“The Baconator” – a Dark Chocolate Cupcake
My friend Abbey has been threatening to make bacon cupcakes ever since we attended the Cupcake and Wine pairing via The Cupcake Bar (http://thecupcakebaraustin.com). After thorough research and comparing several recipe candidates, she finally came up with this gem from A Good Appetite (http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com/).
Not wanting to ever make up my mind about anything right away, I’ve been making fun of Abbey’s “Baconator” bacon cupcake threats for a couple of months now, until she explained to me her research. I’m also a fan of two-headed snakes and other freak occurrences, so of course I assisted in this experiment.
Let me tell you something about cooking with dark chocolate cocoa – it is DARK. Trying to sift a flour mixture into the wet ingredients definitely reminded me of “The Ring”. I’d sooner think we were trying to create a black hole before a dessert, or some kind of Halloween prop/trap.
I have to actually mark these a success – they were a nice, crumbly, sweet cupcake with about every third bite having a salty piece of 1/2 inch bacon. And they really were not bad. Had this been made with regular cocoa, it probably would have been a much sadder story, not the surprisingly pleasant sweet/savory cupcakes we ended up with. Next time we’ll definitely have to sub in some sour cream for a bit more moisture.
On another note – I am disappointed her husband had no interest in trying them. Recipe follows, courtesy of A Good Appetite:
Dark Chocolate & Bacon Cupcake
8 slices good thick-cut bacon
1 c unsalted butter
1/2 c Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
3/4 c water
2 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 c well-shaken buttermilk
2 T vanilla
2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 24 muffin tins.
Chop bacon into about 1/2-inch pieces. Cook over med-high heat in a skillet until bacon is brown & crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain. Pat any remaining oil off the bacon. Set aside.
Melt butter in a large heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, then whisk in cocoa. Add water and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk in separately sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the cocoa mixture and whisk until just combined (it will be a little bit lumpy). Stir in bacon.
In goes the bacon
Fill muffin tins to about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes until a skewer or toothpick comes out clean. It’s a moist cake, so don’t worry if a few crumbs stick to your tester.
Allow cupcakes to cool.
Makes 24 cupcakes.
Dark Chocolate Frosting
1/2 c unsalted butter
2/3 c Hershey’s Special Dark
3 c powdered sugar
1/3 c milk
1 t vanilla extract
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.
About 2 cups frosting.
This is Hershey’s Frosting recipe & still the best one I’ve tried.
Frost the cupcakes & sprinkle with a little Fleur de Sel (sea salt) right before serving.
