The Ultimate Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
After doing research, trying out some new things, and using your ideas, I’ve come up with the Ultimate Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes:
First, I cooked some bacon and reserved the fat drippings, which were used to replace half the butter in the chocolate cupcake batter. The bacon was then diced and dipped into milk chocolate, creating savory/sweet chocolate bacon chips to put inside the cupcakes. And last but not least, fleur de sel was sprinkled on top of the batter just before it was popped in the oven. The result? The perfect balance of sweet, salty and savory in one cupcake.
To top it all off, I made a rich chocolate buttercream and sprinkled fleur de sel and some chopped bacon on top. These are seriously to die for.
The Ultimate Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes:
Adapted from Joy of Baking’s chocolate cupcake recipe
Makes around 15-16 cupcakes
Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 C boiling water
- 1 1/3 C flour
- 2 t baking powder
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/4 C rendered bacon fat, at room temperature
- 1/4 C unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 C sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 t vanilla extract
- 1/2 C Bacon Chocolate Chips*
- Fleur de sel
Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease cupcake pan or line with paper liners.
Combine boiling water and cocoa in a heatproof bowl. Whisk until smooth and let cool to room temperature.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl, cream bacon fat, butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly in between. Mix in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and beat until just combined. Add room temperature cocoa mixture and mix until smooth. Stir in chocolate bacon chips.
Fill each cupcake 2/3 full and sprinkle the top with a pinch of fleur de sel. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until cupcakes are springy to touch and a toothpick insert in the middle comes out clean. Let cool before applying frosting.
*Save bacon fat from this recipe to use in the cupcake batter. Also, the chocolate bacon chips can be made a few days ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.
Chocolate Buttercream
- 4 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 2/3 C unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/3 C powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 1/2 t vanilla extract
- Fleur de sel
- 1 slice of bacon, chopped
Set up a double boiler: heat water in a saucepan over high heat. Chop chocolate and place into a heatproof bowl set on top of the saucepan of simmering water. Whisk until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and melted chocolate. Beat on high speed until frosting is smooth and glossy. Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes and sprinkle the top of each with a pinch of fleur de sel and chopped bacon pieces.
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No. 1 — April 28th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
I’m somewhat undecided. It sounds great but the bacon on top of the chocolate cream… I think I need to do something culinary growing before I dare to tackle these…
No. 2 — April 28th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
The picture is just lovely!! Well done!
No. 3 — April 28th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
You can try it without the bacon pieces if that’s too much. But the salty/sweet/savory combo is pretty awesome. It sounds weird at first, but actually it’s good! I swear
No. 4 — April 28th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Thanks Amanda!
No. 5 — April 28th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
As odd as it sounds at first read, I’ll bet these are incredible. Salty and sweet – love it!
No. 6 — April 28th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Definitely – gotta love sweet & salty together!
No. 7 — April 29th, 2010 at 12:40 am
I might just have to try these because for the live of me I can’t imagine how that’d taste XD
No. 8 — April 29th, 2010 at 1:08 am
Bacon and chocolate! I’m afraid to try it out because I know I’ll fall in love with it and won’t be able to live without it!
No. 9 — April 29th, 2010 at 5:13 am
MMMMMMM, does the bacon make it breakfast?
No. 10 — April 29th, 2010 at 11:35 am
These sound freakin’ amazing! I love when things are salty, savory and sweet all at the same time. Beautiful looking cupcakes!
No. 11 — April 29th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
This recipe is crazy. But I believe you that it tastes amazing. Keep on going with your experiments, it is really fun to follow!
No. 12 — April 30th, 2010 at 6:10 am
oh my gosh.
that looks delicious
No. 13 — April 30th, 2010 at 8:25 am
I bought a Bacon Dark Chocolate bar from Whole Foods this week and had my first taste of the bacon and chocolate craze. Loved it!!! I first heard about it when Claire Robinson of 5 Ingredient Fix on Food Network made churros and dipped them in bacon chocolate sauce. I’m going to make these! I never thought about the bacon drippings in the batter. Yum! Jacquelyn of http://www.cooktolove.wordpress.com
No. 14 — April 30th, 2010 at 9:14 am
Yum. You totally deserve the top 9 for this. I love your tireless effort to invent bacon chips to get here. So yummy! This sounds absolutely fantastic! I also love banana and bacon so I might do something similar, but slightly different – like a banana base with bacon bits & the chocolate frosting and more bacon. Nice job. Totally excited about this and adding to my google reader.
No. 15 — May 21st, 2010 at 7:19 am
[...] 21, 2010 in Contest, Dessert, Meat I got some mixed reactions from my Ultimate Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes. I think most people either love or hate bacon and chocolate together – there is little in [...]
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No. 17 — June 3rd, 2010 at 11:58 am
[...] The Ultimate Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes: [...]
No. 18 — June 8th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Just want to say what a great blog you got here!
I’ve been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!
Thumbs up, and keep it going!
Cheers
Christian,Earn Free Vouchers / Cash
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No. 20 — January 9th, 2011 at 7:25 pm
[...] 15. The Ultimate Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes [...]
No. 21 — February 13th, 2011 at 10:05 am
I just made these for my boyfriend for Valentines Day! Haven’t tasted them yet but they look amazing :] !
unfortunately i did not have the Fleur de Sel, but I’m sure it will be fine without it
No. 22 — February 13th, 2011 at 10:08 am
Canary – that’s awesome! Hope you both enjoy them. Happy Valentine’s Day!
No. 23 — March 8th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
I want to make these for a bridal shower, I know the bride-to-be will love them, but I am curious, do I need to sprinkle the fleur de sel right before serving or would it be ok if I did this hours before hand?
No. 24 — March 8th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Veronica – I would put it on right before so it doesn’t sink in. Let me know how they turn out. Enjoy!
No. 25 — April 7th, 2011 at 3:15 am
What type of bacon did you use for these? I am assuming that since you use unsalted butter you don’t buy low sodium bacon? Should I use a thick cut? Also, does it matter if I bake the bacon or pan fry? Do you cook the bacon till it is crispy crispy or just slightly crispy?
I was going to make these and do a test run prior to the actual serve date but i’ve run out of time.
Thanks
No. 26 — April 7th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
Danny – I used regular old bacon – definitely not low sodium, and it wasn’t labeled as thick cut. Sorry I can’t be super specific, as I buy my bacon at the meat counter and as such it’s not really packaged. I baked mine until it was cooked through and just slightly crispy. I believe I also patted it down with a paper towel to remove excess grease. Good luck!
No. 27 — April 7th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Thanks you’re a doll! My bf’s parents are coming over for brunch for the first time and I really want to impress them! Hope this does the trick!!!!
No. 28 — April 12th, 2011 at 7:00 am
I made these this weekend. I found them to be a little too dense but the flavor was pretty good.
Maybe I overworked the batter?
Also the frosting hardened a little more than I would have liked. I prefer my frostings to be a little creamier than this one, although the fact that it wasn’t allowed me to make some cute swirlies.
No. 29 — May 31st, 2011 at 3:12 am
Why does the photos not appear on Safari Browser ? i can’t see anything..
No. 30 — May 31st, 2011 at 10:05 pm
@recette de barbecue – can you see them now? I can see the photos in both Safari and Firefox. Let me know if it continue to be an issue.
No. 31 — June 11th, 2011 at 8:15 am
Mmmm mmm delicious!
I live in Korea, where I cook out of the world’s smallest toaster oven and rarely find American baking products (like bacon), so I’ve kind of given up on baking recently… sad sad. But then I saw this recipe, the seemingly perfect combination of the two loves of my life (chocolate and bacon), and went on a vendetta to make them. Difficult search, totally worth it! Keep up the creativity, you’re awesome!
No. 32 — June 11th, 2011 at 8:21 am
@Christine – That’s great! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
No. 33 — July 28th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Is there another substitution for the Fleur de sel? I really want to make these, but can I use regular salt? Or sea salt?
No. 34 — July 28th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
@Candace – You can try sea salt. I think regular table salt would be too harsh.
No. 35 — November 11th, 2011 at 9:24 am
I tried these cupcakes for a grow up school treat, any most people enjoyed them very much.
The one issue I had was the chocolate covered bacon pieces all fell to the bottom of the cupcake. I had chpped them and dipped in chocolate. They were neither too large or too small. I drained the chips and placed in the refrigerator.
No. 36 — February 22nd, 2012 at 9:18 am
The picture of this yummy sounding goodness does not come up? Is the link broken?
No. 37 — February 22nd, 2012 at 7:59 pm
@Mike T. – thanks for letting me know. I fixed the photo so you should be able to see it now.