Bacon? In my cupcakes?

I've been talking about it for a while but tonight I finally did it.
I made bacon cupcakes.

I got the recipe in question from Vanilla Garlic which claims that this was the "original" bacon cupcake recipe on the internet, so I knew I was in good hands.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly except for one component. As I was frying up my bacon for the batter I had a revelation. A BACON ROSE. The perfect classy addition, and super easy to do. I started by lining a baking sheet with foil and putting a wire baking rack on top. Then I just rolled up strips of bacon and put a toothpick through about 1/3 from the bottom. I took each roll and sort of wedged them in between the wires of the rack so the rose was standing upright with the toothpick perpendicular to the wire. Then I baked those babies for 15 minutes on 350. After I let them cool, I trimmed off the bottoms because the strips were quite wide to begin with, but if your bacon is thinner then you can probably skip that step.

After frosting the cakes I popped a toothpick through the roses and stabbed them to the tops. I skipped topping them with sea salt since the bacon was salty but I did add the turbinado sugar.

Find the recipe HERE and try them out for yourself!

Shop Spotlight: Bake it Pretty

I love baking, but the Amanda at Bake it Pretty takes it to the next level.
They make baking art.

They have something sweet for every stage of the process, from baking to decorating to packaging.

Best of all they have WORLD WIDE SHIPPING.

And just look at their new Vintage Cupcake Kits!



Speaking of which, there is a giveaway happening over at Amanda's blog where you could win a $30 gift certificate to the shop to pick up some adorable baking goodies for yourself!

Whether you need a present for the baker in your life or want to make your holiday treats extra special, there's something sweet there for you.
You'll be the talk of every holiday party!

colour inspiration 14

Today was a day of firsts for me. I made my first card (see previous entry). I used a CUTTLEBUG for the first time! And now I am finally posting my very first entry for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge!

I currently don't own any Stampin' Up! supplies, but I read in a previous challenge that it is fine to just match up colours as best as you can, so that is what I did!
The base card stock really is closer to "river rock" than it looks in the picture.

On a side note, I think I need some of those Johnny Cupcakes t-shirts!