Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. If you haven’t yet picked out a gift for your loved one(s), or are looking for a sweet treat for yourself, I’d recommend you check out these “Epic Win Cupcakes.” The cupcakes include a trifecta of ingredients: coffee, whiskey, and bacon. (Not into pork products on your baked goods? Feel free to keep it off.) Between the kick of the whiskey and the caffeine from the coffee, these cupcakes are not for the faint of heart. They’re guaranteed to make an all-night gaming session or movie marathon even better.

Chocolate-Coffee Cake
(Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book’s “One-Bowl Chocolate Cake”)

Ingredients:

• 2 TBS instant coffee powder
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 4 slices of bacon, cooked, broken into small pieces (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cupcake pans with wrappers.

In a small bowl, mix the instant coffee powder into the milk. Set aside.

Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add milk/coffee mixture, oil, and vanilla.

Beat with electric mixer on low speed until combined, then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add egg, and beat for 2 minutes more.

Pour cupcake mixture into cupcake pans, filling them up 1/2 way.

Bake for 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cool, frost and top with a piece of well-cooked bacon. Enjoy!

Chocolate Whiskey Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 8 TBS unsalted butter
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar
• 3 TBS whiskey (I used Mischief whiskey, made locally in Fremont!)
• 3 tsp cocoa powder
• dash of salt

Directions:

Taste the whiskey, make sure it’s good.

Pour another 3 TBS of whiskey to actually use for the recipe.

In an electric mixer, whip butter until fluffy.

Add in 3-4 cups powdered sugar, 3 TBS whiskey, 3 tsp cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt slowly as you mix.

Continue to mix until the frosting takes on the consistency you prefer, adding more powdered sugar if necessary.

I took these cupcakes with me when I joined BJ Shea’s Geek Nation podcast to talk about Valentine’s Day gifts. You can check out the full podcast here. My segment starts about 15 minutes in.

Looking for the Wonder Woman underwear I mentioned in the podcast? Try SuperheroStuff.com, Hot Topic, TopShop, and Spencers.

You can find a Golden Snitch locket on Etsy.

Need more gift ideas? Check out my post on Valentine’s Day gifts here!

Above all, remember that Valentine’s Day is just a great excuse to tell people you care about them–that can be done with something homemade, a nice hand-written letter, or even just an earnest phone call. You don’t need to spend any money as long as there’s some thought there.

What are you doing for your Valentine?