I’m giving the making of “man cakes” another shot, especially for Valentine’s Day. I know so many girls who want to do something special for their man but are not quite sure what. My opinion, just celebrate being in love! AND I truly believe the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. So, bake these little beauties and tell him you love him. Done and done.

Now, I realize I took the idea of a “man cake” very literally when I was brainstorming a cupcake recipe for this special day of love. But I had to think, “What do guys like?” and that’s where beer, bacon and chocolate stout frosting came in to seal the deal.

To be honest, the cupcakes were a hit and miss with my cupcake tasters. Some people had about 5 cupcakes, while others gave me that disappointed look like, “really, bacon on a cupcake?” The restaurant manager at April’s work gave rave reviews and asked if I was available to bake for events. I’m going to need a bigger kitchen by the way, wouldn’t be a bad side gig.

My overall review: absolutely love these! They are way better than the previous Maple & Bacon man cakes I made. If you know your man loves beer, bacon and chocolate, you cannot go wrong here.

• 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ + 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ¾ baking powder
• 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 ½ cups unsulfured molasses
• ½ cup +1 tablespoon packed light-brown sugar
• 2 large whole eggs + 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
• 1 ¼ cups Guinness beer

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* F. Line mini cupcake tin with gold foil liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat oil, molasses, brown sugar, whole eggs, yolk, orange zest and Guinness until combined. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until just combined.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about ¾ full. Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 10 minutes.

4. To finish, frost a swirl of chocolate stout frosting and top with a freshly cooked piece of bacon.

Chocolate Stout Frosting

• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling Guinness beer
• 2 1/4 cups (4 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 1/2 pounds best-quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

1. Combine cocoa and boiling Guinness, stirring until cocoa has dissolved.

2. With electric mixer on medium-high, beat butter, confectioners' sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low.

3. Melt chocolate over a double boiler and let cool. Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the cocoa mixture. 

4. Frosting can be refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen up to 1 month in an air tight container. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat on low speed until smooth again.

Top with Bacon!

I cooked an entire package of applewood smoked bacon and cut them into small pieces to top each mini cupcake.