Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes
adapted from Pastry Queen's Tuxedo Cake

This is the 3rd iteration of my favorite chocolate cake batter from the Pastry Queen's Tuxedo cake. Everytime I make the cake (which is quite often these days due to all parties at work), I always have leftover batter (the batter makes 3 layers but I only have 2 pans so I end up with 1 layer's worth of extra batter each time). The fun part is figuring out what to make with the leftovers. Last time, I made the S'mores cupcakes that combined cookie crumbs with a 7-minute marshmallow-like frosting. This time, I went with everyone's favorite - the Hostess Cupcake.



Mimicking the Hostess Cupcake requires flat tops. I had to slice the tops off of all the cupcakes due to the dome-shape.  I then cut out small cone shapes out of each cupcake center, filled it with the 7-minute frosting from the S'mores cupcake and then placed the cone back it. Some people omit the cone step and just pipe the frosting right into the center. You can definitely do this to save time but it will significantly limit the amount of filling you can put in.



I then spread the ganache (from the Tuxedo Cake recipe) across the top as smoothly as possible. Then used the 7-minute frosting to make the squiggly design across the top.



I am not quite sure how it ended up tasting. My cubby neighbor and I have given up sweets for the time being. It started prior to her Lent observation and grew into a two and a half month-long dessert-free fast until my trip to Spain in May. They eat churros with hot chocolate in Spain for breakfast....I can't miss that, now can I?

I sent half the cupcakes with Ray to work and gave my co-worker the other half. I was told that everyone liked them - although, who says anything bad about free cupcakes? However, since it's basically the same ingredients from the Tuxedo Cake/S'mores Cupcakes, I'm pretty sure they couldn't have strayed too far from the original. This is a fun cupcake recipe and will be a sure hit at any party!