French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting

Yes, you read right: French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting. And bacon sprinkles. What? Bacon on a cupcake? Yes, it's true! I made French Toast Cupcakes and they were delicious. How did I come across these little beauties? Well, I happen to watch "Good Things Utah" regularly while I do my morning cleaning. And one morning, during the cooking segment, they had a gal on there making these cupcakes from a recipe she had created. I have been obsessed with cupcakes lately and was intrigued by them, especially the bacon on top. It sounded disgusting! But after watching the segment, I determined that I was going to make them too. I was teaching Young Women's a few weeks ago, and Jared was teaching his lesson in Young Men's, and thought it would be a fun thing to make for the kids. We have our lesson last in church, and the talk in the hallway following Sunday School was about the cupcakes with bacon on top! Too funny. Everyone tried one, just to satisfy their curiosity. And they were all pleasantly surprised, including me. They just had to have the recipe! Who would have thought you could create a breakfast cupcake like this? It really did taste like French Toast with maple syrup. The recipe calls to just add small strips of bacon, but I decided to put them in a baggie and crush them to create sprinkles instead. A great tip for frosting them is to use a plastic baggie, line it in a cup (this is an essential step!), fill it up with the icing, and cut the tip off of one end. This is definitely a recipe that will get attention and everyone will want the recipe! You may want to check out Wendy Paul's book of amazing cupcake recipes. I bought it and I am having the best time with the recipes. Cupcakes make perfect gifts and Michaels has a ton of really cute cupcake liners right now to dress them up even more!

And be prepared to have the recipe ready to give out because you will have people asking for it. It's been a year and a half since I first made them, and I still have people asking for the recipe!


French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting
Prepared by Wendy Paul
101 Gourmet Cupcakes

Ingredients:

* 1 box white cake mix
* 3 eggs
* 1 cup half and half
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* Maple Butter cream frosting
* ½ lb. Bacon slices, cooked until crispy, cut into 2” strips

Method:
Mix together cake mix, eggs, half and half, vanilla, and spices. Beat batter until well combined. Do not over mix.

Scoop batter into paper liners filling ¾ full. Batter will be thick. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until cupcakes are slightly golden around the edge. Remove cupcakes from the oven and cool completely. Frost with maple buttercream frosting. Top with 2 small strips of bacon.

Maple Buttercream frosting

* 1 ½ teaspoons maple flavoring
* 2 sticks butter
* 3 tablespoons cream
* 1 lb. Powdered sugar

In a large mixer, add maple flavoring, butter and cream, beating on medium until smooth. Stop mixer and add ½ of the powdered sugar. Starting mixer on low speed, until powdered sugar is incorporated. Stop mixer and add remaining powdered sugar until desired texture. You may add more cream if needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. Frost cooled cupcakes.


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