Maple Syrup, Bourbon and Candied Bacon Gluten Free Cupcakes - recipes

As much as I go on about cake, I'm not what you'd call a dyed in the wool cake lover. To be perfectly honest with you, I find cakes, especially cupcakes, a sickly sweet disappointment that I wished I had never ordered in the first place. I hate talking cake.

And I'm not one of those, standing in the kitchen every afternoon, rustling up some baked goodness to underline how much I'm fucking perfect wife material; there's more to life right now than conforming to some submissive female blogger stereotype.

Now I'm going to blow all of my postulating rhetoric clear of the cake mix and post a recipe for a) cake b) a cupcake WITH frosting (shudders) and c) a cupcake topped with the sweetest garnish available to humankind. I never claimed to be consistent.

These cakes are neither clever nor particularly original, I've located the currant zeitgeist and slapped it all on a cupcake - artists copy, geniuses steal and I'm so fucking genius that a day in my life hurts. That's why I make such great tasting food and why there's booze in most of the things I make.

Meat and booze on a cupcake - I rule

If you're a lady trying to stereotypically win the heart of a manly man and his bunch of nethanderal men friends, these cakes are for you. Likewise, they're pretty damn hipster, so you can take them over to your post-ironic loft parties and be all 'saaarrriousleee, you like so put meat on a cake, OMG that's so hot right now, let's all got to Famous and queue for hours like douches and Instagram dogs ironically on the way.' Or if you just want an excuse to pour booze in everything, like I do, then these are for you - and so are AA meetings; you/I have a problem

Some words of warning:
1. These cakes are not for vegetarians or kids. You'll have to omit the booze and bacon and there's really no point in that. Go get a recipe for vanilla cupcakes if you have bacon/booze beef.

2. I've taken out quite a bit of the sugar (see above for rant on sweet cakes), but you can add this back in if you have a sweet tooth/are angling to develop diabetes (try adding another 30 grams).

3. This is a gluten free recipe - but works just as well with regular self-raising flour.

4. I lied - I actually made these with Pine (Tar) Syrup from Finland - it's nowhere near as sweet as maple syrup, it has a smokey/piney finish that fits brilliantly with the bacon and the whiskey and I'm addicted to it. Substitute maple if you can't source it (or click here if you want to).

5. This is a bit of a long recipe, but it's well worth it and these will go down like THE BOMB wherever you take them. I can make you THAT COOL.

Maple/Tar Syrup, Bourbon and Candied Bacon Gluten Free Cupcakes

Ingredients

(Makes 16 small cupcakes or about 8 muffins)
125g butter at room temp, diced
100g caster sugar
2 eggs (free range please) (and at room temperature too)
3 tblsp Tar Syrup or Maple Syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
175g Glutafin all purpose flour (you can use Dove's Farm SR gluten free flour or regular SR flour)
1 1/4 tsp gluten free baking powder (Dove's Farm does one) (or just a pinch of baking powder if using SR flour)
1 tblsp milk

For the frosting

90g unsalted butter
150g icing sugar
3 tblsp Woodford Reserve (or any other high quality bourbon)

For the garnish

2 tblsp soft light brown sugar
2 tblsp Woodford bourbon (or any other high quality bourbon)
6 rashers of smoked, streaky bacon (good quality, not that full of water shite)

Method

1. Set the oven to 190c/gas 5 and pop the cake cases in a cupcake tin.

2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer till pale and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs one by one, adding a tblsp of the flour with each egg to help prevent curdling. Mix in well and then add in the syrup, vanilla and salt and give a quick whisk to combine.

4. Fold in the flour in two lots (it's easier and helps keep some air in there). If the mix is a little sticky (you want it a little wet, at dropping consistency) - add in the milk and mix again. Add more if needed.

5. Spoon the mix into the paper cases so they are about two-thirds full. I'm not going to be a pedant and make you level them all off, just max sure they are mostly level and not slopped all over or with way more mix on one side than the other.

6. Pop in the oven for 12-15 mins and take out when they are golden on top and a skewer inserted into the middle of a cake comes out clean. Take out of the tin and cool on a wire rack whilst you prep the frosting and bacon.

