I have seen these cute Hostess inspired cupcakes popping up on Tastespotting and Foodgawker for quite some time, but I successfully withstood the peer pressure to make them until now! Ya see Bri is a serious cupcake fanatic, and always wants chocolate on chocolate, but being a food blogger I am not really one to repeat recipes. So when he requested his BORING chocolate on chocolate combo for the 1,263rd time…I decided to make these babies as a way to please him, but also try a new recipe. A quick search on Foodgawker led me to the recipe for the filling and ganache. I used the recipe off the Hershey’s Cocoa can for the cake and used the other recipes found on Beantown Baker’s blog. The filling is essentially Seven Minute Frosting the icing is a simple ganache, but when all of these elements combine, they make one amazing cupcake. Plus the Hostess swirls and surprise filling will bring a smile to anyone’s face. These were loved by all and I thought they looked super adorable, especially with my beloved chocolate brown cupcake liners! Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by! 
Hostess Inspired Cupcakes
Adapted from Beantown Baker
Hershey’s Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Filling (Seven Minute Frosting):
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Ganache (I doubled the recipe below)
1/4 cup cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used semi-sweet)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
Directions
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake tins with paper baking cups.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans; 2/3 full
3. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes. (I got 26 cupcakes)
4. While waiting for cupcakes to cool, combine filling ingredients with a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled. Reserve 1/2 cup of the filling to use for piping the swirls on top of the cupcakes at the end.
5.Once cupcakes are completely cooled, use the cone method (click here for Beantown’s post on this technique) to fill with filling.
6. Once all cupcakes are filled, make the ganache. In a small saucepan, heat cream until steaming. Remove from the heat, add chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. Add the butter and stir until smooth. Transfer the frosting to a small bowl and dip the top of each cupcake to thoroughly coat. Spoon the reserved filling into a pastry bag fitted with a very small plain tip and pipe swirls across the center of each cupcake. Refrigerate the cupcakes for 10 minutes to set the frosting.
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Great photo! They look just like the hostess ones.
Btw, I ordered some of those brown liners.
~ingrid
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Oh my goodness, these look delicious! They might move to the top of my recipe queue like right now.
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Yours look great! Thanks for linking back to me
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Those look really awesome! I think I will try and make those later in the week!
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That is so awesome! Getting the cake just right to hold the frosting and filling has always seemed like the hard part for me. This looks delectable!
Debbie
http://familyfoodies.com
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I've been wanting to try these for awhile. They look delish!
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I need to try those. I used to love hostess cupcakes as a kid. I would eat them frozen. Great recipe!
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These are vintage cute!
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I've been wanting to make these lately too seeing them on the sites! You did a great job, they look so yummy!!
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They look adorable, much better than the real thing.
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I've been avoiding making these for ages too, but your pictures have finally pushed me to the breaking point. I'm going to have to make these! They look so delicious, even better than the real ones!
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These look awesome! And I bet they taste so much better than the real Hostess cupcakes.
I've given you an award on my blog because I enjoy yours so much!
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They look incredible. Your photography is gorgeous.
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Great photo!
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SO cute – great job!!
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Oohh yumm they look soo good!! Great way to something different, while still pleasing people! I hate when I'm asked to make the same recipes again and again.. and again.. and again *sigh*
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Amazing photo! My husband loves to ask for the same recipes over and over again and like you, sometimes I try to find a way to make him happy, but I really like to try new recipes
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The cupcakes look picture perfect. Even better than the original in my opinion.
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Can't believe you made it… looks like the real (fake) stuff!! LOL LOL LOL
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Wow! They look fantastic. I just pulled a recipe similar to this one from a Food Network Magazine that was a few months old. I definitely want to give this one a try sometime soon. Nice job.
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Yours look Perfect!! This is not boing at all!
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I TOTALLY want to make these!!! So cute!
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SO, I just made these. I think they were quite simple, yet a bit time consuming. But man are they worth it. My husband (who isn't a huge chocolate lover) and my girls (who are) couldn't wait for them to cool in the fridge. One bite and you're in heaven. The cupcake, cream, and ganache are a perfect chocolatey blend. I used the thin tip on my piping bag to fill each cupcake which saved a ton of time, used it to pipe the curly top, too. Thank you for sharing, will be making these many more times.
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