The Cupcake Challenge Continues - Maple Bacon Pancake Cupcakes

Hello all,

Now to be perfectly honest, I was never really into the whole "maple bacon" idea when it burst on the scene a year or so ago in the form of cupcakes, doughnuts, muffins and pretty much whatever other for it could take. But, with a slew of hungry male co-workers at the computer lab, I knew it was only a matter of time before the question popped up:

Can you make maple bacon cupcakes?

More specifically they asked for maple bacon brownies, but let's just say I wasn't ready for that deep of a plunge. I have yet to even try chocolate covered bacon, though it's supposedly out of this world.

So I hopped on over to another one of my favorite food blogs: Brown Eyed Baker. She pretty much has a recipe for anything, and I always love her recipe roundups (especially around the holidays). Of course, she had the recipe I needed: Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Bacon Buttercream.

Though they aren't bad, I have to say I was expecting more from these, more bacon and more maple to be more precise. Believe it or not I ended up just adding in tablespoon after tablespoon of maple syrup, all to no avail as the buttercream strictly refused to taste like maple. I also ended up crumbling in nearly twice as much bacon as instructed, but honestly who here is thinking "that's way too much bacon" ?

She did write up in her post that she was thinking of retrying the recipe with bacon in the actual cupcake, and I have to say I agree. The cupcake tasted great; it just didn't pack the flavor punch I was expecting.

I have to admit, however, after the Banana Split Cupcakes (I can tell you I lost most of my self control and ate entirely too many of those) it was probably pretty difficult to impress me. Hmm, perhaps if we stuffed the cupcakes with a maple bacon filling! Now there's an idea.

I've linked the recipe above but here it is one more time in case you missed it. I definitely recommend adding in as much bacon as you feel is necessary, even if it means way more than stated.

I usually like to keep things as surprises, but I have to admit I have had a huge craving for Nutella lately and I just found a wonderful recipe for it that I can't wait to try out this weekend.

Check back on Monday for the full details on how it turned out!

Happy Baking!