7. Whilst the cakes cool, fry up the bacon. I only have a small frying pan so fried two pieces at a time - DON'T overcrowd the pan, because then then bacon won't crisp up. Fry the bacon in batches till golden on each side, but NOT over-crisp. Put the bacon on a plate to cool and pour the bacon fat from the pan into a ramekin. The bacon should have cooled sufficiently for you to cut each piece into small strips - enough for each one of your cakes - do some maths/counting.

8. Wipe out the frying pan with a piece of kitchen paper, then add the light brown sugar and place on a medium heat. Add the bourbon and the bacon fat from the ramekin - but make sure you don't pour in any of the sediment from the ramekin. Don't stir the caramel and DON'T touch it as it's fucking boiling - just swirl the pan a few times to stop it sticking.

9. Once the caramel is bubbling, chuck in the bacon strips and bubble away in there until the caramel is really reduced and all the bacon is covered. Using tongs (not burnable fingers, we don't want a trip to A+E) take out the bacon and place on a greased plate (you can just use the plate that the bacon cooled on as that will be pretty greasy). If you want them to dry in a certain shape, bend them in to that now.

10. Whilst the bacon sets, bung all the frosting ingredients in a bowl and mix with the electric mixer. Add more icing sugar/bourbon as required. Load said frosting in to a piping bag (you can just put dollops on top with a spoon if you prefer) and pipe the frosting on to the cakes. Then top with the bacon, pour yourself a large measure (over ice) and congratulate yourself like all your fucking mates are going to when they see how clever you've been. No need to thank me, I drink so much that I'll have forgotten your name before you've even finished introducing yourself, let alone said thanks (however you CAN comment below for posterity).

NB - As I had said before, I enjoy booze in my food as it prolongs the haze in which life is bearable and other people almost acceptable. Because the booze isn't cooked off here, you want to use the best quality you can afford as you're going to taste it. I'm not going wax lyrical about Woodford as I've done that before - but seriously it's an amazing bourbon and it gives these cupcakes a caramel/vanilla/toffee/spicy touch that you don't get elsewhere.

Whiskey Tasting Night - The Violet Hour, West Didsbury

As many of my readership can attest, this is a lady who likes the odd tipple, and there's no tipple this lady likes more than Woodford bourbon (well, maybe some champers, but that's no surprise is it?).

So when good friend and the man with the BEST job in the world mentioned he would be conducting a Woodford/American whiskey tasting night at The Violet Hour in West Didsbury, how could I not pop along and show him my support by eagerly listening to his wisdom and tasting ALL the drinks he made. What a great friend I am hey?

The Violet Hour - wonderful photography from Carl Sukonik/The Vain Photography

Premise of the night was very simple, Tom Vernon, the American Whiskey Ambassador for Bacardi Brown Foreman would introduce three of his brands; Gentleman Jack, Woodford and Jack Single Barrel by giving us a (large) measure of each to taste/savour/down. Then we'd get a classic cocktail made from each (and be shown how to make them too - now I'm going to look like a PRO at Christmas) and plenty of history, anecdotes and tasting notes along the way.

Not all these drinks were mine... (are you sure? - ed)

We were first introduced to Gentleman Jack, a Tennessee whiskey, NOT a bourbon; this is Jack Daniels given the posh treatment - gently mellowed in charred oak barrels for two years then re-mellowed through a unique charcoal filtering process (did you know the Jack Daniels distillery is the ONLY distiller with their own cooper - ie. they make ALL their own barrels? (See I was listening/not getting too pissed. Really. Promise.). Indeed it was pretty smooth, with that oakiness as a slight warm burn on the back of the throat and a good mouthful of stone fruits as well.

Gentleman Jack was given the whiskey sour treatment - very simply just whiskey (obviously), mixed with sugars, bitters, the sharp bite of lemon and some egg white to give you a nice creamy mouth feel (oi! I'm talking about booze you rude people!). See the bottom of the blog post to make your own whiskey sour.

