Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

A few of you asked so… here’s the recipe for the cupcakes I made Tony for father’s day.  My friend Charde filled me in on this recipe from Our Best Bites.  They make it a little more complex since they have you make the cake from scratch.  I just got a box. {Devil’s food}

So start out, make your cupcakes like the box tells you to.

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Then you’ll want to make the ganache topping since that takes the longest to cool.

1 C Cream
1 T light corn syrup
pinch of salt
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate (I've used dark too, and it's great)

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Place chocolate in a bowl. Pour corn syrup over it. Place cream in microwave-safe bowl and microwave for about 2 minutes- it needs to be at a simmer. Immediately pour over chocolate and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for about 3 minutes and then stir until smooth. The mixture will be very runny. Let it sit until completely cooled so it's a good spreading consistency. Pop it in the fridge to speed up the process.

Now make your CrEaM FiLLinG!

3 T Flour
1/2 C milk (whole milk is best, but I used non-fat when it's all I have and it's actually fine)
1/2 C real butter
1/2 C sugar (that's granulated sugar, not powdered sugar)
1 t vanilla extract


Whisk together the flour and the milk. Heat in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. Don’t undercook! Let it cook, while stirring, until it looks like pudding (you should be able to see the bottom of the pan when you stir it).  Then let it cool completely to room temp. or chill it in the fridge. It needs to be cooled completely. If you don't let it cool completely, it will melt the butter and you'll have runny frosting.
It an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. You'll want to use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, not the flat paddle. Then while beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the vanilla. Beat for 7 minutes. Yes, 7 whole minutes, maybe even 8. It seems like forever but it’s important! It will go from looking like a weird goopy mess to something thick, velvety smooth, and perfectly fluffy.

6-21-09 060You'll want to use it right away.  So now, take your cream filling and fill ‘em up!

Here’s 2 ways to fill a cupcake.  See what works best for you. One option is to take a pastry bag with a regular tip on it and place it directly in the center of the cupcake. Press out filling while slowly pulling the bag up and out.

Another method is to take a sharp knife and remove the center of the cupcake in a cone shape. Place filling inside, cut the bottom of the "cone" off, and place the top part back on.  I used a pastry bag, it’s easy!!!  Although I filled some too much and the top cracks.  But it didn’t matter because you just cover it anyway!  You can never have too much cream filling…

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Now to beautify!  If the ganache is too hard to spread, just microwave it 10 seconds at a time. You don't want handle ganache too much when it's cool and hardened, or it won't be smooth and shiny.
When it's at a good spreading consistency, spread on top of filled cupcakes.

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This is what happens when you refrigerate. 

These cupcakes?  Talk about YUM!

10 comments

Don't you love that blog, Our Best Bites? Those two girls happen to be friends of mine. It's an amazing blog!
salena said…
Thanks for sharing, I really wanna try this one!
Nancy Face said…
Those look FANTASTIC, and you're so nice to share the recipe! Since I'm a lousy cook, and lazy too, I'll just daydream about them, tee hee! ;)
Lauren said…
Holy moly those look tasty!!

Soooo.. I'm hollering cuz I can't figure out the stinkin font thing. I downloaded the fonts and the other stuff just like it says on kevinandamanda.com... but I must be doing something wrong with the code in my HTML.. any helpful hints or guesses for me?!
Lauren said…
I got it to work!!! Thank you soooo much!
The only thing is that the font I chose doesn't have the numbers.. AHH! So now I have to figure that out..
Again thanks for your help! :)
Anonymous said…
I have to go shopping tomorrow for your coming, so I better grab all your recipes and make a run for it! Of course, we'll have so much fun we won't even think of eating, right? These look tasty and I wish we lived close. Someday! Love, Mother
Signe said…
Thanks, Connie. This is what I'm making on my next birthday!!!
Busy Bee Lauren said…
So cute! I want to make!
Melody said…
Let's make them together on your birthday so I can learn! Whatdathink? Love, Mother PS. they sound soooooo yummy!
Taylor said…
I'm sitting in my dorm room, SO hungry! This is just making me crave a cupcake! They look delicious, and your blog is so cute and happy. Keep it up!!