We just got a phone call from the superintendent telling us that the town officials/National Grid has given them no word on any updates in town since last night, and last night there were 27 lines down.
Let's go back to last year at this time. We had a freak ice/snow storm that left us out of school for a week. That same week, my cheerleading teams had their league competition, which although most schools competing had no school, and many had no power and weren't living in their homes, they still held the competition. Yeah well....our league competition is on Thursday. As in 2 days from now. As in if we don't have school tomorrow my girls can't practice before Thursday. Seriously, this is our curse apparently.
Anyways, I finally packaged up some cupcakes individually this time as a run through. Once competitions are over (you know, in about 3 weeks or so), I may devote my Sundays to baking 3 different kinds of cupcakes and possibly selling some. I say that now but who knows....
These cupcakes are pretty fabulous. I've been meaning to make them for quite some time, but for some reason never got around to it. They're not ones I would make for an event unless I had a request...not too many people are keen to trying bacon on/in a cupcake. I however will eat almost anything...except eel, plain mayo, and raw tomatoes...unless they're drenched in balsamic vinegar. The cupcake recipe is my go to recipe for chocolate cupcakes, from Annie's Eats. When I found this recipe I had decided that I was going to use my chocolate cupcake recipe, so I was thrilled to see that this blogger used the same one I had planned on using. Seriously though, if you're looking for a chocolate cake recipe, go with this one. It may seem a little more time consuming than a standard chocolate cake recipe (you know with the melting of the butter, etc), but it's consistent and it always gets rave reviews.
The only difference I made was I did not add the bacon into the batter, I just sprinkled some on top before baking. I also added a little more (maybe a tablespoon) of the syrup to the buttercream, and I added a few drops or LorAnn maple flavored oil to the frosting as well. It needed a little more maple flavor and too much syrup would've changed the texture of the frosting. I also candied some bacon (instructions below) to put on top as a garnish.
Chocolate Maple Bacon Cupcakes
adapted from The Novice Chef Blog
For cake:
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
3/4 cup bacon, cooked and chopped
For frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup pure maple syrup; plus more for drizzling as a garnish
1 teaspoon salt
4 drops of LorAnn maple flavored oil (can be found here) (optional)
candied bacon for garnish (See instructions below)
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
3/4 cup bacon, cooked and chopped
For frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup pure maple syrup; plus more for drizzling as a garnish
1 teaspoon salt
4 drops of LorAnn maple flavored oil (can be found here) (optional)
candied bacon for garnish (See instructions below)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper
liners.
2. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth.
3. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined.
5. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.
6. Remove from stand mixer and gently fold in bacon.
7. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.
For the frosting:
1. Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract, salt and pure maple syrup and combine well.
2. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, give it a taste and decide if you want to add in more maple syrup. For thicker frosting you can gradually add in a little more sugar. This is where I added in the maple oil.
Garnish with chopped bacon, candied bacon, and a drizzle of maple syrup if you wish.
Directions for candied bacon:
3 or 4 slices of thick cut bacon (I used Trader Joes uncured Applewood smoked bacon)
1/2 cup (or so) dark brown sugar
1. Preheat oven to 325. Cover a rimmed cookie sheet with foil. Place a cooling rack over the sheet to lay the bacon on.
2. Spread the brown sugar onto a plate.
3. Take each slice of bacon and toss it in the sugar, rubbing it on both sides to coat nicely. Place in cooling rack on cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
4. Move to wax paper to cool.
When I went to package my cupcakes I remembered that I had these little cocktail forks (that I've had for about 2 years). I thought they'd be cute to put in the cups with the cupcakes. I then decided to add some outside the cups, which looked better.
2. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth.
3. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined.
5. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.
6. Remove from stand mixer and gently fold in bacon.
7. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.
For the frosting:
1. Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract, salt and pure maple syrup and combine well.
2. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, give it a taste and decide if you want to add in more maple syrup. For thicker frosting you can gradually add in a little more sugar. This is where I added in the maple oil.
Garnish with chopped bacon, candied bacon, and a drizzle of maple syrup if you wish.
Directions for candied bacon:
3 or 4 slices of thick cut bacon (I used Trader Joes uncured Applewood smoked bacon)
1/2 cup (or so) dark brown sugar
1. Preheat oven to 325. Cover a rimmed cookie sheet with foil. Place a cooling rack over the sheet to lay the bacon on.
2. Spread the brown sugar onto a plate.
3. Take each slice of bacon and toss it in the sugar, rubbing it on both sides to coat nicely. Place in cooling rack on cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
4. Move to wax paper to cool.
When I went to package my cupcakes I remembered that I had these little cocktail forks (that I've had for about 2 years). I thought they'd be cute to put in the cups with the cupcakes. I then decided to add some outside the cups, which looked better.
 |
| Cocktail forks! |
 |
| Adorable! |
No comments:
Post a Comment