Tom doing his thang - again thanks to the amazing Carl Sukonik/The Vain Photography

Next drink was my favourite EVER - a Woodford. Even without Tom's spiel I can tell you that this bourbon is a far more punchy and layered little number as it contains much more rye than the Gentleman Jack (18% compared to Gentleman's 8% - ok, I didn't know the percentages until I got Tom's informative chat). Woodford is full of toffee and maple notes (that's why it makes such a good caramel for morning pancakes!) with some peppery, anise flavours to really perk it up at the end. Even though it's more punchy, it has less of an aggressive nose/throat than the Gentleman Jack due to the aging processes it goes through.

The Woodford was turned in to one of my top ten favourite cocktails; the quintessential prohibition drink that's gone through a massive resurgence lately, the stately and sophisticated (and darn right boozey) Manhattan. The story goes it was created at the Manhattan club for Winston Churchill's mother - how it was when she was pregnant and in France, no one knows, it's been lost in the mists of time...

Woodford Manhattan and terrible photo

The last whiskey of the night was the Jack Single Barrel - that's the super posh stuff that Jack Daniel's makes. As it says on the tin (ok bottle), this is a single barrel bottling; each batch is created from ONE single barrel (approx 250 bottles). This whiskey has oodles of flavour and a much higher abv (45%!) thanks to it being stored in the Angel's Roost - the top of the warehouse where the temperature differences are more pronounced, thus meaning the whiskey has had more interaction with the wood; the whiskey sucking in and absorbing all those charred oaky tannins and being softened by its interaction with the wood.

Each batch of Jack Single Barrel differs from the each other depending on what time of year it was made, where it has been stored in the warehouse and what the weather has been like whilst it's been in the barrel (yes, even little nuances like that make a whole lot of difference); each batch will have different tasting notes, different characteristics and different complexities - this batch was silky soft and mellow with burnt toffee and charcoal notes coming through on the finish. A smooth, complex and extremely exquisite drink, poo poohing those toffee noses who look down on American Whiskey as a second rate drink - and this little tipple nearly, ever so nearly knocked Woodford down from its lofty perch in my esteem (don't tell Woodford though...).

For the Single Barrel a very special, simple drink (that actually takes a little time and quite a bit of care to make properly) that can actually claim to be one of my very favourites and one of the very first cocktails ever created in them good ol' days; an Old Fashioned (yeah that one in Madmen. No I haven't watched Madmen. Yes I know I'm probably missing out. Thanks.) - whiskey, sugar syrup, bitters and a little twist of orange. Tom's version = perfection.

Thanks to Dan (left) and Tom for a wonderful, fun evening

The Violet Hour is a perfect little hideaway that has recently opened on Burton Road in West Didsbury - whilst I lived there (yonks ago whilst at Uni - not telling you how long that was), it had always been a derelict butcher shop, a broken down blot on the blossoming Burton Road scene. Thankfully owner/manager Dan had a vision to create a bustling little bar with a great selection of quality drinks and (soon to come) warming stews and creative nibbles (think home made pork scratching and gourmet popcorn, yum) - the pared back brick work and warm lighting creating a friendly, welcoming space - if you like a proper drink, this is the place to go.

So how much did supporting my friend (er don't you mean filling your boots with a ton of booze? - ed) cost? Pretty reasonable actually - for three (large) tasting measures, three exceptionally created cocktails (Tom is pretty skillful in that area) and more canapes than I could actually eat, I only had to shell out £15. I think it was more than worth it and will be booking myself and anyone who will come with me (and who wouldn't? Booze and food and ME hey?) on to the next spirit night The Violet Hour hosts (apparently there will be lots - check their Twitter and Facebook for more info/before they all sell out!).

All eagerly listening to Tom in the lovely surroundings of The Violet Hour -

again from Carl Sukonik/The Vain Photography (who has a brilliant eye, check him out!)

The Violet Hour, 236 Burton Road, West Didsbury, Manchester M20 - Facebook - Twitter - 0161 434 9521

Ps Thanks to Carl Sukonik of The Vain Photography for letting me use his beautifully shot photos and for sparing you any more of my out of focus/blurry attempts. Check out his website and twitter for more info about how you can book this highly talented/lovely chap.


How to make a Whiskey Sour like Tom Vernon aka the jammiest man in the world

60ml Gentleman Jack
2 tsp sugar
20ml fresh lemon (and no, it is NOT acceptable to use the stuff in a bottle. EVER.)
Bitters to taste (get creative, there's a wide variety of bitters out there)
Egg white from one egg (save the yolk for your hangover cure the next morning...)
Cocktail shaker
Lowball glass with ice cubes in
Cheeky grin - optional

1. Pop all the ingredients bar the bitters in a cocktail shaker and shake about a bit dry ie. NOT with ice (don't just shake the shaker with nothing in, that's not how you make a cocktail).

2. Whilst shaking, regale people with anecdotes/facts about whiskey you have learnt from this blog - or in Tom's version, with amazing tales from having the best job in the world where you just get to talk a lot about whiskey, drink a lot of whiskey and fly out to America every three minutes (not that I'm jealous or anything).

3. Pour in to a low ball/old fashioned glass (the little short, squat ones) over ice and shake some bitters in over the top - you can prep the glasses by sugaring the rims if you want to be ultra professional.

4. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel and serve with a winning smile. Lapping up praise - optional.

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Old Fashioned Cake (gluten free) - Whiskey and Orange and BOOM

What's this? Another recipe from me? What have become a recluse and stopped writing about going out and stuffing things in my face? No I just got on a recipe kick this week and I've been blasting huge amounts of bourbon in to things and bloody enjoying it - so thought you would too. And it's my blog, so I can write what I want, can't I?

"What's an Old Fashioned cake," I hear you cry? It's not a dusty tea loaf from your spinster aunt's kitchen, full of cat hair and ten year old raisins; no, this cake has been inspired by my very favourite cocktail - an Old Fashioned - basically bourbon whiskey, sugar syrup and orange peel; smoky, sweet, short and a little perfume kick, delicious really.

So enough waffling as this cake recipe is super scrumptious and amazing (like me) and you should all rush out and make it now. Plus it's like the pancakes, it's legitimising booze DURING THE DAY - and most of the booze in this one isn't cooked, so you get a lovely warm kick of it with each and every slice.

And yes, I'm using Woodford again - the booze isn't cooked off here, so I wanted the cake to taste of something nice rather than that £8 crap from Aldi. This is a gluten free cake - but just replace the GF flour with normal self-raising and congratulate yourself on being about to metabolise this protein.

Nosh's Old Fashioned Cake - or Whiskey and Orange Cake

Ingredients
3 large free range eggs, at room temperature - separated
160g unrefined caster sugar
80ml light olive oil (not heavy or EV as it will make the cake taste ming)
25ml Woodford or other bourbon/whiskey
Juice of one and a half oranges
Zest of two oranges
190g Doves Farm gluten free self raising flour
Pinch of Doves Farm baking powder (this is gluten free)
Pinch of salt

Once the cake is cooked
Juice of half an orange
50 ml Woodford/bourbon/whiskey

For the buttercream
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g icing sugar
1-2 tblsp Woodford/bourbon/whiskey

For the icing
125g icing sugar
1 tblsp Woodford

1. Preheat the oven to 180c (fan) and grease/line an 18cm cake tin

2. Beat the egg whites to peaks and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl add the sugar and beat in one egg yolk at a time on the lowest whisk setting. Once all the eggs are in, work through the whisk setting, spending about a minute at each speed. Will go pale and creamy. It may seem a blag but the whole idea is to get as MUCH air as possible in your cake as gluten free flour doesn't rise in the same way and can be pretty flat.

4. Pop the orange zest in the bowl and then start your whisk on slow - whilst it's running drizzle in the oil, followed by the orange juice and the bourbon. As in step 3, work through your whisk's settings.

5. Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the bowl and fold in - I tend to do this in two separate amounts to make it easier. Be as gentle as you can to keep all that precious air in. I would advise against eating the batter right now - gluten free flour is pretty grainy and it tastes a bit land sand; DELICIOUS.

6. Add the egg whites is three separate amounts and fold in gentle gentle with a spatula or metal spoon (wood will knock the air out). Make sure you ensure it's properly incorporated otherwise you get random rubbery white bits throughout the cake.

