These Maple Bacon Cupcakes are an extraordinary sweet and salty treat. Soft maple cupcakes with a hint of bacon topped with maple buttercream frosting, crispy bacon bits and a touch of maple syrup.
MAPLE BACON CUPCAKES
Desserts with bacon started sweeping the food scene a few years ago. It was such a craze that people tried adding bacon to just about every sweet treat. Maple/bacon and chocolate/bacon seemed to be the most popular combinations. Although, maple and bacon has been together for a long long time already.
I used to see people pour maple syrup over bacon strips all the time when I worked at the Cracker Barrel. I honestly thought it was the strangest thing until one day, curiosity took over and I tried it. Not gonna lie, it was interesting and tasty! It could have been just a southern thing but it was tasty nevertheless.
So I can definitely see how maple/bacon desserts became so popular. It’s not just cupcakes that feature that flavor combination, I’ve seen in in doughnuts, muffins, waffles, pancakes and cookies. Maple bacon doughnuts are still on my list to try.
These cupcakes were actually my very first expedience with bacon in dessert. My best friend’s son got married last weekend and his bride asked if I could contribute to their dessert table with some cupcakes. Of course I said “yes!”
They had a sweet, small wedding and everything was fun and non-traditional. So she wanted some kind of unusual cupcakes and decided on maple-bacon. You know the rules, what the bride wants, the bride gets! So I whipped up like five batches of cupcakes to get three perfect ones for them. By the end, I could make these cupcakes with my eyes closed.
I was so nervous to find out how everyone liked them since it was a whole lot of strangers trying my cupcakes. I was very happy to find out the next day that everyone loved them. Very happy!
**UPDATED**
TIPS FOR MAKING THE CUPCAKES
**First and foremost, I want to THANK all of you for your patience in waiting on this recipe to be updated! It’s been quite a long wait and I’m so sorry for taking so long. It was a couple of trial and errors but I went a whole different route with these cupcakes.
The technique using beaten butter and sugar is usually hit and miss for me. It seemed like it was a hit and mix for some of my readers too. I truly apologize for that and not being able to figure out what went wrong with the old recipe.
So I remade these cupcakes using a recipe that I completely trust, that has not failed me yet. I’ve made these cupcakes a couple of times and sent them to work with my husband, for “taste testing.” The report came back very positive each time. No deflating, soft texture, and taste is right on point! I hope you will forgive the length or time it took for me to update this recipe.**
SOME MORE RECIPES TO TRY
Strawberry Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes from Life In The Lofthouse
Nutella Stuffed Raspberry Cupcakes from Handle The Heat
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Maple Bacon Cupcakes
Ingredients
- Cupcakes:
- 4 egg whites room temperature
- 1 cup of white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup bacon grease grease from cooking bacon in the oven
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 cup of buttermilk
- Optional: 1 tsp maple extract
- Frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 cups powder sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- Topping:
- 1/4 cup maple syrup for topping cupcakes
- 6-8 crispy bacon strips
- 1/4 cup maple syrup for topping frosting
Instructions
- UPDATED recipe:
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. (I recommend parchment paper liners but you can use any your prefer.)
- Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder together and set aside.
- Combine vegetable oil, bacon grease, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. (And maple extract if using.)
- Make sure your other ingredients are ready.
- In a bowl of an electric mixer (use paddle attachment), beat egg whites for about 30 seconds and slowly start pouring in sugar. Beat for 2-3 minutes, until white and fluffy.
- Start pouring in oil mixture, slowly, as the eggs are still beating on medium-high.
- Lower the speed to low.
- Alternating, add flour mixture and buttermilk in two parts. Mix until just combined. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl and low mix a couple more seconds until incorporated.
- Divide batter among the cupcake cups, filling them about ⅔ of the day. (I recommend using an ice cream scoop so all the cupcakes are even.) Tap the cupcake pan on the counter a couple of times to help air bubbles come up.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes.Take out of the oven and let them rest for 5-10 minutes. Gently take the cupcakes out onto the wire rack to cool completely. Drizzle about a teaspoon of maple syrup on to of each cupcake.
- Cool completely before frosting!
