The season of maple has arrived and that’s the only excuse you need to make these decadent cupcakes. With our without the extravagant bacon toppers, maple cake is a comforting treat for the holiday season.
However, these {maple cupcakes topped with a maple glaze and garnished with chocolate-dipped, maple-candied bacon} are a fitting treat any time of year. At the start of the summer, these cupcakes were the perfect addition to Jason’s “Beer and BBQ” graduation party. Along with the Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Stout Fudge Frosting they rounded out the dessert spread for a guy’s party. Something about the combo of maple, chocolate and bacon makes me think of Father’s Day and any other “guy’s” holiday, too.
For the maple cake, I adapted one of Sweetapolita’s white {vanilla} cakes, using maple oil in addition to the vanilla to make a subtly maple cake. For the icing, which I am more than slightly obsessed with, I used Ree Drummond’s Maple Glaze. The optional bacon topper is simply shards of maple-candied bacon dipped in chocolate.
- 1-1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2-2/3 cups (540 g) granulated sugar
- 9 (275 g) egg whites, at room temperature
- 4½ cups (575 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp (28 g) baking powder
- 1 tsp (5 g) salt
- 2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 tsp maple oil or pure maple extract
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 2 Tbsp melted butter
- 2 Tbsp coffee
- 2 tsp maple extract or 1 tsp maple oil, to taste
- Bacon
- Pure maple syrup
- Chocolate, optional
- Beat the butter and sugar for five minutes or until pale and fluffy.
- Gradually mix in the egg whites, stirring until combined.
- Sift the flour and other dry ingredients.
- Alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.
- Pour the batter into greased and floured cake pans or lined cupcake tins.
- Bake the cupcakes for 15-20 minutes or until the tops spring back when gently touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Combine all of the ingredients.
- Flavor with maple to taste.
- Once it is thick, yet you can pour/drizzle with it, drizzle or spoon over the cooled cupcakes.
- Place bacon on a lined baking sheet.
- Brush the bacon with pure maple syrup and cook it for 5-10 minutes at 450 degrees.
- Flip the bacon, brush with more syrup, and cook for another 5-10 minutes until crispy.
- Break the candied bacon into large pieces.
- If desired, dip the bacon pieces into melted chocolate.
- Place the candied bacon on top of the glazed cupcakes (preferably right after they are glazed and before the glaze has hardened so that the glaze doesn't crack).
