Who could resist Hostess Cupcakes with their curly swirls of bitable icing over rich chocolate frosting that covers the deep chocolate cake that hides the gooey creamy filling? Don’t you want to just take a bite out of them right now?
Sigh.
Let’s take away both the guilt (well, a little of the guilt) and the expensive prices on eBay and make some homemade Hostess Cupcakes. You’ll eliminate the preservatives and be known as the best baker on the block.
I have to tell you that this post required a lot of hard research. I had to make sure that I was bringing you the best information, and that, of course, required some testing. Fortunately I had lots of testing help. Unfortunately, all of the samples have been consumed.
For Hostess Cupcakes, I really like the recipe found at the Novice Chef. Miss Chef correctly warns that though there are a lot of steps to making homemade Hostess Cupcakes, they are worth it in the end. Her filling cream is especially rich and creamy, and the cake itself is very moist thanks to the dutch process cocoa powder and the right cooking science. Her recipe was far better than the others that I tried.
Here is the complete recipe, but be sure to visit the Novice Chef website to pay proper homage. You may even want to build her a little shrine.
Homemade Hostess Cupcakes
Yield: 16 Cupcakes
ingredients:
Cupcakes:
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dutch process cocoa powder (or really dark cocoa powder)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
Filling:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
1 cup marshmallow creme (the jar of marshmallow fluff)
Chocolate Icing:
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
2 ounces 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
Vanilla Icing:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1-2 tablespoons milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilladirections:
Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk eggs, oil and vanilla; stirring till there are no lumps. Then add flour mixture, alternating with milk, until you have a smooth batter.
Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 20 to 22 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
Filling:
Using a stand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in confectioners’ sugar. Add the vanilla and milk and beat until smooth. Beat in the marshmallow creme.
Transfer filling into a pastry bag with a long filling tip. Insert the tip into the center of each cupcake and fill until the cupcake is slightly heavier. It’s OK if some of the filling peeks out a little, it will be covered by the chocolate icing layer.
Chocolate Icing:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add milk, corn syrup and chopped chocolate, stirring slowly to allow chocolate to melt completely.
Once melted, remove from heat and whisk in sifted powdered sugar. Immediately dip the top of each cupcake into the icing and transfer to a wire rack. Let icing set (about 10 minutes), before moving on to the next step.
Vanilla Icing:
Using a stand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in confectioners’ sugar. Add the vanilla and milk and beat until smooth. If the icing is too stiff, add in a little more milk.
Transfer icing into a pastry bag with a small tip. Pipe in a swirl decoration on top of the cupcakes.
Store cupcakes in the fridge and allow 15 minutes to warm up before serving.