- Frosting:
- Beat softened butter in the electric mixer, on medium-high speed, for about 2 minutes.
- Lower speed to low and carefully mix in powder sugar, salt and maple syrup. Once sugar is incorporated, scrape sides and bottom of the bowl and raise speed to medium. Beat for another 2-3 minutes.
- Transfer frosting into a piping bag with desired tip attached. Pipe cooled cupcakes.
- Crumble crispy bacon and divide it on top of piped cupcakes.
- Drizzle each cupcake with some maple syrup.
Recipe Notes
Recipe from Lyuba @ willcookforsmiles.com All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to share this recipe, please simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you!
Teresa
March 16, 2015 at 7:19 pmI LOVE these! They look so beautiful.
lyuba
March 19, 2015 at 10:05 pmThank you, Teresa!! 😀
Thalia @ butter and brioche
March 21, 2015 at 11:43 pmSeriously I don’t think anything could taste any better than a maple and bacon cupcake. This sweet and salty combination is my favourite kind!
lyuba
March 23, 2015 at 12:45 pmYay! I hope you’ll give them a try then 🙂
Thank you, Thalia! (Beautiful name, btw.)
Becca
March 21, 2015 at 11:59 pmThese look incredible! I could taste the salty-sweetness in my mouth just looking at your beautiful photos!
lyuba
March 23, 2015 at 12:44 pmAwe, thank you, Becca!
rozj
March 22, 2015 at 3:23 pmI am making these for work tomorrow. Do I need to refrigerate them?
lyuba
March 23, 2015 at 12:43 pmI’m sorry I didn’t get back to you right away. I would recommend refrigerating if it’s more than just a few hours before serving just to keep them fresh. Cover and refrigerate and pull about an hour before serving so the frosting softens.
Hope you like them!
Diane S.
March 23, 2015 at 10:43 amThese look so good! Donyou have to wait to put bacon and maple syrup on at the last minute before serving? Must you refrigerate?
lyuba
March 23, 2015 at 12:39 pmHi Diane!
Do you mean the topping? Do top with maple syrup and bacon otherwise maple syrup will soak the pancakes and make it soggy. You can refrigerate leftover and reheat later, just try not to add syrup to those you’re not serving so they don’t become soggy.
lyuba
March 23, 2015 at 12:42 pmOh goodness, I thought this was for the pancakes!! Lol, never mind the previous reply!
If it’s more than a few hours before serving, do refrigerate them. They will stay fresh better. Just pull them out about an hour before serving.
You can add bacon and maple syrup on top right away or before serving, that won’t matter much.
Louise
April 11, 2015 at 12:55 pmPlease recheck your ingredients. I thought 2 tbsp of baking powder seemed like too much but I followed your recipe anyway. Needed to say, it was a mess – and I had to throw everything away. – how wasteful! At least I can use the cooked bacon and icing butter for a different recipe. The pictures are lovely – too bad mine didn’t work.
Heather White
April 22, 2015 at 4:13 pmHello! I made this recipe twice and both times the cupcakes deflated into a yucky mess. I think the previous review is correct, the baking powder amount is way off. I have made a lot of cupcakes in the past, so I don’t think my technique was off twice in a row. The frosting was tasty, though 🙂
Carmen
May 9, 2015 at 5:08 amThe previous reviews are correct, 2 tbsp of baking powder ruined these cupcakes. They were a disaster.
Christa Nielsen
June 17, 2015 at 11:47 pmMae these and followed the recipe perfectly, they are totally deflated like others mentioned. Sadly I’m baking tonight for a party and cannot go back out to the store to replace ingredients. I’m so sad because I am known for baking and this was a major fail 🙁
lyuba
June 26, 2015 at 6:40 pmI’m so sorry about that!
I had a couple of crazy months due to family matters and the emails got away from me. I should have checked the comments above sooner. It was a mistake in the recipe. I dug up my notebook and in fact, it is 2 tsp of baking powder. I’m sorry about the fail and the mistake!
I’m sure you are still known as a great baker!
