French toast cupcakes with bacon!

I LOVE BACON!

Whew!, I had to get that out there. Now that you all know my love for bacon I'll make it known that this is my 2nd cupcake I have made that has had bacon involved. (And no, it will most likely not be my last.)

The last bacon cupcake I made was a plain maple cupcake with maple cream cheese frosting, topped with bacon. I wanted to take it a little furthur this time, no fear!

So I looked and looked and came up with what looked to be a pretty good choice of a cupcake.

A French Toast Bacon Cupcake with Cinnamon Maple Cream Cheese Bacon Frosting.

Whoa.

Lets get to er huh!?

Here is what you will need:

For the cupcakes:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cake flour

1 3.9 ounce box instant vanilla pudding mix

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 large egg whites, room temp

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup half-and-half, room temp

1/2 cup chopped, cooked bacon (5-6 strips)

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temp

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 strips chopped, cooked bacon

That's a lot of ingredients, but don't be scared, it makes such a delicious cupcake!

Now time to get down to the nitty gritty. You ready?

Directions for cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Combine the flours, pudding mix, baking powder, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl and whisk.

3. In a bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars on low speed until combined, 6 to 8 minutes. Gradually mix in the vanilla and egg whites. Scrape down the sides of bowl and continue mixing until light and fluffy.

4. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the maple syrup and half-and-half, mixing after each addition and ending with flour. Mix until ingredients are just combined making sure not to overmix.

5. Fold in the bacon.

6. Pour batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about 3/4 full. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Cool completely.

Directions for the frosting:

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter with a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.

2. Add the confectioners' sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon; beat until combined.

3. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with bacon!

I made these for a Christmas treat for my family and they absolutely loved them! (They were a bit skeptical at first, considering none of them have heard about bacon on a dessert before!)

The perfect cupcake for bacon lover's everywhere!

Enjoy!

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