very maple tasting and I had to add about a teaspoon of milk because it was so thick...it didn't turn out soft and glossy like yours looks. The best part was the little bites of bacon!

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  45. i just tried to make these and they kind of started to fall apart when icing them.
    they tasted a bit weird, maybe i did something wrong?
    but overall its a great idea and i enjoyed making them. :)

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  46. I am so excited to make these for my friends for their birthdays!!! Bacon has a long history in our group of friends (yes, back to high school, so I very much appreciate Beatis and she will possibly become the theme for the party) and I may have to top the cupcake with a piece of bacon just for bacon's sake. Would that be to bacon-y?

    We love bacon, have suffered burns of various degrees for bacon, and have a chapter dedicated to bacon in a book my husband wrote. This party will go down in history as awesome, thanks to you and your recipe.

    ps here's pictures of our last creation - bacon sushi! very tasty!

    http://picasaweb.google.com/thewigginspics/BaconSushi#

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  47. Just made these last night for the birthday of a coworker who loves bacon. They were a big hit! I changed a couple things (cake flour plus more baking powder and salt rather than self-rising etc.) but they were mostly your recipe and they were fabulous! Thanks!

    -CS

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  48. This sound is wonderful!. i like so much. The cupcake is yummy taste. then i like ur blogs. it's a beautiful site.. thanks for this comment posting..
    more templates

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  49. What a wonderfully different idea! Will be making these soon. My wife adds she is dying to try them. Thanks

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  50. I like cupcakes. They are like muffins with a sweet hat. mmmm

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  51. this are seriously too delicious. i haven't even put them in the oven yet, i just can't stop eating the batter. thank you so much for this delight

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  52. I am going to use my pure maple cream on top instead of the frosting :)

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  53. Great recipe Garrett! I love the play on sweet and savory. I make something similar using a box cake mix and the bacon only on top. Comes out tasting just like pancakes with maple syrup and bacon....yummmm.

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  54. OK. They're in the oven. Can't wait to try them. Have a question though. Is it correct to use the baking soda and salt in addition to the "self rising flour" which according to the internets, can be made by adding baking soda and salt to regular flour?

    Thanks for the great inspiration.

    Bakin' with bacon - yum.

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  55. I made these last night for a house party and they were a hit! We'll definitely be doubling the recipe next time for more bacon-y goodness.

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  56. I made them! Check them out here.
    http://ladybutcher.blogspot.com/2009/10/beer-bikes-birthday-and-bacon-maple.html
    Such an amazing idea.

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  57. I know that this recipe and the cupcake craze of this site and the United States is sooo
    2008
    ), but I made this yesterday (March 2010) regardless. It was for a friend who has a lot going on emotionally and was having a birthday. She is of Lithuanian heritage and has in the past brought in Bacon Buns. So as a twist I made this recipe. Everyone loved them, even though I halved the frosting amount.

    It was funny to watch everyone read the tag and think, "How odd" and then really enjoy them.

    Thanks for the recipe.

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  58. Want!

    Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to retrieve my underwear that I flung at the screen. The children are scared.

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  59. I made a chocolate bacon version earlier in the year, which ended up being WAY too chocolatey for me, and I love chocolate. I think my ganache was too heavy.

    These are definitely next on my list to try, because nothing goes together better than maple and bacon.

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  60. Garrett, made this for second year in row for my son's birthday, since the first year was such a hit. This time I made a cream cheese frosting, which I think worked much better. Of course, he's already put in his request for next year.

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  61. All I can say is .... DAMN! These are way too good and really addicting. I'm glad my daughter made them as mini-cupcakes.

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  62. A coworker sent me this recipe. I thought it was crazy until I tried it. They were so good, they were gone in a flash!

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  63. They were absolutely wonderful after I tweeked the recipe a bit ... http://www.heathashli.com/2010/05/maple-bacon-cupcakes/

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  64. I don't know how the bacon works in this recipe.. but it does! And it's delicious! I was really nervous at first, but thought I'd take the leap and try it because all the reviews were so awesome. Glad I did, my husband didn't know what to think! YUM!
    -Sylvia
    Raw Papers

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  65. i'm making these for a group birthday party and had a quick question that i didn't see addressed in previous comments.

    salted or unsalted butter?

