Foodie Friday - Cupcakes Galore

Foodie Fridays is my attempt at establishing some sort of structure within my blog; each week I'll be sharing something I've made, and most likely the corresponding recipe. Hopefully it will be delicious.

Last week I had 2 opportunities to take a twist on my go-to chocolate cake recipe. This recipe rocks; I've added cofffee, Kahlua, Grand Marnier, chipotle & cinnamon and now peanut butter and bacon and it has yet to do me wrong.

Yes, peanut butter and bacon. No, not in the same batch.

The peanut butter beauties above were in payment to a friend for dogsitting while I was away reveling it up at the Ren Faire.

The dark chocolate bacon cupcakes were made for Jason's 34th birthday on Thursday. They were a great finish to the mountain of barbecue we had at Kreutz's Market in Lockhart.

Here is my go-to recipe. For the first batch I added a dollop of peanut butter in the middle of each cupcake before baking, and garnished with the mini peanut butter cups from Central Market. For the others I added a pound of cooked, finely-chopped bacon and garnished with a pinch of sea salt. Next time I might up the proportions to 1 1/2 pounds of bacon; we could not really taste the bacon in these but they had a nice sweet/savory mix and interesting texture.

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup cocoa
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup water
Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, and oil; beat until combined. Stir in water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 20-25 minutes for cupcakes, 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan.

Chocolate Buttercream
  • 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
  • 2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Beat butter in medium bowl. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, beating to spreading consistency. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups frosting.

Enjoy!

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