Maple Bacon Cupcakes
These Maple Bacon Cupcakes are bacon-lovers favorite cupcakes! A cinnamon cupcake with a maple Italian buttercream frosting all topped with real bacon.
Ingredients
Cinnamon Cupcakes
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup milk
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1¼ cup flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 egg whites
Topping
- 4 slices of your favorite bacon
Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream
- 1¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup water
- 2 egg whites
- 1¼ cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup maple syrup
Instructions
Cinnamon Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the milk and vanilla and mix until just combined.
- In a small bowl, sift the dry ingredients together and mix with a whisk or fork.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients and then beat on high for 2-3 minutes.
- Using a spatula fold the egg whites into the batter and mix until well combined.
- With a large cookie scoop or spoon fill each cupcake liner ⅔ full with batter. Bake for 20-24 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the cupcake comes out clean. Let cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
Topping
- Preheat the oven to 400F and grease or line a baking tray with tinfoil.
- Put four slices of bacon down and bake for 13 minutes or until the desired level of crispiness.
- Pat slices down with a paper towel to remove any excess grease and then chop it up into little topping-sized bits.
Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream
- Add ¾ cup sugar and the water to a small saucepan on medium heat.
- While the sugar syrup is cooking, add the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed. When the egg whites start foaming, slowly add the remaining sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. If your syrup is not ready, lower the speed, but do not turn the mixer off.
- The syrup is ready when it pours off the spoon in a steady stream or reaches 235F.
- With the stand mixer on high speed, slowly pour the syrup into the egg whites, but DO NOT let the syrup hit the whisk. It should be a steady stream into the bowl.
- Continue beating the frosting until the bowl cools down and feels barely warm. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter one tablespoon at a time.
- Continue beating until frosting stiffens (this can take 5-10 minutes). If it’s not stiffening then put it in the fridge for 20 minutes, and then try again.
- Add the vanilla, salt, and maple syrup and mix until combined.
- Pipe or spread frosting on the cupcakes and then top with bacon.