Bacon cupcakes?
By now, you’ve most likely noticed the recent pervasiveness of bacon in grocery stores, in restaurants, and especially on Pinterest… Bacon chocolate bars, bacon vodka, bacon cinnamon rolls, bacon toothpaste?? Scarily enough, all of these items are very much real entities.
And bacon cupcakes: rich chocolate cupcakes with a smokey flavor sure to please any bacon lover in your life.
While a bacon cupcakes recipe might seem out of place on this blog, I wanted to offer a healthier alternative for those interested in trying out the bacon trend without the extra calories and saturated fat… or for those who love Charlotte’s Web and Babe as much as I do! The thing is, you don’t actually need any real bacon to achieve that textbook “bacon” flavor; all you need is a secret ingredient found at pretty much any mainstream grocery store: liquid smoke.
I made a glaze for the cupcakes by taking my Reeses Fudge Frosting and thinning it out with a little extra almond milk. Then I sprinkled a few bacon bits on top (Frontier Bac’uns, Betty Crocker, and McCormick bacon bits all happen to be bacon-free) and they were good to go!
Bacon Cupcakes
- 1 cup spelt or all-purpose flour (135g) (Arrowhead Mills gf also works.)
- 6 tbsp cocoa powder (30g) (not Dutch)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup xylitol or sugar of choice (180g)
- 1/2 cup mayo-style spread, such as Vegenaise (For a mayo-free version, click here.) (110g)
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup water (180g)
- 1 tsp liquid smoke
Preheat your oven to 350 F. Place 12 liners inside a muffin pan. In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients and sift very well. In a separate bowl, combine remaining four ingredients and whisk until the mayo spread is completely smooth. Pour wet into dry, and stir until just combined. Immediately divide among the liners—it won’t seem like a lot of filling, but these cupcakes rise a lot! Bake 21 minutes, remove from the oven, then let sit 15 more minutes before removing from the pan. These taste much more fudgey and rich the next day, so bake the day before eating if you can. Store in the refrigerator for optimum freshness. (The recipe for the healthy chocolate frosting shown in the photos is linked under the second picture in this post.)
I can vouch for the recipe working with homemade cashew mayo, Vegenaise (low-fat or regular), or Earth Balance Mindful Mayo. Although I can’t vouch for every single homemade mayo spread out there, the recipe should work as long as your mayo spread includes vinegar or lemon juice and a fat source such as oil or cashews. If you are using a homemade mayo, I recommend omitting any onion powder and mustard called for in your recipe.
Save a horse, ride a cowboy.
Save a pig, eat a cupcake :).
I have never really understood the bacon and chocolate obsession going around – but I feel like I need to try it after seeing these! You can’t hate till you try it right!? Maybe it will be my new favorite thing! 🙂
I’m terrified to try the chocolate bacon combination even though it seems all the rage. What section of the grocery store is liquid smoke found? I’ve searched for it a couple times, but to no avail.
It would most likely be with spices and marinades. I tend to use smoked paprika if I’m looking for the smoky flavor (not vegan/vegetarian but bacon is almost all unhealthy fat) so I’ve never actually shopped for it though.
Now I have to try paprika and chocolate to see how it’ll turn out…
In my grocery store it is the isle with all of the gravy packets
In my store it is next to the BBQ sauce.
Liquid smoke one of those things that ends up in random enough places that I always just ask an employee. In one of the stores near my house it’s in the spices section, in another it’s in the condiment area — and in the last it’s in with the sugar for some unknown reason.
I just discovered liquid smoke and I LOVE IT! Never thought of using it in baking though…thanks for a brilliant idea!
BACON BITS DON’T CONTAIN BACON???
Ikr! Bacon bits scare me. As does most processed food.
looks pretty interesting!!
Hi Katie,
Great idea! I’m not sure if you are aware but liquid smoke is actually under investigation as to whether it is a safe flavoring as it seems to be carcinogenic. If people want that smokiness without that ingredient they might want to leave it out and replace the salt your recipe calls for with smoked salt instead…Otherwise very cool!
Thanks for the heads up! I tried to google it, but the only articles I could find that said it was a danger were from at least 3 years ago… do you have a link to something more current so I can check it out?
Here’s a recent one about DNA damage:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691513001063
Not convinced by that article link. It also lists coffee and tea on the list of DNA damage.
I’ve had bacon cupcakes before and they are pretty out of this world. I’m not sure how artificial bacon bits could be called healthy though. All the brands I’ve seen have msg and artificial food dyes in them, among other questionable ingredients.
Do you have a recipe for homemade cashew mayo? I have more cashews than I know what to do with, at present. *grin* Also, I’d love to try this with the coconut “bacon” that’s so popular around these parts lately.
I would also love to see the cashew mayo recipe! 🙂
I don’t actually have a recipe of my own. But if you google “cashew mayo” you can find some recipes for it… or look in a good all-purpose vegan cookbook. Most of the recipes I’ve seen are pretty similar to each other, so you shouldn’t have a problem no matter which you choose. 🙂
Personally, I think these are a great alternative to pig based bacon cupcakes, processed bacon bits and all. Not every dessert needs to be the healthiest food of your day, that’s why it’s a treat! I am pretty excited to make these!
Genius! I have a bottle of liquid smoke in the back of my cabinet that I’ve been wondering how to finish off…