Have I mentioned that I like bacon?
Please forgive the photo. This was taken with a coworkers IPhone.
Pancakes and bacon from Yellow Leaf
So this was a very tasty cupcake. Have I mentioned that I like bacon? The vanilla cake was studded with bacon bits and topped with a maple Italian meringue butter cream. The bacon bits on top added some texture. I would definitely go out of my way for this cupcake! ♥♥♥♥
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
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