Chocolate Beer Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream and Caramelized Bacon

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Heat beer and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer.
3. Remove beer and butter from heat, stir in cocoa powder and let cool.
4. Meanwhile, mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
5. Beat egg and sour cream in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined.
6. Add cocoa/beer mixture to the sour cream mixture and beat to combine.
7. Slowly add flour mixture into the creamed mixture and fold it in with a soft spatula or wooden spoon.
8. Pour into lined muffin tins, with roughly 2/3 cup batter per tin.
9. Bake at 350°F until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set it on a rack.
10. Let cupcakes cool completely.
11. Dip cupcake tops in the beer glaze, frost with maple buttercream and top with caramelized bacon.

For the beer glaze:

1. Mix brown sugar and beer in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook until liquid is reduced by half.
2. Remove from heat. Add butter and cream and whisk until smooth.

For the maple buttercream frosting:

1. In a medium sized bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
2. Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until well incorporated.
3. Add syrup and vanilla and mix for another minute.

For the caramelized bacon:

1. Melt butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over low heat and whisk until smooth.
2. Add bacon bits and mix to coat with caramel.
3. Increase temperature to medium-high. Add beer and continue to cook until beer is reduces to a syrupy consistency.

Cupcake recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker’s Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes.