These maple bacon cupcakes taste like the fluffiest pancake and bacon breakfast all rolled into a cupcake. It has a maple cinnamon cupcake stuffed with candied bacon. It is topped with a creamy cream cheese maple frosting and topped with more bacon. They have bacon, so you can have them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert!
How To Make Maple Cupcakes
These maple cupcakes are easy to make and they make the most tender crumb. They do require a mixer, but you can use a hand mixer.
- Pull all dairy ingredients out- Pull the butter, eggs, sour cream, and buttermilk out 2 hours before baking. This will give the cupcakes a better rise.
- Mix dry ingredients together- Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together.
- Beat butter and sugar- This needs to be beaten for 3 minutes straight. Adding the air into the butter helps to give a more tender crumb.
- Use real maple syrup- Don't use the fake maple syrup, this needs to be real to get the best taste from these cupcakes. Mix the syrup, maple extract, sour cream, and vanilla in with the butter.
- Add eggs- It uses both an egg and egg yolk. The egg yolk is extra fat that helps to break down the gluten. It creates a more moist cupcake.
- Add in dry ingredients and buttermilk- These need to be add in 3 intervals. Scrape the bowl once you are done to make sure everything gets mixed in.
Scooping The Batter
Use a cookie scoop to evenly scoop the batter into the muffin tin. It needs to be filled ⅔rds full.
Once done baking, let them sit in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Candied Bacon
Isn't bacon the best‽ Candied bacon, is regular thick cut bacon coated in brown sugar and syrup. That gives it a slightly sweeter flavor that pairs with this cupcake.
When you cook the bacon, the brown sugar will melt and crystalize on the bottom of the pan, which is why you bake the bacon on a cooling rack. It will turn very brown on the bottom. This is normal. Use foil on the cookie sheet for easy clean up.
Bake the bacon until slightly crispy. Let it cool before filling the cupcakes. Use the bacon right away. This can't be made ahead of time since bacon will loose the crispness in the fridge.
Cut the bacon into small pieces for the filling and longer pieces for topping the cupcakes.
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
This maple cream cheese frosting uses both syrup and maple extract to get a strong maple flavor.
The frosting uses a smaller amount of cream cheese so it isn't a runny frosting, and a lot of powdered sugar to get it stiff enough to pipe like a normal buttercream.
To prevent a gritty frosting, sift the powdered sugar. This will get rid of any lumps.
Once the cupcakes are filled, top with the frosting. I used a wilton 1M piping tip for these cupcakes.
How To Store The Cupcakes
The maple bacon cupcakes need to be stored in the fridge since there is meat and cream cheese.
Since there is bacon in it, I recommend making these cupcakes right before serving. Otherwise the bacon will be cold when you eat it later.
It will last up to 5 days in an air tight container.
Can These Cupcakes Be Frozen
You can freeze the maple bacon cupcakes before they are filled and decorated. Store the cupcakes in an air tight container and place in the freezer for up to 30 days.
Let the cupcakes sit on the counter for 1 hour before decorating.
Other Cupcake Recipes To Try
Make sure to tag me on Instagram @stephaniesweettreats and leave me a review below if you made these cupcakes. I hope you loved them! To get more ideas follow me on Pinterest.
📖 Recipe
Maple Bacon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Maple Cupcakes
- 1 ½ cup All-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup White granulated sugar
- ¼ cup Real maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Maple extract
- 1 Large egg room temperature
- 1 Egg yolk room temperature
- ¼ cup Sour cream room temperature
- ½ cup Buttermilk
Candied Bacon
- ½ lb Thick cut bacon
- ½ cup Brown sugar
- ⅛ cup Maple syrup
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 oz Cream cheese room temperature
- ¾ cup Unsalted butter slightly cold
- 5 cups Powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tablespoon Maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon Heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon Maple extract
Instructions
Maple Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners.
- In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl and using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium. Beat for 3 minutes.
- Add in vanilla, maple extract, maple syrup, and sour cream. Mix until combined. Add in egg and egg yolk one at a time. Mix on low.
- Add in ⅓ of the dry ingredients and half of the buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Add another ⅓ of the dry ingredients and the rest of the buttermilk. Finish with the rest of the dry ingredients.
- Use a cookie scoop to scoop the batter into the muffin tin. Fill it ⅔rds full.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes. The cupcakes are done baking when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cupcakes sit in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before decorating.
Candied Bacon
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a cookie sheet with foil (this makes a mess!). Top the cookie sheet with a cooling rack.
- Mix the brown sugar and syrup together. Coat each piece of bacon with brown sugar then place on the cooling rack.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until slightly crispy. All the brown sugar will melt with the bacon fat and it will brown on the bottom of the cookie sheet.
- Once the bacon is cooled. Cut 1 cup of small pieces of bacon. For decoration, save some pieces to top the cupcakes.
- Use a cupcake corer or a sharp knife to cut a hole in the cupcake about ⅔rds down. Save the tops of the cupcake. Fill with the bacon pieces. Top with the cupcake tops.
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- Have the butter sit on the counter for 30 minutes to get it to be slightly cold. While waiting, sift the powdered sugar.
- Beat the cream cheese on high for 30 seconds. Then, add in the butter. Beat for 2 minutes. It should be fluffy with no butter lumps remaining.
- Slowly add in the powdered sugar. Mix on low. Add in syrup, maple extract, and heavy cream. Mix on medium until creamy. Then, decorate the cupcakes.
Kimberlee Sunkel says
My husband says these are BANGIN’!
Brianna says
Can you make this recipe into a layer cake? If so, how much batter would I need?
Stephanie Rutherford says
Double the recipe for a layered cake! When doubled, it will make a three layer 8 inch cake pan.