Bacon Adventures: Delicious or Disaster?!

Let me say it: Absolutely Delicious!

Throughout the project, which my roommate Meaghan and I collaborated on, I kept convincing myself, "It's gonna be great; it's gonna be fine. Bacon makes everything better!" I have to admit, I had reservations. But as we added ingredient after ingredient, it made less and less sense that the recipe would turn out to be a disaster. Eggs? Flour? Sugar? Cinnamon? Nutmeg? Vanilla? Butter? Bacon fat? Who has any objections to these things? As it turns out, no one should.

The cake was light and moist, with an enveloping aroma of ... Christmas (because of the freshly grated nutmeg and cinnamon)! It was like breakfast french toast, only better. The bits of bacon in the cake were like a tastebud surprise, the saltiness of which contrasted so perfectly with the actual cake.

I'd mentioned in my last post about ambitions to create a mousseline buttercream from maple syrup. It was work. And the whole time, I kept thinking, "This will either be totally awesome or totally disastrous." Totally awesome if the maple syrup can reach a high enough temperature (240 degrees F) without burning. Totally disastrous if it burns into a black mess. It took a long time, but it finally did reach barely 240 degrees. And as always, the mousseline recipe never fails.

French Toast with Bacon CupKates (Yields about 16)

Ingredients:

• 10 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp bacon drippings (solidified in refrigerator)
• 1 ½ cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
• 1/4 cup of crumbled bacon pieces

Directions:

1. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line the muffin pan with paper cupcake liners. Fry 8 slices of bacon to a crisp, reserve 2 tbsp of the drippings. Crumble the bacon and save for later.
2. Combine the butter, bacon drippings and sugar and mix on low speed with a mixer until just incorporated. Raise the speed to high and mix until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the sides of the bowl down with a rubber spatula.)
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, maple syrup and vanilla, and also set aside.
4. Add the egg yolks to the creamed butter one at time, waiting for each one to be fully incorporated before adding the next. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Alternately, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk mixture in 2 additions, waiting for each to be fully incorporated before adding the next (scrape the bowl down occasionally). Raise the speed to medium and mix briefly until a smooth batter is formed. Transfer the batter to a large bowl. Sprinkle in the bacon bits and stir to incorporate.
5. In another clean (oil/grease-free) bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks are formed. Working in 3 batches, using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter, until just incorporated. Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full of batter.
6. Bake, rotating the pan once, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
7. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and cool completely. Frost with Maple Syrup Mousseline Buttercream. Garnish with a piece of bacon.

Maple Syrup Mousseline Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened but cool (about 65 degrees F)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup of maple syrup, Grade A Dark Amber
• 3 large egg whites

Directions:

1. Make sure your mixing bowl is very clean and free of grease or oily residue. To be sure, you can wipe your bowl down with a teaspoon of vinegar. Set the bowl aside.
2. In another mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, set aside in a cool place.
3. In a small heavy saucepan, heat the maple syrup over low to medium-low heat. Watch out that it does not boil over. Very important.
4. Start beating the egg whites, when they reach soft peaks, gradually add the sugar and beat to stiff peaks. If using a stand mixer, leave it running on the slowest speed to keep the egg whites from deflating.
5. Increase the heat under the syrup and cook until a candy thermometer reaches 240 degrees F (the soft ball stage). Be patient. It takes vigilence to make sure that the syrup heats and thickens without boiling over or burning. It may take up to 30 minutes over low heat.
6. Once 240 degrees is reached, immediately remove the syrup from the heat. If using a handheld mixer, beat the syrup into the whites in a steady stream with the mixer running. Don't pour the syrup on the beaters or they will throw all the syrup on the sides of the bowl. If using a stand mixer, pour 1/4 of the mixture over the whites with the mixer off. Immediately beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Continue with the remaining syrup. Lower speed to medium and beat until completely cool.
7. Beat in the butter 1 Tbs at a time. At first the mixture will seem thin and will look curdled, but keep adding butter and mixing well, you may need to increase the speed a bit.

I promise you will love it!