Recently it was the Rugby World Cup, and as a rugby mad nation it is all that is talked about in New Zealand when it is on. At work we do a sweepstake where we pick 2 countries out of a hat. At the end of the world cup we have a potluck lunch where each person brings along a dish from one or both of their countries. This year my countries were Scotland, and for the second time in a row I also got Canada. Unfortunately Canada didn’t get out of the pool matches, and Scotland lost to Australia in the quarter finals.
As I’m known as the cupcake person at work, I once again made my Bacon and Maple Syrup Cupcakes as my Canadian dish. I love bacon and cupcakes, so it was a match made in heaven to combine the two. I used my favourite Vanilla Cupcake recipe and adapted it to include the bacon and maple syrup.
Recipe
3 rashes of bacon
Cook bacon in a pan and put the fat/drippings in a container to put in the cupcakes. Chop bacon and set aside for the topping.
Cupcakes
125gm butter + reserved fat/drippings from cooked bacon rashes
125gm sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbl maple syrup
125gm self rising flour
2 Tbsp milk
Preheat oven to 190C
- Cream butter and bacon fat together until creamy.
- Gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
- Set the mixer to low and add the eggs one at a time.
- Add the maple syrup and continue beating until combined, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
- Alternately add the self raising flour and milk in two batches, starting and ending with the flour until just combined.
- Spoon into cupcake cases and bake for around 12 mins. I always use a toothpick to check they are cooked in the middle.
When they cooled I also heated 2 Tbs of maple syrup until it was runny (20 secs in microwave), and brushed these onto the cupcakes. This gave them more of a maple syrup flavour, and also keeps them moist for longer.
Buttercream Icing
This is the buttercream icing that I use for all of my cupcakes and cakes, but I have replaced the 1 tsp of Vanilla Essence for 1 Tbsp of maple syrup for these cupcakes.
This recipe is enough to ice 12-15 cupcakes.
250gm butter
3 Cups icing sugar
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1-2 Tbs milk
- Cream butter until creamy.
- Add icing sugar one cup at a time until combined and light and fluffy.
- Then add the maple syrup, you can add more or less depending on how sweet you want the icing.
- Add the milk if the buttercream is a bit stiff.
Pipe or spoon icing on cupcakes, and then decorate with chopped bacon and drizzle with maple syrup.