7. Pour the mixture in to your tin, it will be wetter than a normal cake batter, but this is normal - then pop it in the oven for 35-40 min. It's ready when you do the whole clean skewer test thing.

8. Whilst the cake is cooking; get the ice out of the freezer, pop four cubes in a whiskey glass and pour yourself a large measure. Relax, you're half way through and no one is home for the next two hours.

9. As the cake is baking you can be a super goody two shoes and wash up, plus it's a brilliant time to make the butter cream, or you can just carry on drinking if you like.

10. For the buttercream, put the butter in a bowl and use your electric whisk to beat till light. Add in the icing sugar and beat again. The add the bourbon and, you got it, beat again. Keeping it simple for this part as I'm not sure how large that measure was you just poured yourself. Give the butterceam a taste and add more sugar/bourbon as needed. This recipe makes slightly more than you will need so you can eat a big spoon of it when no one is looking (if you want to cover the whole cake in buttercream, then just double the recipe, it works, I've done it).

11. Take the cake out and let it rest in the tin for five minute - be careful because it's hot - you may feel invincible from your post-baking drinking, but singed finger are not good. After five minutes, take the cake out of the tin but leave it in it's paper and leave to cool on a rack.

12. Once the cake is pretty cool, slice in half and drizzle one cut side with the juice of half an orange and the other with whiskey. Sandwich the cake together and set aside whilst you pour yourself another/make the icing.

13. To make the icing put the icing sugar in a bowl and add the whiskey a little at a time until the mix coats the back of a spoon. Really it's that's easy. Leave to thicken for a few minutes and then pour over the cake and garnish with a twist of orange peel.

14. Congratulate by pouring yourself a Woodford and tucking in to a healthy slice before anyone comes home and finds you slumped over the cooker with no dinner on and cake crumbs round your mouth.

If you want to serve this with the cocktail that inspired it get a whiskey glass (or an old fashioned one, it actually has a certain glass!), add ice, a few drops of bitters, 1 tsp sugar syrup/gomme and 50ml of bourbon - I'd go with Woodford, but the according to the Woodford/Jack ambassador a Jack Daniels Single Barrel is better as it's less heavy on the rye. However you drink it, ENJOY!

By the way, as I've said before, the content on this blog and then recipes are my own that i have slavishly worked on to make work - especially with this bastard of a cake. If you would like to reproduce it then do ask and I'm sure I won't hesitate to say yes as long as there's links/references/sexual favours for me. If you do reproduce without my permission then I will lift myself off the cooker, wade through the Woodford fog and probably do something I will regret in the morning. Thanks.

BBBadass Breakfast - Bourbon Banana Bacon Pancakes Recipe

What's this? A recipe with booze in it? Yeah I like drinking in the morning and am always looking for excuses. Plus I just got introduced to bourbon by The Liquorists and T.Vernon and guess what? I'm putting it in everything like the rebel/teenage girl with a crush, because I'm a grown up and I can.

*swoons*

This recipe tastes amazing (I would say that), is super comforting and gives you an excuse to a) have alcohol in your breakfast and b) drink the said alcohol whilst cooking, for quality control/fuck yeah reasons. So if you've had a heavy night, are semi-alcoholic, or are having to get through a breakfast with with children, then knock this easy recipe up 'cos it's way more classy than sucking the dregs out last night's wine glasses/bar towels/your shirt.

It's pretty easy to bang out, but if you're anticipating something epic the night before then you can make up the batter and leave it in the fridge - it'll keep for a few days like that; you might just need to add a splash of milk to get it to the right consistency - and if you're drinking/eating alone, then you have batter for a few days - win.

This is what you are giong to make and then the world will be ok

This recipe calls for bourbon, you can either leave it out (er, what? The whole point of this breakfast is to revel in spirits and keep the party going) or replace it with a single malt or even another spirit. If you do, you won't get the same toffee caramel sweetness with a smokey hint of vanilla, that a bourbon brings to the mix - but it's up to you and I'm no food nazi (btw dark rum works amazingly here).

