The Cupcake Addict's Cupcake Collection

So, there appears to be lots of debate on the internet about what constitutes an Elvis Sandwich.  In my mind, it’s a banana, peanut butter and bacon sandwich that’s been fried like a grilled cheese, so that’s what I based this cupcake on.  I know! I know!  Bacon on a cupcake?

Mise en place: click to enlarge

I originally got the banana baby food because there were no ripe bananas.  After Mr Shuck tasted the baby food, it was decided that we would use almost ripe bananas.  I didn’t want to just dump the bacon on top, so I made little rings of bacon and put them in the oven to cook while it was preheating.  Some of them turned out to look like little pork roses.

Bacon curls: click to enlarge

I used Martha Stewart’s Banana cupake recipe.  Found here. I liked the recipe because it was pretty plain…sometimes banana cake turns into spice cake.   I replaced 1 ounce of the butter with rendered bacon fat and baked the minis for about 16 minutes.

Banana Cupcakes: click to enlarge

I imagined that Elvis probably fried his sandwiches, so I browned the tops just a little bit.

Frying cupcakes: click to enlarge

I don’t know if it really added anything beyond another step and more photos, but you could see the little ring peeking out from below the frosting.

Fried Banana Cupcakes: click to enlarge

I used another Martha Stewart recipe for the peanut butter frosting.  The recipe specified to not use “natural” peanut butter, but that’s all I had on hand.  I imagine this is because it’s not very sweet.  I ended up adding a bit of corn syrup to sweeten the icing up a bit.

Banana Peanut Butter cupcakes: click to enlarge

The frosting was piped on and topped with a bacon rosette.

Elvis Cupcakes: click to enlarge

It think these cupcakes were a success.  I took around 40 mini cupcakes to work and came home with an empty container.  If I were to make them over again, I’d incorporate more bacon and use Skippy or Jif instead of Whole Foods’ peanut butter.

Photo credits to Mr Shuck