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  66. How long does the bacon fat take to solidify in the fridge? Thanks, can't wait to try!

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  67. Turned out fabulous. Thanks!

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  68. I made these tonight and YES, they are DELICIOUS! Like another poster above I used cream cheese frosting instead. Actually maple cream cheese frosting (Martha Stewart...google it).

    Note: this recipe claims to make 6 cupcakes so I multiplied by 4 to make 24. I ended up with enough to make 32 total. Just a little 411.

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  69. How would this recipe work as a cake rather than as cupcakes?

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  70. Annonymous: I can't say as I have never made it that way.

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  71. i made it as a cake and it turned out great!

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  72. Every year my husband hosts a homebrew tasting party and we have a different food pairing. This year it is all things bacon. So, I made this recipe today to test out before we have this event. I followed the recipe exactly and it came out perfect. Cupcakes were moist and fluffy, the exact amount of icing. I topped them with a piece of bacon. I will probably make these as mini cupcakes since a regular sized one will be too big for a beer/food pairing, especially after 15 beers. Thanks so much for providing this recipe.

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  73. i'm working on writing a maple bacon recipe... I found yours which looks good - also found the EXACT same recipe "by someone else" http://bacontoday.com/maple-bacon-cupcake-recipe-2/

    I think i'm going to do mine with chocolate cupcakes. check out my blog: www.quartercupkitchen.wordpress.com for an update on how they come out.

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  74. Fabulous!
    I, too made a quadruple batch, and did not add baking soda, and they turned out great. The result was a muffin texture rather than cake like, but the flavor was fabulous!
    For our Valentine's party, they were titled "Breakfast in Bed" cupcakes. Rave reviews from everyone.
    Thanks so much for a recipe that keeps on sharing the love.
    Trena

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  75. dude. i was bored so i made these one night after practice. they've got to be the most fattening thing i've eaten in months but they are soooooooooooooooooooooooo good! thanks for posting this!

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  76. The taste was delicious, but they fell apart...some of them also caved in a bit in the middle. I am not a very experienced baker so I don't know how to trouble shoot this.
    Any suggestions?

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  77. Alex: Hmm, too dry it sounds like.

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  78. Making these for my friend's birthday, they're in the oven right now. I tripled the recipe, and ended up with WAY more batter than I was expecting. I'm using regular-sized cupcake pans, was this recipe meant for jumbo ones? If so, you might want to specify. Not that I'm complaining, these are gonna be amazing. Extra cupcakes are never a problem.

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  79. I routinely put bacon in my cinnamon rolls so this seems like the logical next step. My hubs is headed off to a guy's weekend so I'll be making these for him to bring along. Num-yummers

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  80. tried this recipe and my batch had a very thick batter to begin with and then they came out somewhat tastey but with the texture of cornbread :( any advice on how to make them lighter/fluffier, my mother suggested using oil instead of butter?

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  81. Alain: That is simply the texture these cupcakes have. You can try oil and see how that works. If you do I hope that you will let me know about your results. =)

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  82. Loved them! I took my excess bacon fat and greased my muffin pans for extra bacon flavor and also so I wouldn't have to use paper cups. Additionally, I only used all-purpose flour and it turned out just fine!

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  83. I made bacon cupcakes the other day - thought from a completely different recipe that I made up myself - and am currently kicking myself for not reading this first! Using maple syrup is inspired! Will definitely try a hybrid of these and mine next time (I prefer a chocolate base, you see). Thanks for sharing!

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  84. I made these the other day and they were incredible. They did kinda taste like pancakes and everyone loved them. I doubled the recipe to make 12 and found that there was batter enough to make a lot more then 12, unless you wanted to make uber tall cakes of course.

    Loved this recipe! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  85. Wow! I'm so impressed...I came over due to a link from Sweet and Stout...and I'm glad I did! Say...would you be willing to post the info you got about using Maple syrup, turbinado and muscovado sugars? That would be splendid! If you already have,(I'm new here)can you tell me where to find it? Thanks so much...I'll be back!

