Maple Bacon Cupcake with Maple Frosting

Apologies for not updating the blog after the first post. I am still doing a lot of cooking and baking, just didn't have the time to update (ok I lied, I was lazy... >.<). I have attempted quite a number of food recipes in the past before I blogged so I will try my best to include them in days where I don't cook/bake.

In my learning journey of baking, I was never interested in cupcakes, mainly because they are just miniature cakes, (usually) coated with teeth decaying sweeeeeeet frosting. And the fact that I don't like exceptionally sweet food stuff doesn't help at all. To be fair, I made a Chocolate Cupcake with Amarula Frosting about 2 weeks back. Although it received much positive feedback but as a savory person, I have not quite yet convince myself to love these little cakes. So I thought, why not try making a sweet & savory cupcake? And what might do the job better than Bacon?!

Hence, I scoured the internet for combinations and recipes before finally putting together the following for my sweet & savory cupcake! I love love love the incredibly moist cake and the occasional bits of salty bacon goodness which totally complements the subtle maple taste!

Maple Bacon Cupcake (yields 16 regular):

150g     Unsalted Butter, softened
120g     Maple Syrup
  70g     Brown Sugar
    3       Eggs, yolks and white separated
  60g     Bacon, diced and crisped (weight is after cooking)
Solidified Bacon Fats

You can choose to oven bake the bacon but I find it easier to pan fry them and drain the drippings as I cook along. Strain the drippings to remove (any) burnt nasty bits, refrigerate to solidify the fats. Although it is optional but I highly recommend preparing additional bacon for decoration!

Flour mixture: 230g     Cake Flour

                          7g     Baking Powder

                          2g     Salt

                          2g     Ground Nutmeg

                          3g     Ground Cinnamon

Milk mixture:  120g     Milk

                          6g     Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 180º C

1. Whisk together Cake Flour, Baking Powder, Salt, Ground Nutmeg and Ground Cinnamon. Reserve.

2. Stir Vanilla Extract into Milk and reserve. 

3. With the paddle attachment, cream Butter and solidified Bacon Fats till light and creamy. Add Maple Syrup and Brown sugar, continue creaming till light and fluffy.

4. Add Egg Yolks one at a time, waiting for each to be well incorporated before adding another. 

5. Add in Flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the Milk mixture, waiting for each to be well incorporated. Ie. Flour -> Milk -> Flour -> Milk -> Flour. Mix briefly on medium speed till a smooth batter is formed. Fold in the Bacon bits and taste batter. Adjust sweetness with maple syrup or add more bacon as desired.

6. Transfer batter into another bowl and clean the mixer bowl. Using the whisk attachment, whip Egg Whites on high speed till stiff peak.

7. Introduce a small portion of the whipped egg whites by a gentle stirring motion; this will help lighten the batter. Fold in the remaining whites in 3 portions.

8. Scoop into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 of the cup.

9. Bake on middle rack for 18 - 22 minutes, rotate halfway. Remove and cool completely before frosting!

Maple Butter Cream Frosting

100g     Shortening, softened (go ahead with all butter if Shortening is unavailable)

100g     Unsalted Butter, softened
150g     Maple Syrup
  50g     Confectioner's Sugar
  10g     Heavy Cream/ Milk / Water
             Pinch of Salt

1. Using the paddle attachment, cream Butter and/or Shortening, Sugar and Maple Syrup till well combined.

2. Scrape down the sides, add in Heavy Cream/ Milk/ Water before beating on high speed till light and fluffy. It usually takes about 5 minutes for me. 

3. I like to firm it up for about 10 minutes before piping but it can be used right away. Refrigerate if not using immediately. 

"This is da MAN cupcake for da MAN!!!"

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