Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Ok, so these are straight from Cook’s Country, see here for the free recipe

Chocolate Cream Cupcakes

I wouldn’t say that these are the greatest cupcakes ever, and I certainly ran into some issues, lol, but they were still worth making. Really, can you ever go horribly wrong when making a chocolate cupcake? I don’t think so.

First off, in the small bowl (back left) I whisked together the flour, baking soda and salt. The problem with this was the all white ingredients in a white bowl. So, instead, lets skip ahead to this picture, where I whisked together the boiling water, cocoa powder, chocolate chips and espresso powder. You’ve got to make sure that this is really smooth, not chunks of chocolate chips allowed. You know what was great about this step though? Licking the whisk after. mmmmmmm. I do this after almost every step for cupcakes.

Next up, whisk in the sugar, sour cream, oil, eggs and vanilla. Then add in the flour and whisk (again, see a trend?) until well incorporated. Next, just portion out into a 12 cup muffin tin (not pictured, Oliver and I were too busy licking out the empty bowl). It certainly helps to have a toddler with unlimited energy though, we’re getting into a lot of whisking, and the worst is yet to come…

While the muffins are in the oven it’s time to start on the filling. You’ve got to mix some gelatin with water, then microwave it until bubbling, then mix it with some butter, vanilla and salt. That catches us up to this photo (there was a lot of extra batter left in the bowl, I have no idea how that happened, honest…)

Then throw in a jar of marshmallow fluff and whisk together until really smooth. I told you the worst whisking was still to come. This stuff is STICKY. Like, crazy sticky. I was in constant panic that when I wasn’t looking Oliver would reach in, get his hand covered in it, the go give the cat a hug. Even though (thankfully) this didn’t actually happen, I’m pretty sure that I’m still going to have a few nightmares tonight.

Speaking of Oliver, it was about this time that he started digging around in the bottom drawer of the island. He wanted to wear his cooking hat. This child is really awesome.

Alright, the cupcakes should be almost out of the oven now, so it’s time to make the chocolate glaze for the top. It’s really easy. Melt butter and chocolate, mix until smooth…

Viola!

Hey, look at that, the cupcakes are out. For once I even managed to grease the pan well enough that not one cupcake lost half of its bottom. This, in itself, makes this round of cooking a success.

Time to fill them! I like to do this the easiest way possible, which is to fill a one time use icing bag and stab a really long bit into the cupcakes (not actually sure what those icing tips should be called). A note about this icing. After sitting in the fridge (ok, for about 60 minutes instead of the specified 30)  my filling was really, I mean REALLY hard. I wasn’t about to throw the towel in at this point though…so I microwaved it for ten seconds. Then I stirred it and microwaved it for another ten seconds. Then it was melted enough to squeeze through a piping bag.

Here’s what the cupcakes looked like after I stuffed them, slightly puffed with that tell-tale explosion of white. Looks delicious to me, but it was time to cover it up.

So, on goes that chocolate glaze, then I swapped out the tip on the icing bag to a small circle and drew on those adorable little hostess swirls. There’s no copyright on the three loops right? Right?

How about a close up shot? What’s that? You want to see the inside too? Arugh…

Ok, if you insist.

Again, not the best, but far from the worst. Here’s the printable:

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Print

Ingredients

CUPCAKES

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon Salt
• ½ cup boiling water
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon instant espresso
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FILLING

• 3 tablespoons water
• ¾ teaspoon unflavored gelatin
• 4 tablespoon (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1¼ cups marshmallow créme (see note)

GLAZE

• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 12-cup muffin tin.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl, set aside.
3. In a large bowl whisk water, cocoa, chocolate chips, and espresso powder until smooth. Add sugar, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla and whisk until combined, then whisk in the flour mixture until well incorporated.
4. Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few dry crumbs, about 20 minutes. Cool in the tin for ten minutes, then on a wire rack to cool completely.
5. While the cupcakes are baking make the filling. Mix together the water and gelatin in a microwave safe large bowl and let sit until the gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Now microwave the bowl until the mixture is bubbling around the edges and the gelatin completely dissolves, about 30 seconds.
6. Whisk in the butter, vanilla, and salt until combined. Let the mixture cool until just warm to touch, about 5 minutes, then whisk in the marshmallow creme until very smooth. Refrigerate for 30 minutes until it sets up.
7. Put the marshmallow filling into a pastry bag fitted with a filling tip and start to fill the cupcakes. You want to place about a tablespoon of filling in the center of each cupcake. If you don't have a filling tip for a pastry bag, cut out the center top of the cupcake, add the filling, then replace the piece you cut out.
8. Next, make the chocolate glaze by microwaving the chocolate chips and butter in a small bowl for about 30 seconds, until you can incorporate the chocolate by stirring. Once the glaze has cooked to about room temperature you can coat the top of each cupcake with about half a tablespoon of glaze.
9. Use leftover filling to pipe curls on top of the chocolate glaze.
10. Cupcakes will store, covered, at room temperature, for 3 days.