Maple bacon cupcakes that are amazingly easy to put together, completely from scratch! These cupcakes are filled with delicious flavors of vanilla, cinnamon, maple, and bacon. An amazing combination of salty/sweet for your mouth, these taste just like breakfast…..but, better!
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I’d like to go ahead and thank whoever it was that came up with maple/bacon desserts in the first place. That person, is a genius, and my personal hero. When the whole maple bacon combo became a big thing for baked goods I seriously kind of hated myself for not thinking of it first. No, I don’t normally like to follow “food trends” but I definitely hopped right on this bandwagon, and never ever got off of said bandwagon.
I know I am not alone at brunch time when I dip that delicious salty bacon right into a pool of maple syrup. Come on, admit it, don’t be ashamed. It’s salty sweet perfection! Pairs perfectly with a couple of big old mimosas. Not that I’d know from personal experience or anything.
If you’ve taken a peek at my about me page, you’ll hear a little bit about Dan, my super handsome partner in crime. He’s mostly incognito around here at The Salty Marshmallow. Mostly because I just like to do all of the talking……I can’t believe I just admitted that.
Anyway, he is my behind the scenes super hero, amazing, awesome, should totally get to wear a cape every single day website design/tech guy. He deserves a special dang cupcake for his birthday. A manly cupcake, with MEAT! That’s how these were born. Not that they’re only for men or anything….I definitely had one of these for breakfast, which is fine because bacon is breakfast food, so there.
Happy Birthday and here’s a meat cupcake to my favorite jack of all trades!
Another side not as to why these came into creation. I’ve seen maple bacon cupcake recipes out there, but they mostly all involved boxed cake mix. The first version I ever made was using a mix. It was delicious, but I really wanted that homemade flavor.
As you know, I strive to make home baking as simple as possible for everyone. You do have time to bake, and you have time to bake and not use boxed mixes! Trust me, your taste buds will thank you.
I don’t necessarily want to say that my cupcakes are better than a boxed mix….(but, they totally are). What I like is the fact that I get to see everything that I’m putting into my food. No mysteries.
As always, room temperature ingredients are important. Let the butter come to room temp on it’s own, as well as the eggs if you can. You won’t regret it! I’m the most impatient person in the history of ever, you guys, and I still let my ingredients come to room temp before I bake.
Gosh….so far in this post I have called myself a big mouth, and admitted that I’m super impatient. Is this a blog post or a self reflection session? Hmmmm.
About these cupcakes…..
The cupcake itself is so soft and moist, with that melt in your mouth crumb.
Light and buttery with hints of vanilla, cinnamon, and maple….then the perfect bits of salty bacon.
Your frosting is a little more bold in the sweet department with more maple flavor. Then….more bacon, of course!
If the bacon seems like a lot, it’s really not, I promise. This recipe makes 24 cupcakes and has just enough bacon to really have an amazing salty sweet balance so that you’re getting the best of both worlds.
Enjoy! Printable Recipe below.
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Maple Bacon Cupcakes
Ingredients
FOR THE CUPCAKES:
- 2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
- 2 Teaspoons baking powder
- 1 Teaspoon salt
- 2 Cups granulated sugar
- 2 Sticks butter softened
- 4 eggs room temp
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Cup milk
- 1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/3 Cup bacon crumbled
- FOR THE FROSTING:
- 2 Sticks Butter softened
- 1 1/4 Cups Confectioners Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Maple Extract
- 1/2 Cup Bacon cooked and crumbled
Instructions
FOR THE CUPCAKES:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare 24 muffin cups with liners or non stick spray.
- In a large bowl use a whisk to combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.
- In a medium bowl using hand mixer, or bowl of stand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla, and maple syrup until fluffy.
- Add eggs to butter mixer one at a time, beating after each addition.
- With mixer on low, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture slowly. (I do this in thirds).
- Add the milk with mixer still running, continue to mix just until combined. Fold in the crumbled bacon.
- Scoop the cupcake batter into your muffin tins so that each cup is 3/4 full.
- Bake for 18-25 minutes, until slightly golden.
FOR THE FROSTING:
- In a large bowl beat together the softened butter, confectioners sugar, and maple extract until smooth and fluffy.
- Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with bacon as desired.
I made these with “Cup for Cup” brand gluten-feee flour. They were amazing! Everyone asked how they could come out so good and be GF. I only used 1/2 tsp of maple extract because I didn’t want to be overwhelmed by the flavor of the frosting – I liked this milder version.
I made these last night and they were a huge hit! The only thing I did different was I didn’t add bacon to the batter. I baked some bacon in the oven sprinkled with brown sugar on top, let them crisp up and crumbled them on top of my cupcakes after I added the buttercream. Other than that I followed the instructions to a T and they came out so fluffy and moist, the buttercream wasn’t too sweet and it had great flavor all around. Just like pancakes and bacon, in cupcake form! Great recipe!
Should the bacon be cooked first?
Yes 🙂
Yes
Everything came out great except my butter cream. It’s very oily
Can you use this recipe to make mini cupcakes?
I made this last week and had to thank you for a delicious recipe! I used thick cut bacon, added 1/2 tsp of maple extract to enhance the syrup flavor, and baked it in a bundt pan for one hour, then drizzled blueberry glaze over the top. It was like having blueberry pancakes with a side of bacon! Huge hit with my family, even my bacon-hating sister loved it. I can’t vouch for the frosting recipe but the cake is definitely going into my recipe box. Thanks again for sharing!
Hello,
What type of milk should I use?
My cupcakes batter came out a little thick. Is this supposed to happening for this recipe?
The batter is fairly thick for these cupcakes.
For the frosting, do just mix all the ingredients together or is there step by step?
Hi, Myrna! Thanks for bringing it to my attention that those steps were missing! The recipe card has been updated for you.
Maybe I didn’t read the instructions carefully but when does the crumbled bacon get added in?
Hi, Shelli! You stir the bacon into the batter right after the milk has been mixed in.