Mini Hostess-esque Cupcakes

I was talking to the lovely and talented Sierra yesterday about what my next baking project should be and she suggested hostess cupcakes.  She is also very smart.

So here you are, my take on the Hostess cupcakes (little white squiggle and all).

I started with a Devil's food cake from David Lebovitz.  He is also responsible for my previous French Chocolate cake.  So I knew this would be delicious.

I decided to use mini-cupcakes because really, why use big cupcakes when you can use tiny ones and do twice the amount of finicky work.

But it was worth it; mini-cupcakes are adorable.

At least one of the cupcakes encountered issues upon removal and just broke right in half (how on Earth did that happen).  So I had to eat it, oops.  And the chocolate cake recipe did not disappoint.  Super tasty.

The filling is just whipped cream.  I used my vanilla bean paste to make it extra pretty and delicious.  I used a pastry bag to pipe it into each cupcake but you can also cut a little funnel out of the top of each cupcake, fill with cream and then replace before icing.

Icing the cupcakes is easiest if you hold the cupcake upside down and dip it into the chocolate ganache.  Then swirl a couple of times around and let cool.

My white frosting was a little thin and so it ran together.  Add more powdered sugar for a crisper loop.

I think that just the chocolate cupcake with the chocolate ganache would be amazing anyway, but not quite so cute and nostalgia-inducing.

Hostess-esque Cupcakes

DEVIL'S FOOD CUPCAKES
9 tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour (not self-rising)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temp
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temp
1 cup coffee
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer.
3. Add eggs and mix until smooth. Add (cooled to room temp) coffee.
4. Mix in all the dry ingredients.
5. Spray a mini-muffin tin with cooking spray and fill each cup almost full with batter.
6. Bake 25 minutes. Cool completely.
CREAM FILLING
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1. Beat cream, sugar and vanilla in a chilled bowl of an electric mixer until stiff.
2. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip with filling. Stick the tip into the top of each cupcake and squeeze gently. Don't overfill or the cupcakes will split. Alternatively, cut out a small cone from the bottom, fill and replace.
3. Refrigerate.
CHOCOLATE GANACHE
4 ounces semi- or bitter sweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup water
3 tbsps sugar
1 tbsp butter
1. Mix chocolate, water and sugar in a sauce pan. Heat over med heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
2. Remove from heat and add butter. Allow to cool until a bit set.
3. Take each cupcake and turn upside down. Dip into the ganache twirling the cupcake to coat. Remove from chocolate and twirl more, still upside down, to get an even coating.
4. Return cupcakes to the fridge.
WHITE SWIRL ICING
1 egg white, at room temp
pinch of cream of tartar
1/2 plus 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar.
1. Whisk egg white until foamy.
2. Add cream of tartar and 1/2 cup sugar.
3. Keep adding sugar until you have a stiff and smooth icing.
4. Fill a pastry bag with a small tip and pipe loops across the center of the cupcakes.
5. Serve cupcakes at room temperature but store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Cake Recipe from David Lebovitz

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