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  86. In searching for something new to try, I stumbled upon your recipe. From the glowing reviews I think the search is over. I will be trying these out this weekend!!! Canadian bacon and real maple syrup here I come!

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  87. I'm gonna make these tasty puppies for my birthday party. yay!

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  88. What a fantastic idea! These were amazing! After reading every single comment, I did make some modifications for a fluffier cupcake:
    1. I used cake flour instead of AP
    2. used scant 1/2 t baking soda and scant 1 t of baking powder. I may use even less next time
    3. 2 t of bacon drippings, plus a little for good measure : )
    4. used buttermilk instead of milk
    5. I boiled/reduced 1/2 C of maple syrup down to 1/4 for a more intense maple flavor and added that to the batter while still warm and pourable at the same time I added the buttermilk.
    6.used 1/2 C of minced bacon in the cupcakes. you can never have too much bacon!

    I made them as minis and halved Martha Stewart's Maple Cream Cheese frosting recipe for the icing. I would recommend reducing the maple syrup in a pan first for that one too, as I found the maple flavor of the frosting to be almost imperceptible. If you do this you can use less of the powdered sugar too. Thanks for the awesome recipe, anything with bacon grease as an ingredient and you got this girl!

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  89. I made these after a co-worker requested them. I personally don't like them so I'm unsure if I will submit my co-workers to them. They're just odd and there wasn't any maple flavor whatsoever. I even used maple bacon AND I added extra maple syrup with no luck. Ah well....

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  90. I'm thinking about making these as cake balls, but not sure what chocolate to dunk them in...

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  91. Becky: I would suggest dark chocolate. The bitterness would be a nice layer of flavor.

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  92. Absolute genius Garrett!!

    My dad always put cooked strips of bacon inside our waffles, an idea which my nephew then spread around his food hall in his college dorm. Bacon in the baked goods is yum yum yum!!

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  93. That looks and sounds amazing. Maple and bacon are a fantastic combo!

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  94. These sound so good. About three years back I had a bacon themed dinner party and was amazed at the things people thought up. I made tempura bacon. It sounds disgusting, but with a chipotle aioli, it's quite dreamy. I only ate it that one time though. I can't reconcile making it again as I'm pretty sure my heart would stop.

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  95. I love this post, because this is the recipe that originally drew me to your page many years ago, and we're rolling out the maple bacon cupcakes for our Easter brunch at church on Sunday. Coincidence? Of course not. Cosmic connection.

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  96. These sound so awesome! I would for sure eat one (probably more) of these cupcakes.

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  97. This is the recipe that brought me to your site about a year ago! I've been reading your blog ever since. As always, thanks for the hilarious stories and interesting recipe.

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  98. I made these yesterday! They definitely added a new meaty twist to the traditional cupcake!

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  99. made these today and my sister almost fell off her chair eating them..but then i made a gluten-free version (with banana yogurt and rice flour) and that was even better :) i love how your recipe makes a reasonable amount.

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  100. I have made these twice following the recipe exactly and both times they came out VERY crumbly and dry. A third time I used 7 T. Of butter, a whole T. of bacon grease, 1/2 cup of half and half, AP flour with appropriate modifications to salt and baking powder...they STILL crumbled apart. Maybe a second egg would help everything stick and make these a little more dense. Overall though, the taste was amazing. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  101. First, these are AMAZING!!!
    Secondly, I have to thank you. I made these for a church dessert auction to catch this guys eye and it worked!! So thank you very very much!

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  102. hi garrett and everyone else, I am very intrigued to make these cupcakes for a bake off in my office, but I live in Australia and they have 'sh@&%' bacon here (not the nice crispy but rather 'soggy' kind). what kind of bacon would you recommend? I'll try to get some nice from the butcher but am not sure what to ask for. Thanks for your help in advance!

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    1. I don't know anything about soggy Aussie bacon. I would suggest just use what you can find and get it nice and crispy as you can as you might with any other bacon.

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  103. I saw this recipe and LOVED it! I made it as my birthday cake this year and would love to be able to show it to you! I am not sure how though but I am so proud of it and would love if you could see how it turned out! :)

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    1. Sounds great Caitlyn! You can always message me at vanillagarlic@gmail.com

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  104. Why is the recipe so small? Id like to make the normal 24...So when you say it makes 6 to 8, are those Normal Sized cup cakes? or Extra large ones. Help?!

