Maple Bacon Bourbon Cupcakes
Maple bourbon cupcakes are topped with maple bourbon buttercream frosting and bacon. They are sweet, savory and perfect for fall!
“Feelin’ like, aw shit, throw some bacon on it.” Nick Jonas’s Bacon song came on while I was baking these cupcakes and has not left my head since. If maple bacon bourbon cupcakes could have a theme song, it would be that.
Moving on from Nick’s new single, these cupcakes are delish. I haven’t made boozy cupcakes in quite some time and boy have I missed them. There’s something about adding alcohol to cupcakes that makes baking even more fun. That may be the alcohol talking, but that’s beside the point.
I wanted to make a fall boozy cupcake that could come close to the Fireball cupcakes I made a few years ago. I would say top those cupcakes, but they were so damn good, I didn’t want to set my expectations too high. With that said, these maple bacon bourbon cupcakes came very close.
The three ingredients—maple syrup, bacon and bourbon—are a trilogy of fall flavors. I mean, I would eat them any time of year, but let’s be honest… if you had to assign those to a season, it would be fall.
First thing’s first. Bourbon makes its debut in the cupcakes right off the bat. The soft, fluffy vanilla cupcakes are the perfect consistency and the bourbon adds a spike of flavor. But the real fun comes from the frosting.
A buttercream base is given a whole lot of flavor with some more bourbon and maple syrup. That maple-y flavor is the taste of autumn these cupcakes need.
And of course, what would the bourbon cupcakes be without bacon? Crispy bacon bits sprinkled on top add a savory zinger as well as texture. So be generous when garnishing the cupcakes and throw some bacon on it.
Get the Recipe: Maple Bacon Bourbon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup milk
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- ¼ cup bourbon
- 3 egg whites
Frosting
- 5 strips thick-cut bacon, cooked and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon bourbon
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Prepare cupcake tin with liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a separate small dish, combine apple cider vinegar, milk and baking soda. Stir to combine. Mixture will foam up a bit.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter, vanilla, and sugar together. Add bourbon and egg whites. Mix briefly to combine.
- With the mixer on low, add one-third of the flour mixture to the batter. Then add half of the milk mixture. Repeat and end with remaining flour. Mix batter until everything is just combined.
- Scoop batter into each liner until it’s about two-thirds of the way full. Bake cupcakes for 12-15 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting
- Cream butter, vanilla extract, bourbon together in a clean stand mixer bowl. Add bourbon, maple syrup and one tablespoon milk to bowl and mix briefly to combine. Add powdered sugar to bowl one cup at a time, mixing on low speed between each addition.
- When all the powdered sugar has been mixed in, run the mixer on high for a minute to make the frosting nice and fluffy. If frosting is too thick, add another tablespoon of milk and mix to thin it out.
- Transfer frosting to a frosting bag fitted with desired tip (I used a closed star tip). Frost cooled cupcakes.
- Sprinkle a few pieces of crumbled bacon on top of each cupcake. Serve immediately.*
Notes
Inspired by Life as a Strawberry
