Vanilla cupcakes are dressed up with crumbled bacon and a hint of maple syrup, and topped with a maple buttercream frosting (and more bacon for good measure)! Try my no yeast maple bacon donuts next.
I’m not a big fan of maple. Syrup, candy, ice cream… just, no. Mostly because it reminds me of Canada… but aside from that, just not a huge fan.
I put it on waffles and pancakes, but even then I don’t use much. I do, however, love bacon. And I wanted to make some breakfast cupcakes because in my mind that justifies me eating baked goods in the morning.
But to be fair, I can justify just about anything for breakfast. It’s almost like a game for me.
I ran through some ideas related to eggs, waffles, pancakes (and I came up with a couple other ideas soon to come)… and I eventually landed back on bacon.
After some experimentation I discovered that bacon with a little bit of maple was just right.
Maple and bacon in the batter. Maple in the frosting, bacon on the top. Salty, sweet, bacon-y. You’re welcome.
After you’ve made this recipe, please consider coming back to share your experience with others by leaving a comment below with a star rating!
Maple Bacon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcake
- 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (¼ set aside for topping)
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- ⅓ cup milk, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
Frosting
- .25 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Cook bacon however you prefer to make it nice and crispy - I like to bake it in the oven on a baking sheet for about 8-10 minutes at 400° F. Let it cool on a paper towel-lined plate and then crumble.
- Lower the oven temperature to 350°F and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
- In a large bowl bowl, cream butter and then add sugar until mixture is fluffy.
- Add eggs and mix well. Add about ½ the dry mixture from the small bowl, add milk, and then add the rest of the dry mixture.
- Add vanilla and maple syrup and mix until well combined. Stir in ¾ of your prepared bacon to distribute throughout batter.
- Fill each muffin cup ¾-2/3 full and bake for about 25-30 minutes. Tops of cupcakes should be just slightly light brown. A toothpick entered into the center should come out clean. Set on cooking racks to completely cool.
- While cupcakes are cooling, prepare frosting in large bowl by beating together butter and cream cheese.
- Add maple syrup and cinnamon and mix well. Now add powdered sugar and whip until well-combined at a medium-high setting.
- Place frosting in fridge for about 15 minutes to let it firm up - the maple syrup causes it to lose a little bit of its fluffiness.
- Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and add crumbled bacon on top of each.
Nutrition
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Erin Banfield
Made these this morning, only adjustment was a pinch of cinnamon in the cupcake batter. They were delicious! Very much worth the effort.
Leslie Kiszka
I’m so glad that you liked them!
Anonymous
Leslie you’re amazing! These are ridiculous in the best way possible ???