So I guess the cat is out of the bag… I’ve been selected to participate on C95’s (a local radio station) version of The Bachelor as one of their lucky five bachelorettes. I was trying to think of something creative and delicious and yet a bit different to bring for my first in-station interview. So I decided what is a better way to a guy’s heart but food – specifically bacon and chocolate. Thus my invention of the Mancake. I figure the word ‘cupcake’ is a bit too girly and doesn’t perfectly describe a cupcake that combines chocolate and candied bacon – thus the word Mancake was born.
For the chocolate cake cupcakes, I used Saucy’s amazing re-box recipe – which is great if you are a bit crunched for time.
- 1 box of chocolate cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup of water
- 1/2 cup of melted butter
For the icing (feel free to add in more or less as you see fit):
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 5-6 cups of icing sugar
- 1/4 cup of maple syrup
- 5 tsp of vanilla
- 2 tsp of Wilton butter flavouring
- 1/2 cup of melted chocolate chips (melted with 1 tbsp of butter & 2 tbsp of heavy cream)
- 2 tbsp of heavy cream
- 4 tbsp of cocoa powder
To candy your bacon, fry up the bacon with some maple syrup and lots of brown sugar until its nice and crisp. Once the bacon has had a chance to cool, cut it up into thin little slices.
Ice your cupcakes with a 1M Wilton tip and sprinkle the bacon strips on top. Feel free to sprinkle on some raw sugar to give it that extra visual punch. Place in mouth & enjoy!
Carlene
This recipe looks awesome! I would love to make it this weekend for our Memorial Day picnic. However, I’m not quite sure how to get my hands on “Wilton Butter Flavouring.” I’m a bit of a novice cook, and I’ve actually never even heard of it. Is it like butter extract? Where do you get something like that? Or… can it be substituted with the same/similar results? Thanks!
You can leave it out if you wish. I just find it adds a nice smooth taste to the buttercream. I purchased mine at Michaels Craft Store and at Bulk Barn. I believe Walmart also carries it now!http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E30D7E5-475A-BAC0-55409D432277491E
Hope that helps!
Carlene
These sound amazing! For the candied bacon- do you have to use pure maple syrup or will the typical store syrup work? Also do you heat up the syrup and brown sugar in the frying pan first and then add the bacon once it’s hot or do you put them all in at the same time? Thank you!!
Good questions Cassie! Any maple syrup will work. For the cooking process, start your frying pan with the bacon and once that starts to cook, add in your maple syrup & brown sugar; almost making a sugar bath for the bacon. Hope this helps!
– Carlene –