Helen
October 21, 2015 at 6:19 pmI wish I’d read the reviews before I make I made these. Even after the adjustment was made for the amount of baking powder, they sunk down in the middle and were not very presentable. I was making these for a function for 100 people, and I cannot afford to replace the ingredients. Hopefully the icing will cover the deflated cupcakes.
lyuba
October 21, 2015 at 7:22 pmI’m so sorry they sunk, Helen! I wish I could tell why they sunk in. I made 6 batches in a row of these and they didn’t sink. I feel terrible. I thin I will just hide the recipe and try to re-work it again. 🙁
I hope you and everyone enjoys the way they taste!
Liberty
November 24, 2015 at 8:27 pmYour cupcakes look beautiful! My best friend loves maple bacon and I was looking for a recipe for a Thanksgiving treat. I’m so sorry about the previous cooks troubles but I would love love love to try this recipe. It’s the most appealing one I have found.
Please repost it! Or email me [email protected]
Keeping my fingers crossed!
lyuba
May 29, 2016 at 11:14 amHi Liberty!
This is long overdue. I have a new recipe for these cupcakes and I remade them using a different technique. It hasn’t failed be before and I’ve made this recipe a couple of times for my husbands work. I hope you will try them!
Thank you and I”m so sorry for taking so long.
Sarah
December 18, 2015 at 12:20 amwhy are you re-working the recipe?
lyuba
December 20, 2015 at 1:28 pmIt seems that quite a few people had a problem with cupcakes deflating. Since it didn’t happen to me when I was making them, I need to figure out if there was an error in somewhere.
Have you made them before I took off the recipe, Sarah?
lyuba
May 29, 2016 at 11:15 amHi Sarah,
I just wanted to let everyone know that I did post the new recipe. I really hope you will give them a try! Thank you 🙂
Abby
March 2, 2016 at 10:32 amHi I was looking for the recipe and I saw that it was being reworked last year…is is available as yet?
lyuba
May 29, 2016 at 11:17 amHi Abby!
This is LONG overdue but I do have a new recipe up. I hope that everyone will forgive me for taking so long to re-work the recipe. I hope you will give them a try too.
Thank you!
Abby
March 2, 2016 at 10:35 ampps. notwithstanding the earlier comments I would love to try the recipe for you to see whether I have any problems on my end …if you are interested and willing to share it feel free to reach out.
lyuba
March 9, 2016 at 8:57 pmHo there! Actually, I’m very close to a new recipes. I’m planning on testing out one little change this week and then post it.
I did come up with an easy version of a recipe too, using a box mix.
With the holidays and then the move and all the other family related stuff, it took me a little bit to rework the cupcakes. I can email you the recipe that I had on here before, but I’d feel bad id it would flop on you too. Email me at [email protected]
Taylor
October 23, 2016 at 8:52 pmThis sounds like a really yummy recipe and I can’t wait to make it! Is the bacon grease absolutely necessary in the cupcake?
Lyuba
October 26, 2016 at 10:52 pmThank you, Taylor! The grease adds more flavor, but can be substituted with oil.
Pamela Edwards
January 9, 2017 at 7:28 pmMy 3 granddaughters are in a performing singing group. I am always looking for fantastic new recipes for them. I made a double batch of your marvelous muffins for them when they performed at our church. I have been asked to make more every week. Everyone loved them and they turned out perfect. Thank you and God bless.
Lyuba
January 11, 2017 at 10:44 pmI’m very happy to hear that! Thank you so much, Pamela 🙂
Lan
November 11, 2017 at 11:25 pmOh My! These are my new favorite. My friend requested bacon cupcakes and I’m soooo glad I found your recipe! It’s a good thing I made them specially for the birthday girl because otherwise I would eat the entire batch myself. Thank you so much!! Now to look through your website for other goodies.
lyuba
November 13, 2017 at 3:52 pmI am SO happy yo hear that, Lan! Thank you 😀
Samantha Dominguez
December 21, 2017 at 9:13 pmWe weren’t paying attention and realized that we didn’t use the vanilla extract due to following the recipe it never called for it With a table full of ingredients we neglected to notice it was with the batter ingredients.
lyuba
December 22, 2017 at 3:51 pmThank you for letting me know, Samantha! I fixed that part. Luckily, vanilla extract won’t change the texture 🙂
Morgan M.
