Bacon-Fleur De Salt Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes Drizzled with Pure Maple Syrup & Chocolate Agave Icing

I was looking for a delicious and unique cupcake to bring to my TEDx Saskatoon wrap-up meeting, but was faced with a bit of a problem: I was squished for time and to be 100% honest, was just too lazy to make a cake from scratch, so I went back to my trustee quick Saucy Sprinkles mix. But ah-ah – problem two struck me at this point: I only had a vanilla box mix and I wanted chocolate. Time to get creative BS’ers….

Recipe for “Cheater” Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes

• One box of vanilla cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar (the secret to velvet cakes)
• 1/4 cup mayo (full fat stuff – no wishy washy crap in my cupcakes)

Scoop the batter into cupcake liners – full them 2/3 full and pop into a 350°F oven for approximately 22 minutes. Once done, let them cool completely before icing. Now the base of the cupcake itself is pretty simple, now this is the time to punch up the flavor and add some uniqueness to these suckers…

Chocolate Agave Icing

• 2 1/4 cups butter
• 3-4 cups icing sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp Wilton Butter Flavoring
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup agave syrup
• a splash of milk

Beat all ingredients together and add the necessary amount of milk until it reaches your desired consistency. Using the 1M Wilton Icing tip, generously top your cupcakes with the Chocolate Agave Icing. After adding the icing, top each cupcake with a handful of homemade bacon bits, sprinkle with Fleur De Salt and finish by generously drizzling pure maple syrup over top!

Like most cupcakes, these are best served in the company of friends! 🙂

Carlene