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    1. They are normal sized. It makes 6 because I only wanted the recipe to make six. It can be doubled. =)

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  105. thanks - I multiplied everything by 4....and ended up with around 32.

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  106. Hey Garrett, thanks for the recipe! I actually made these yesterday and they turned out great, but I had a question about storage...I left the cupcakes out overnight and then frosted them tonight and added some bacon crumbles from the bacon I cooked yesterday. They are currently in the fridge, but are they still okay to eat tomorrow afternoon even though I left the cake out and then used "pre-cooked" bacon that had been left out a couple hours here and there? I read a similar recipe that said the cake should have been refrigerated and not to use non-freshly cooked bacon so I was just wondering if you had any insight :-) I want to make sure they are safe to serve to my coworkers tomorrow! Thanks! - Megan

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    1. As long as the bacon is cooked you will be fine. Just be sure to bring everything to room temp before serving. =)

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  107. Have you ever tried making this into a full cake instead of just cupcakes? I think my boyfriends would love this for his birthday!

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  108. I've made these twice - first time as a trial for my work's bake off, second time the actual bake off entry. The first time they were too dry, my own fault for overbaking them, but flavour wise they were really tasty; main flavour was maple, not a lot of bacon taste in there. Second time I tripled the recipe and made them smaller (they rise A LOT), much more moist after adjusting the baking time, and instead of mincing the bacon I put a chunk in the centre of each cupcake. They were lovely right off the oven, and even the next day, but the 4 or 5 that remained (out of a batch of 40!) got this really unpleasant chemical after taste on the second day. My guess is that it's either all the baking powder + soda in the recipe, or maybe the bacon going off?

    Great recipe, got lots of nice comments and I'm sure I'll make it one of my regular bakes!

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  109. I just made this into a sheet cake, it's in the oven as I type. I don't think it's going to turn out right though... the batter was THICK! As in close to bread dough consistency, although I followed the recipe exactly :(

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  110. Possibly overmixed? It shouldn't be as thick as bread dough.

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  111. These are absolutely amazing! I made them for our little Restaurant Day pop-up restaurant and everyone loved them! Such an easy recipe and the cupcakes looked so pretty, bacon tasted great as always. Yumyumyum!

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  112. Made these yesterday and everyone is mad about them today! (It's National Cupcake Day in support of animal humane societies world wide). This was my first time making cupcakes and they turned out perfect: fluffy, moist, and so full of flavour! There are a lot of varieties of this type of recipe but your's seemed tested and true - glad I went with this one :)

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  113. I just made these and had a similar problem to some other readers: they were a bit too crumbly. I am going to repeat the recipe for a party this weekend and was thinking of adding an extra egg. Do you think that would be alright? Thank you for a lovely recipe!

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  114. OMG! This recipe was such a hit. It made exactly 8 cupcakes which was plenty for my "maiden voyage" of sweet and savory confections. The batter had just the right balance of bacon and maple flavor. I too had a bit of a crumbly cake but it was moist and still very tasty. I'll have to tweak the recipe to get it just right but this first go round was OH SO GOOD!

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  115. Made these twice now and they are so popular. For the second batch I swapped cream cheese frosting and added bacon grease with maple syrup to it. Third time making them today!

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  116. Hi there! I love this recipe! and your photos are great. I have added this page to a round up of links using bacon grease in recipes. I do hope that is ok. If not, please let me know and I will promptly remove it. Thanks you, Heather http://dailydiylife.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-best-secret-ingredient.html

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  117. These were a HUGE disappointment. The texture was so crumbly, we could barely eat these with a fork!! The cupcakes themselves were so bland, and I followed the recipe exactly. The frosting was very maple-y. It was good. But WHAT IN THE WORLD is going on with the cupcakes?! Not good at all!! :(

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Hey, you're leaving a comment! That's pretty darn cool, so thanks. If you have any questions or have found an error on the site or with a recipe, please e-mail me and I will reply as soon as possible.
~Garrett

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