Btw I'm using Woodford in the recipe - mainly because I can and I don't live by the 'don't put expensive booze in food' rules; not because I'm rich/exclusive/up my own arse dahlink, but because I have this in the cupboard and can't be arsed getting a cheap bottle in. Woodford does give the recipe a mellow spicy edge that I've not found before and it is my FAVOURITE bourbon that I can actually afford - but yeah, go get the £8 bottle from Aldi if you're going to make this constantly (TIP: the £8 Aldi bourbon is great for cooking/punches) .

Oh and using Woodford means I don't have to get two bottles out and can just drink/cook with the same one - IMPORTANT if it hurts to even consider breakfast, let alone make it.

Ingredients in visual form - may help when it hurts to read

BBBadass Breakfast - Bourbon Banana Bacon Pancakes
Serves 2 - prep 5 min - cooking 15 min

For the pancakes
125g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
10g golden caster sugar
1 large egg (free-range please)
150ml milk - but you won't need all of it
20g melted butter

For the syrup
50g butter
4 tbsp soft brown sugar
4 tbsp granulated sugar
150ml bourbon - I used Woodford, but you can use whatever you want (you might need more to thin out/taste)

You will also need
Two bananas - cut in half length ways
Four rashers of smoky bacon

1. Get some ice out of the freezer, get a nice glass and pour yourself a large measure - this will make you feel like golden syrup and make the rest of the day seem ok.

2. Pre-heat the grill on medium, put a frying on a low heat and add the butter.

3. Put all the dry ingredients to a bowl and make a well in the centre. Break the egg in to the well and then add about half the milk. Using a balloon whisk, whisk the mixture gently (so as not to hurt your head more/spill your drink) and then add more milk, whisking all the time until you get a consistency of slightly thicker double cream (so you may not need all the milk, I usually have a little left over).

4. By the time you have made the batter the butter should have melted. Add this to the batter and give it a stir. Set to one side for the time being. You may need another drink at this point.

5. Put the bacon under the grill and cook until crispy. Whilst the bacon is grilling, add the butter to a frying pan and the sugar on a medium high heat - do not stir it and put the bananas on top - as the sugar caramelises, the bananas will too - give them about 30 sec on each side and then put them to one side on a plate.

6. Add the bourbon and butter to the sugar, then bubble away until you get a light syrup. DO NOT stick your fingers or tongue in unless you want third degree burns and try explaining the A+E that you were a) stupid enough to do that and b) that you love booze so much you have it as soon as you get up and stick it in your recipes - won't look good.

7. Take the syrup off the heat, your bacon out from under the grill (if you haven't already) and set aside - this all looks like a faff, but you need to get everything ready for the pancakes and then BOOM it's all ready to eat.

8. Put a non-stick frying pan on a high heat and when it gets to temp wipe a piece of kitchen paper dipped in oil around the inside of the pan. Put back on the heat and add two dessert spoons of batter to the pan - these are the thick American/Scotch pancakes type of thing so do not swirl around (hence why we've made a bit of a thicker batter than for crepe style pancakes). When you see bubbles forming on wet/top side of the batter, flip it over using a plastic fish slice or spatula and cook for another minute, then take it off and put it on a plate to keep warm. If you have a small pan, cook one at a time and if not, squeeze two in - you want each pancake to be the size of a saucer and no bigger, but not tiny small.

9. As you are cooking the pancakes, put the syrup back on the heat and warm/thicken up - cook the bacon in the syrup until the bacon is sticky, but don't overcook the syrup (add more bourbon if needed). When you finish the pancakes (cover them to keep warm btw), add the bananas and bacon to the pan you used for the pancakes and caramelise on a high heat for half a minute. Whilst this is happening, stack the pancakes on two plates (make sure you make an equal amount!).

10. Take the bananas and bacon out and put on top of the pancake. Drizzle the syrup over and serve with another glass of Woodford, whilst you're still in your dressing gown and haven't taken your make up off. This breakfast takes the pain out of having children, but is best enjoyed out of their presence, as are most things in life.

Tuck in/drink up

This is my recipe and I'm pretty proud of it, so it's under copywrite. If you want to use it get in touch or when I can be arsed/am not drunk I will come round and enact some Hunter S Thompson style of retribution. If the timings etc suck then let me know and I'll correct them in a begrudging and grumpy manner.