hostess how to

Jake brought home a box of actual Hostess cupcakes and I hadn’t had one in about 20 years. (wow. That sounds crazy, but it’s true.) I eagerly took a big bite and they were dry and flavorless! How disappointing!

I googled recipes for these and here’s what I learned:

You make chocolate cupcakes.

You fill them with something creamy and white.

You put chocolate on the top.

Of course, last, you add the little swirl.


So here's how I made the perfect ones:

Chocolate cup cakes
I used the cake recipe from this post.

Creamy white filling
For the filling, I used Janelle’s buttercream recipe (so delicious!). But I took half and added a bunch of whipped cream (like one part buttercream and one part whipped cream) and folded it in to make it nice and light. (you get to save a bunch of buttercream frosting in the fridge and eat it as you please...on graham crackers and what not:)

Here’s the recipe:

Delicious Buttercream

1 c butter, room temp
2 t vanilla
1/3 c milk
2 T light corn syrup
6-8 c powdered sugar

place butter in large mixing bowl with vanilla, milk and corn syrup and mix together. With an electric mixer beat in 4 cups of the powdered sugar until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, one cup at a time until you reach the desired spreadable consistency.


After the cupcakes are completely cool, you fill them with a pastry bag and a larger pastry tip. I had never filled anything before my experiments with these, and it is quite simple and straight forward. Some of the recipes said to poke holes or cut out little bits of the cupcake, but I found all of that unnecessary—just stick the tip into the cupcake and squeeze some yumminess in. {the cupcake bloats as it get filled and it’s quite satisfying every time.}

Put chocolate on top
Then you frost them with ganache. I learned to make ganache by watching Ina. Over a double boiler add chocolate chips and heavy cream and stir until melted. (I’ve never measured because I like to pretend that I'm like Ina and I can just throw it all together by feeling my way through. It usually works out perfectly, but I just looked up a couple recipes for those who may be afraid of feeling it out and it looks like about 8 oz of chocolate chips and ½ cup of heavy cream. I usually add a tablespoon or two of light kayro syrup—it adds a little shine to it.)

Swirliness
Then you take a bit of the leftover buttercream and make a little swirl on the top with a small pastry tip.

Enjoy!