February 1, 2018 at 10:45 amThis looks great! I can’t wait to try them out! I was going to make mini cupcakes. How should I adjust the cooking time/ temp? How many minis do you think this batch will make? Thanks!
lyuba
February 2, 2018 at 1:24 pmTo be honest, I don’t have much experience with making mini cupcakes but after looking around at some mini cupcake recipes, I would estimate this recipe to make about 4 dozen mini cupcakes. Looks like bake time for mini cupcakes is 11-15 minutes.
I hope you enjoy them!
Morgan M.
February 5, 2018 at 4:25 pmLyuba, these turned out amazing! Perfect combination of salty and sweet! The cake itself was not very sweet which I appreciated and the frosting was just enough sweetness.
I made mini cupcakes and found that 11-13 minutes did the trick. It made just over 4 doz mini cupcakes and once cooled I added a bit of maple syrup to the top prior to frosting. I baked the bacon so it was really crispy and minced it so each mini got plenty of bacon sprinkles! I didn’t drizzle more syrup on top of the frosting because they were so tiny and I didn’t want them to be sticky. Everyone loved them! They were a huge hit and will certainly be made again!
lyuba
February 6, 2018 at 9:14 amI’m so happy it turned out well, Morgan!
I don’t like desserts overly sweet myself so I’m glad you appreciate that 🙂 I’m so glad it was a success!
Caye
February 25, 2018 at 4:03 pmWhat decorating tip did you use for bacon cupcakes?
lyuba
March 1, 2018 at 4:53 pmHi Caye! I used 1M decorating tip 🙂
Ashley
May 19, 2018 at 10:57 amSo I definitely did not get enough bacon grease from baking the bacon in the oven…. I had like 1/8 of a cup, and I used the thick cut bacon. Mayne options for a substitution bc bacon is too expensive to waste just to get grease…
Liana
June 14, 2018 at 11:29 amI am definitely going to try these! They sound delicious!
Liana
June 14, 2018 at 11:29 amI am definitely going to try these! They sound delicious!
lyuba
July 10, 2018 at 1:59 pmI hope you will and let me know how you liked it 😉
Thank you, Liana!
Tami
June 22, 2018 at 6:11 pmI, too, have a bride that wants a breakfast cupcake. The only difference is she wants minis. I picked 8 different recipes to try. This one was first on the list because I liked the ingredients. I am happy to say I don’t need to try the other recipes! This is delicious. I didn’t think I would like a breakfast cupcake, but I couldn’t stop eating these. It’s like something that would come out of Willy Wonka’s factory or Jane Jetsons food machine. It’s little, but you feel like you are eating a pancake and bacon breakfast!! Thank you sooo much for all the hard work you put into perfecting this recipe. It’s absolutely delicious!
lyuba
July 10, 2018 at 2:00 pmAwe, you made me so happy, Tami!!
Thank you so much for letting me know and I wish your bride a lifetime of happiness!
Eunice
September 6, 2018 at 9:49 pmQuestion some of the comments say 2 tsp of baking powder but your recipe says 1 tsp, what is the correct amount to use?
lyuba
September 19, 2018 at 4:27 pmHi Eunice!
This recipe has actually been re-worked and updated so some of the comments are old. The recipe itself is updated, so it’s 1 tsp.
I hope you like the cupcakes 🙂
Alexi
January 21, 2019 at 4:33 amHello! Will this work with pure egg whites from a carton?
lyuba
February 23, 2019 at 11:56 amHi Alexi!
So sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner!
The jury is still out of using egg white from a carton in baking and whipping. So brands do work and some do not .Some brands even say right on the carton that it can not be used in meringue or other baking recipes.
I can’t say for sure since I haven’t tried a specific brand.
If you’re worried about wasting egg yolks, I often plan a custard or chocolate mousse or something similar that specifically uses egg yolks at the same time. That way, I use both parts of the egg 🙂
Daren
June 15, 2019 at 6:52 pmThese cupcakes are AMAZING. I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out perfect. The cupcakes are moist and the frosting is light. They look just a great as they taste.
LyubaB
June 17, 2019 at 3:59 pmDaren, I am so happy you liked them!!