French Toast Maple Bacon Cupcakes

Last month I got my first official cupcake order from my best friend, it still counts right? She wanted some cupcakes for her boyfriends birthday. He doesn't like chocolate so we decided on "french toast maple bacon cupcakes" cause bacon is manly. I made enough for a batch of 12 plus 12 mini's which I brought to work to entice co-workers with. The Office Manager had to have her arm twisted into eating one and then proceeded to have a foodgasam!

I think they turned out pretty good, the only thing I wasn't happy with is the lame liners I had. I think I'm going to try to score some unbleached liners somewhere. You can't really go wrong with the basics.


The Internet is rife with this recipe but I found that I had to scour around for a perfect mix of cake, icing and garnish for me to be happy with it. Anyways, on with the recipe!!


French Toast Cupcakes (from Life is Better With Cake!)

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature, separated

Directions:

1. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.


2. Combine the butter and sugar and mix on low until just incorporated. Raise the speed to high and mix until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. (Occasionally scrape the sides down with a spatula)


3. 3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and vanilla, and also set aside.


4. Add the egg yolks to the creamed butter one at a time, waiting for each one to be fully incorporated before adding the next.


5. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low, Alternately, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, waiting for each to be fully incorporated before adding the next (scrape the bowl down occasionally). raise the speed to medium and mix briefly until a smooth batter is formed. Transfer the batter to a large bowl.


6. Clean the bowl of the mixer and put the egg whites inside. Whip the egg whites in high speed, using the whisk attachment, until stiff peaks are formed.


7. Working in 3 batches, using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter, until just incorporated. Fill the liners 3/4 full. Bake, rotating the pan once, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 30 minutes.


8. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and cool completely.

I didn't do the 3 batch fold in thing, i just did it all in one shot. I doubt it made much of a difference.

Maple Frosting (taken from Country Living)

• 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 3 ounces cream cheese (softened)
• 2/3 cups dark-brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1. Beat the butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, and salt in a medum bowl with a mixer set on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.


2. contine beating, and add the maple syrup and vanilla.


3. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.


4. Chill for 1 hour before using

Using 3/4 tsp of vanilla is bull shit! I've never seen a 3/4 tsp, just use a whole tsp. More vanilla has never been a bad thing. Chilling icing for an hour is also bull shit, just keep adding icing sugar till you get a consitency you can work with, I think I added another 2 cups. I also used demerara sugar and found it a really nice substitution for regular brown sugar, it gave the icing a really nice colour and a little bit of crunch.

Candied Bacon (taken from Closet Cooking)

• 1 lb thick cut bacon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (or maple syrup)

Directions:

1. line a baking sheet with foil and set a cooling rack in it


2. Spread the bacon out over the cooling rack


3. rub the brown sugar onto the bacon


4. bake in a preheated 350F oven until the bacon reaches the desired crispness, about 15-20 minutes


5. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes and then enjoy

There are a lot of different, harder ways to make candied bacon. This was the simplest one I could find that seems pretty much idiot proof, which is perfect for me (I am a total klutz so I could just see me starting a grease fire doing it any other way). I dredged the bacon in demerara sugar before putting it on the rack to ensure both sides were coated. Baked it and then cut it into 2 inch strips which I then curled into cone shapes, put them between the rack grates and cooked for a bit longer.

Pandora

Have you heard of Pandora? It's this cute charm jewelry company. You get a base piece and just start adding charms to it. I recently bought a bracelet for a friend of mine's birthday and saw the cupcake charm while I was there. Adorable!!

First Birthday Cupcakes

So, I have two kids now (which partially explains the long absence) and my youngest is already a year and a half old. But for her first birthday I made some scrummy vanilla cupcakes with organic raspberry buttercream frosting. I was seriously surprised at how PINK the icing came out with just using raspberries.

She liked them so much she had two

What does one do with a bare naked cupcake?

Ok I know it's been forever since I posted in here but I had to go back to work. I'm on mat leave again and it's #1's 2nd birthday this weekend so of course it's cupcake making time again.

I figured I would try frosting them with a spatula this time so I found this video on you tube of one of the people at Magnolia's Bakery and decided that maybe I don't have the skills to pull that off just yet.




Then I found this other video on filling cupcakes with sweet sweet innards. So easy, I can do that!




and then I found this video on making skully cupcake toppers, something to keep in mind for next month perhaps (so cute)




Anyhoo, I'm off to finish off these cupcakes. I'll post an update post party.

Her birthday came and went and I went with a classic double chocolate with m&m's on top. You can't really go wrong with that...nobody was really around to help me eat most of them though and I ate WAY more of them then I should have (uuuugh, my tummy!). I should really start baking half batches when I know I don't have people closeby to give some to. LOL, who am I kidding??

It's been too f-in' hot to bake!!

My Birthday was last month and I've just been a combination of too busy/lazy and am finally getting to posting my birthday cupcakes. I made Martha's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake, filled them each with a dab of cherry pie filling and frosted them with chocolate icing. I bought a piping bag and STILL wound up using a Glad bag to pipe the frosting (the piping bag I bought plainly sucks ass!!). If anyone has suggestions on a good quality bag to invest in let me know please <3




The sweet, sweet innards



Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake
Ingredients
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix in wet ingredients. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let the cupcakes cool completely before icing them. (Makes 2 dozen)

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter
1/2 cup cocoa (I used "red cocoa" for this that I got at my local bulkfood store, if you can get some of this I really recomend trying it out!)
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup milk

Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft.

Add cocoa & 1 cup of sugar. Beat till incorporated.

Add half of the milk & remainder of sugar. Beat till incorporated.

Continue to add milk till you get the consistency you want. (I added it all and got a really wonderfully creamy frosing)



Adding the sweet, sweet innards

Once your cupcakes have cooled use a small serrated knife to cut out a funnel shaped piece of cake from the top. Don't cut all the way to the edge, leave a bit of room so that the seam will be covered by the icing once the cakes are done. cut the cone part of the funnel off the cake you cut out. Spoon a small amout of pie filling (or jam or nutella or whatever...) into the hole you made and place the top back on pressing it so a little of the filling comes out of the seam (I found this was the best way to keep the top on). Let your unfrosted/filled cupcakes rest for awhile to kinda let the seam dry so the tops stay on firmly. Frost and you're done!