Directions

To make cupcakes, preheat oven to 375 F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners and spray with vegetable spray. Cook bacon until real crisp, but not burned. Drain bacon; crumble and set aside. In large bowl, stir flour, ¾ cup cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in eggs, coffee, buttermilk and oil. Stir just until blended. Batter will be thin. Mix in ¾ of the bacon, saving the rest for garnish. Pour batter into prepared muffin tins. Bake until the tops spring back when lightly touched, 20-25 minutes. Cool in pans. When cool, frost with your favorite chocolate frosting or Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe included). Sprinkle with reserved crumbled bacon. Dust with a bit of cocoa powder.

To make frosting, combine first three ingredients. Add sifted powdered sugar until it is as sweet as you like. You can add vanilla or rum extract as you like.

Rae M. Spicer, Angola, Ind.