Maple Bacon Cupcakes

Maple Bacon Cupcakes

By Erin

Maple Bacon Cupcakes to celebrate International Bacon Day! But really who needs a reason to eat bacon? 😉 Bacon isn’t just a breakfast food, it is life. International Bacon Day or Bacon Day is an unofficial observance where people choose to celebrate by cooking with bacon. Held on the first Saturday of September each year, Bacon day celebrations include social gatherings where dishes containing bacon, including bacon-themed breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts, and drinks are enjoyed. Bacon is basically the ice cream of the food world and it is by far one of my favorite foods. Both by itself and in dishes containing bacon. YUM! Now enjoy some delicious Maple Bacon Cupcakes!

For the Candied Bacon:

4 slices bacon (2 if just wanting on top, 4 if you want to sprinkle throughout)

3 Tablespoons white sugar

For the Cupcakes:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon molasses

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 Tablespoons heavy cream, or additional milk*

1 teaspoon maple extract, if desired

*Note: this makes for a thicker batter to help keep the bacon suspended

For the Brown Sugar Frosting:

1/2 cup salted butter

1 cup brown sugar

3-4 cups powdered icing sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon maple extract, if desired

Directions:

For the Candied Bacon:

Preheat oven to 325F.

Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and place the bacon flat on the tinfoil.

Sprinkle half of the sugar over the bacon, then flip the bacon and sprinkle with remaining sugar.

Place a sheet of tinfoil over the bacon and then a second baking sheet overtop.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until crisp and cooked through.

Allow the bacon to cool as you assemble your ingredients, and then chop into small pieces.

For the Cupcakes:

Increase oven temperature to 375F

Line two muffin trays with your choice of liners and set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, white sugar, brown sugar and molasses until light and creamy, 2 minutes.

Beat in the eggs, milk, heavy cream and maple extract, followed by the dry ingredients.

Stir in 3/4 of the candied bacon pieces.

Use a cupcake scoop to portion 1/3 cup of batter into each of the prepared cupcake liners.

Bake for 18-24 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean with just a few crumbs.

Allow the cupcakes to cool completely as you prepare the brown sugar frosting.

For the Frosting:

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar and 3 cups of the icing sugar until crumbly. Add in the heavy cream and maple extract and beat for 2 minutes until smooth. Add more icing sugar, as desired.

Scoop the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star tip.

Swirl the brown sugar frosting onto the cooled cupcakes, starting from the inside, working out to the edges and then back towards the centre and up.

Top each cupcake with a few pieces of the candied bacon.

Enjoy and Happy Bacon Day!

Maple Bacon Cupcakes

More Fun Recipes:

Labor Day Appetizers

Bacon Items at Stacked!

Triple Berry Salad with Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

Don’t Miss the Bacon Signature Items at Stacked! @FoodWellBuilt #BaconMonth

Bacon Signature Items at Stacked!

By Erin

Bacon! Who doesn’t love this ingredient? I love bacon and one of my favorite restaurants has devoted this entire month to everything bacon! STACKED- Food Well Built has been offering some special September Signature Items including a shake, pizza, burger, salad, and Mac’ n’ Cheese centered around this beloved ingredient. Stacked invited me to their Cerritos location to test out a few new bacon items, how could I say no to bacon? So off I went!

Stacked-September-Signature-Items-Bacon-Month

We started off with my favorite, the Candied Bacon. Cripsy, thick, bacon; covered in maple syrup, it just melts in your mouth, it’s a pure delight. Especially after a long day!

Stacked-Bacon

Of course, you need some drinks to start off your meal to go along with that Candied Bacon, right?

Stacked-Drinks-BM

The Sangria is always a refreshing choice, or you can go for the season cocktail, H2O Melon Mojito. I absolutely loved the mojito! So pretty, tastes delicious and it is served up with a fresh slice of watermelon.

