White chocolate mocha cupcakes

The theme for this month’s Cupcake Hero is coffee. Since white chocolate mocha is one of the favorites of the judge this month, I decided to make white chocolate mocha cupcakes. After making these cupcakes, I wasn’t satisfied with the flavor… To clarify, everyone loved the taste of this cupcake, they just didn’t taste white-chocolate-mocha-ey. They tasted gingerbread-ey. I plan to make another cupcake to enter into the Cupcake Hero.

White Chocolate Mocha cupcake (adapted from White Chocolate Cupcake in Crazy about Cupcakes – original recipe shown below with my changes in Italics) – makes 24
2/3 cup milk
1 Tbsp white vinegar
2/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups white chocolate chips – I used 4 oz white chocolate + 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/3 cup water – I omitted the water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp instant espresso, divided

Preheat oven to 325. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.

Combine the milk and vinegar in a cup. Set aside for at least 5 minutes. Combine the vanilla extract with 1/2 Tbsp instant espresso and set aside.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Combine 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips and the water in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until melted, stirring continuously. Here, I used a double boiler to melt the 4 oz of white chocolate.

Add the vanilla and white chocolate mixture to the creamed mixture.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt and 1.5 Tbsp of instant espresso.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk-and-vinegar mixture, beating for 1 minutes after each addition. Fold in the remaining white chocolate chips. Note: to prevent the chips from all sinking to the bottom of the cupcakes, roll them around in a bowl with 2 Tbsp flour prior to adding them to the batter.

Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

For the White chocolate buttercream, I used the same recipe that I have used before for the White Chocolate Blueberry cupcakes I made last summer. I sprinkled the cupcakes with some ground nutmeg. I think this may have also contributed to the gingerbread-ey flavor.

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19 Responses to “Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting”

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    Megan — January 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    I’ll take any leftovers! They sound amazing. I keep saying dessert recipes with bacon and bookmarking them, but I haven’t tried any yet. Adding this one to the list now too. 🙂

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    ann — January 13, 2011 at 5:07 pm

    These look so terrific. I love the flavor combinations!

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    Blog is the New Black — January 13, 2011 at 5:08 pm

    I’m intrigued!

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    KV — January 13, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    interesting! I have a recipe for chocolate bacon fudge or maybe pb bacon fudge but I’m afraid to try it

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    Rachel @ Baked by Rachel — January 13, 2011 at 6:01 pm

    The frosting sounds amazing. I honestly still can’t bring myself to get behind bacon in desserts. Maybe someday I’ll try a bacon cupcake if I’m given one though. 🙂 I can only resist so long.

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    Jennifer — January 13, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    YUM! These look so good! I haven’t tried the bacon / sweet combo yet, but I’m sure I would love it!

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    Fun and Fearless in Beantown — January 13, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    This looks delicious but I’ve got to ask….what is a pirate party?

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    Jen — January 13, 2011 at 6:21 pm

    Fun and Fearless – It’s exactly like it sounds… Everyone dresses up as a pirate (or something related – Hubby and I went as Treasure maps last year). They even hire this guy who looks like Captain Jack Sparrow to come and there’s a prize for best costume. One of the best parties of the year!

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    Cupcake Activist — January 13, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    Sounds great! The problem I’ve seen with bacon is that sometimes it is chewy in cupcakes. That’s not good. I like that this recipe says to cook until crispy. Extra crispy for me!

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    Laura and Alex — January 13, 2011 at 9:11 pm

    My favorite candy bar is bacon chocolate!!! I can’t wait to try this 🙂

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    Carrie — January 13, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    Wow, those look and sound amazing!

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    Shannon — January 13, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    oh yum. after putting bacon in last years cookies this might need to be next 🙂

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    Corrine — January 13, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    I’m so curious to try bacon in baked goods, but do you think turkey bacon would work?

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    Jen — January 13, 2011 at 10:08 pm

    Corrine – I’m sure turkey bacon would work if you could get it nice and crispy. I’ve heard that if the bacon isn’t super crispy, it has a really weird chewy texture in baked goods.

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    Corrine — January 14, 2011 at 2:11 am

    Thanks Jen! I’m going to give it a try!

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    Evan Thomas — January 14, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    This has just about everything that I would want to go together. Awesome recipe!

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    Medifast Coupons — January 14, 2011 at 4:10 pm

    This is certianly a unqiue mixture of tastes and textures, but it comes together nicely. Definatly a must try!

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    darcyeats — January 14, 2011 at 6:22 pm

    Chocolate..caramel…bacon…PERFECTION.
    I am infatuated with the perfect smoky/salty addition of bacon into sweet baked goods. So delicious. Of course, I’m kind of a fan of adding bacon into just about anything.
    Great pics, def wanna try these out!

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    kitchenmisfit — January 16, 2011 at 1:01 am

    Sorry the cupcakes didn’t turn out like you wanted. Have you ever tried the bacon/chocolate cupcake at Cherry Bomb Bakery in Brighton? They are fantastic!

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