Yup. That's right. I made cupcakes. Hostess Copy-Cat cupcakes. Super delicious, down-right AMAZING cupcakes. Cupcakes with cream-filling (the good kind). I even made MINI cupcakes to match the normal-sized ones. It was quite the day.

Here's a little taste:

I was asked to make something to donate to our annual Neighbors Helping Neighbors community fundraiser. And of course, I said yes! To be honest, I was a little excited that's all I was asked to do. I'm normally one of the same few who end up helping produce most events in town. It made me feel really good to see more volunteers stepping up. Seriously, for the last few years I just referred to volunteers as a dying breed.

But...

It appears they're on the rise again!

In any case, there was a whole slew of new volunteers to help with the fundraiser, leaving me home happily barefoot, baking in the kitchen.

Let's talk about those cupcakes, shall we?

The Recipe

The TL:DR version. Just the basics.
Also, I'm sorry, it's American style (with no conversions), which I know is completely different than the rest of the world. 😏

Bake Temp: 375°F or 190°C
Bake Time: 15-20 minutes, depending on size or 7 for minis
Yields: 13 normal-sized cupcakes

Mix Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour + 3 tbl (if over 5,000 feet above sea level)
1 cup sugar
2 2/3 Tb Cocoa Powder (dark is the best)
1 tsp baking soda (SUPER IMPORTANT- must NOT be powder)
1/2 tsp salt (never omit)

Mix Wet Ingredients:

1 egg (replacers work well here)
1/2 cup milk (any kind will do)
1/2 cup water (or coffee)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine Wet and Dry Ingredients

Batter will be normal cake-like, a little on the runny side.

Pro-tip: If your cake batter is thicker, you'll produce a lighter air-filled, fluffy cake. If your batter is thinner it will produce a more dense, but VERY moist cake.

For perfect little muffin tops, FILL the cups 3/4 to almost full. I find that 3/4 is a pretty safe bet.

Annnnd..... after a little bit of baking! Wah-lah!

Whilst we wait for those bad boys to cool off...

The Cream Filling!

1/4 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
3 Tbl Milk
1 tsp vanilla

I like to smoosh the butter and shortening together and add in the milk and vanilla. THEN I add the powdered sugar.

This day, I had totally forgotten (again) that I had somehow misplaced my hand mixer and stood staring at my sad excuse of fork-stirred icing. When suddenly I remembered! I have some bad-ass old-school kitchen items. Let's do this!

First, I apologize for the insane graphics- but I dig it. 😎
Second, and more importantly: Old things were made to last. That hand-mixer surpasses ALL electric ones and barely takes any effort on my part.

😎Cupcakes are Cool!😎

Now it's time to fill those puppies. It's really easiest if you have some kind of icing/frosting tip to put in a bag (decorator, plastic, or straight up wax paper). Stick the tip into the center of the cupcakes, go to the BOTTOM and slowly squeeze in filling while simultaneously pulling up. You'll end up with a little point in the middle that you'll wanna smooth down with a knife (like below) before the next step.

I switched on ya, those are the minis.

Next Step: The CHOCOLATE TOPS!!!!

Satiny chocolate Glaze
MELT in a tiny saucepan:

3/4 cup chocolate chips
3 Tb Butter
1 Tb corn syrup (or honey works okay too)
When melted and smooth, remove from heat and add 1/4 tsp vanilla.

Cover those Cupcakes!

The Importance of Waiting

It's time again, to hurry up and wait. So while we wait for the chocolate glaze to COMPLETELY cool, let's talk about that. Sometimes during the baking processes you have a LOT of spare time in between steps. I actually prefer recipes like this because I like to completely clean my workspace between things. Most of the time, the problem you'll run into is wanting to ice or fill your cake too soon.

Don't fall into this trap!

You'll ruin an otherwise perfectly good cake by rushing the final steps. Especially when dealing with a buttercream icing. It's made of butter, butter melts. Don't put melty sugar butter into or on your cakes.

Okay! We're cool!

Because I'm adding the final flair in buttercream to the tops of the cupcakes I want to be sure that the chocolate glaze is not hot, not even a little.

To add the finishing touches you'll want your SMALLEST icing tip. I also add a little bit more powdered sugar to the icing to make it just a bit thicker.