Stacked-Special-Items

Be sure to be on the lookout for any other drink or food specials on the walls of Stacked. You are sure to find something that catches your eye that you won’t want to miss! As you can see, there are plenty of choices to choose from!

Ok, so on to all of the rest of the scrumptious bacon items that you are probably ready to take a peek at?

The September Signature Bacon Menu Items Include:

Southwestern BLT Salad

Southwestern BLT: Romaine lettuce with smoked Gouda cheese, grape tomatoes, sweet corn, avocado and Cherrywood candied bacon tossed with a honey chipotle dressing.  The perfect choice if you’re looking for something on the lighter side. I totally recommend getting the dressing on the side. This way you can try a couple different dressings with this one, to see which one you like the best as the chipotle dressing is a little bit on the spicy side. The salad itself is delicious. My favorite dressing to go along with this salad was the BBQ one.

Jammin'-Bacon-Burger-Stacked

Jammin’ Bacon Burger: A fresh Angus Burger patty, topped with a perfect balance of  a Sweet and Savory Bacon jam and bleu cheese. Loaded with Applewood smoked bacon, red onion, and green leaf lettuce on a brioche bun. This one was my favorite by far. I want another one right now, just looking at the picture of it again. It’s juicy, flavorful, and the special jam adds the perfect touch to create the perfect burger.

Sweet-Bacon-and-Onion-Mac-STACKED

Sweet Bacon and Onion Mac: Caramelized onion and candied bacon come together  for this amazing version of Mac ‘n’Cheese. Great for sharing, but then again, you may just want to keep all of the bacon and cheesy goodness to yourself. 😉

Bacon-Cheeseburger-Pizza-StackedBacon Cheeseburger Pizza: Mozzarella cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, ground beef, red onion, Roma tomatoes, pickles, and Applewood smoked bacon. We also added on onion strings and  Asiago Cheese to this one for some added crunch and flavor. It was all baked to perfection on a hand-tossed crust. For my Gluten-Free friends, you can also get this made with a gluten-free crust. You’re welcome. 🙂

Cookie Butter Shake 'N' Bacon

Cookie Butter Shake ‘n’ Bacon: Stacked’s Signature Cookie Butter Shake with bacon pieces. Make sure you save room for dessert and end your meal off right! This is a must try! It’s the perfect blend of cookie butter and candied bacon, that will leave you and your tummy in a happy place.

You only have a few days left to make it out to STACKED to experience the unique flavor combinations with bacon as the star of the month. Bacon is one of the most popular ingredients at Stacked and the September Signature Items add a delicious craveability factor that is more than satisfying! So don’t miss it! Visit the STACKED nearest you to join in on the Bacon amazingness! 😉

Which item are you most looking forward to having? Would you try them all, or just a few? 🙂

A New Menu at an American Favorite: Hard Rock Cafe! #ThisIsHardRock

A New Menu at an American Favorite: Hard Rock Cafe!

By Erin

A few short weeks ago I made the trek up to Hollywood in rush hour traffic. Now I wouldn’t make this drive up for just anything, but when you get an invite to an American favorite like the Hard Rock Cafe to check out their new menu, you just can’t say no to that! With other fellow bloggers, press, and staff we went on a royal foodie adventure that would leave us all stuffed and content by the end of the night. I don’t know about anyone else, but I felt like I had to literally roll on out I was so filled to the brim with all of the wonderful offerings we tasted. Take a little look here for yourself! Which ones would you love to try? Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood

Just a tiny *sample* of what we feasted on. You can’t even see all the desserts here!

Hard Rock Cafe Feast

Hard Rock Cafe’s new menu offers salads, desserts, entrees, drinks and more!

Air Mexico HRC

The Air Mexico!  Take flight with three out of this world margaritas. Choose from wild berry, pomegranate, watermelon, blue curaçao, mango or cucumber. Also served up with a side of chips and salsa. All very yummy! A very refreshing way to start off your foodie adventure!

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