My mother in law saw a recipe in Allrecipes.com for Dark
Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes. She pulled out the page and gave it to me. My husband’s
best friend’s birthday was coming up as well as Easter so I figured I would
attempt to make them with a few minor changes. Instead of making the coffee
with pure water I added in 1/3 cup of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey because that is the
most loved liquor by my husband’s BFF. I also opted out of sprinkling the tops
of the cupcakes with additional cocoa and instead used fleur de sel salt.
Yields: 24 extra-large
cupcakes or 24 normal sized cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes
Cupcake Batter Ingredients:
10-12 slices of thick cut bacon (Naturally Hickory Smoked)
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. sea salt or kosher salt
2 large eggs
¾ cup water + 1/3 cup Jack Daniel’s Whiskey ( 1 full cup of
water if not using JD)
2 Tbsp. strong coffee grounds
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup vegetable oil
Optional: Fleur de Sel Salt
Optional: 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
Cupcake Directions:
Make your coffee: I did mine over the stove combining ¾ cup
water + 1/3 cup Jack Daniel’s Whiskey and 2 TBSP. of Café Du Monde coffee. Heat
over stove on medium-high heat for a few minute to nearly cook out the liquor.
Pour coffee into a one cup measuring cup and set in the freezer to chill until
ready to use
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Line two (12-cup) muffin tins with cupcake liners and one
(12-cup) mini-muffin tin with cupcake liners
In a large deep skillet cook all your bacon over medium-high
heat until crispy but not burned (you may want to use two skillets to do 6
slices in each at the same time so they are not crammed)
You will use 6-8 slices of bacon to crumble into tiny pieces
for the batter and you will reserve (save) 3-4 slices to use for toppings on
each cupcake. I broke up 3 slices ahead of time and placed them in a baggy to
top the cupcakes later so that I knew I had enough for 36 cupcakes
In a large bowl, stir together flour, ¾ cup of the cocoa
powder, the sugar, baking soda, baking poser, and salt. Make a deep hole in the
center and pour in the eggs, one cup of cold strong coffee, buttermilk, and oil
– Stir with a spoon until just blended
Mix in roughly ½ cup or more depending on how much bacon you
want to taste in each bite and stir completely into the batter leaving you with
only a few slices of bacon leftover
Spoon batter into each paper cupcake liner about halfway
full, a little more if you like them to come over the edges
Place cupcakes in the preheated oven and bake until the tops
spring back when lightly pressed only taking 18-23 minutes to cook entirely. Don’t
cook too long, they do continue to cook out of the oven (mini cupcakes will be
done a lot earlier – keep your eye on them)
Place hot cupcakes individually on a wire rack to cool. Store
in large Ziploc baggies until ready to use or make your frosting and serve
immediately
Frosting Ingredients:
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling water
2 – ¼ (4.5 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup powdered sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 ½ pounds best-quality semisweet chocolate (I used 24
ounces of Ghirardelli Dark Melting Wafers found at Costco)
Frosting Directions:
Combine cocoa and boiling water, stirring until cocoa has
dissolved
Melt your semisweet chocolate in a large microwavable bowl
stirring every 30 seconds until completely smooth and melted
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the
butter, powdered sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low
and add melted chocolate. Let chocolate cool a little but not completely
because you don’t want it to harden. Beat until combined scraping down sides as
needed. Slowly add in the cocoa mixture and completely combine
Add your frosting into piping bags to frost your cupcakes. If
you don’t have piping bags you can cut little tips off the edge of a Ziploc
baggy or use a butter knife and spread the frosting on top of each cupcake
Decorate your cupcakes after frosting has been added.
Optional:
sprinkle on fleur de sel or sea salt on
each cupcake as well as additional sprinkles of cocoa. We don’t like too much
cocoa so I opted out of that. Place one small chuck of bacon in the center of
each cupcake.
We enjoy our cupcakes cold so we chilled the cupcakes
overnight in sealed containers so they keep their form and easy to transport to
a party
Additional Frosting Recipe:
Inspired by:
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