Name Brand Recipes
Hostess Cupcakes
Yield: 22 to 24 miniature cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 6 ounces finely chopped white chocolate
Glaze
- 3 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
- 3 tablespoons boiling water
Icing
- 1 tablespoon egg white, at room temperature
- 1 pinch cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup + 2 to 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Position a rack in the center and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter 24 (1 3/4 x 3/4 inch - 1 ounce) muffin cups.
- Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Mix in the sugar. Make a well in the center. Whisk in the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth. (The batter will be very thin.) Spoon the batter into the prepared cups.
- Bake until a wooden pick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean, about 12 to 14 minutes.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pans and finish cooling on the rack.
Filling
- In a heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the cream to a boil. Add the white chocolate and remove from heat. let the mixture stand briefly; stir until smooth. Transfer to a metal bowl and refrigerate until chilled thoroughly, stirring occasionally. (To speed the process, set the metal bowl over a larger bowl of ice water; stir the chocolate mixture until cool.) With an electric mixer, beat the white chocolate mixture just until fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch plain tip. Insert the pastry tip 1/4-inch into the bottom of each cupcake and squeeze a little filling into each one.
Glaze
- Place the chocolate in a small bowl. Whisk in the boiling water and blend until smooth. One at a time, dip the top of each cupcake into the warm glaze. Turn the glazed cupcakes right side up and set them on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet. Refrigerate the cupcakes for 5 minutes to set the glaze.
Icing
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg white until frothy. Stir in the cream of tartar. Gradually mix in enough of the confectioners' sugar to make a fairly stiff and smooth icing. Fill a small paper cone with the icing and cut a 1/16-inch opening at the tip.
- Remove the cupcakes from the refrigerator. Pipe a design (a squiggle, spiral, etc.) on the top of each cupcake. Let the design harden and then cover and refrigerate the cupcakes.
- Serve at room temperature.
Notes
The cupcakes can be made and refrigerated up to 2 days in advance, or frozen up to 2 weeks.