Hostess Cupcakes

So you probably heard a few months ago when Hostess went out of business. The hostess cupcakes were one of my dad's and brother's favorite desserts. My mom and I were even the crazy people that went to the store that day to try to stock up before they were sold out. 

The sad picture of the empty shelf I sent my brother
to prove they were out already.

So I came home and looked up a recipe to make them myself. These weren't exactly the same as the original, but pretty close and still really good. The original recipe comes from kazmataz on Instructables.

I made 12 cupcakes, but there was leftover batter and my cupcakes were really large, the original recipe made 20.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
-1 1/4 cups flour
-2 teaspoons baking soda
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
-4 oz unsweetened chocolate
-1 stick unsalted butter
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-2 large eggs

Filling:
-4 tablespoons unsalted butter
-1 cup powdered sugar
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-3 tablespoons heavy cream
-1 cup marshmallow creme

Ganache:

(I halved the original amounts for the ganache and icing because it seemed like a lot, and it was still more than I needed for the cupcakes, but may be better if you make more cupcakes)
-3 oz bittersweet chocolate
-1/4 cup heavy cream
-1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
-1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Icing:
-1/2 stick unsalted butter
-1 tablespoons milk
-1 cups powdered sugar
-1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Cut up the butter and chocolate.
Meanwhile, dissolve the sugar in 1 cup of water, boil until
it all dissolves.

Beat the eggs, then mix in the sugar water, butter, vanilla, and chocolate.

Add the dry ingredients.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

I overfilled  mine a bit, but it turned out alright once I put
the frosting on.

While the cupcakes cool, beat together all the filling
ingredients minus the marshmallow a little at a time,
then mix in the marshmallow.

Use a pasty tip to put the filling inside each cupcake.

Heat the cream, vanilla, and butter for the ganache on the stove.
Turn off the heat, add the chocolate and whisk.

Wait until it cools a bit and thickens before you frost the cupcakes.

Using a mixer, beat all the ingredients for the icing.
Add to a pastry bag and cut out the corner.

Make a swirl with the icing on each cupcake.

There were a lot of steps and it took a while to make these cupcakes, but I think it was worth it to try. They looked and tasted pretty close to the original. I wasn't really great at making the swirls or frosting the cupcakes, but they still tasted good.