"Hostess" Cupcakes & Snack Cakes

It's been awhile since I've posted anything. I've baked plenty in the past couple of weeks but just did not have the time to post my results. I didn't even bother taking photos. Christmas was a blur. But now that's it's over I wanted to bake something fun just for the sake of baking. These Hostess like cupcakes are what came to mind. I used a regular muffin pan but also my snack cake pans which I rarely use. This chocolate cake recipe is the one of the back on the Hershey's baking unsweetened cocoa container. No butter is included - just oil and wow, does that ever make a moist moist cake. This cake is so easy to make and is very delicious. If you want a moist and fluffy cake made from scratch, this is the recipe to make. The cake batter is extremely thin. You almost feel like you've added too much liquid or something but that's just the way it's supposed to be. I think I might have even added a little less liquid than the recipe called for and it was still very thin but baked up perfectly. When these cupcakes are first removed from the oven, they are so fragile. I didn't even bother removing them from the cupcake pan for about 15 minutes after removing them from the oven. As for the snack cakes, I just sprayed the pan with Pam. I should have used a little more spray because many of the snack cakes came out with little chunks still left in the pan.

The filling I used is just a simple American buttercream - butter, shortening, vanilla, powdered sugar and a touch of milk. I placed it in a piping bag and just stuck the tip right into the soft cake and squeezed. I probably could have added more filling inside the cupcakes but it's difficult to judge how much filling you are actually squeezing out since the tip is hidden. I also used the filling on top to make the swirls after I glazed the cupcakes.

For the glaze, I used a very simple chocolatey glaze recipe that I found on allrecipes. I did not have any heavy cream for a classic ganache so I had to find a recipe that used no cream. It's a very tastey and simple glaze.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my cupcakes but I did fill the cups a little too much and they overflowed the cups a bit. Tastes wonderful but looks a little shaggy around the edges. Other than that, they are beautiful. I highly recommend this chocolate cake recipe. I realize that butter provides wonderful flavor in a cake but I'm telling you, this cake is to die for. So tender and chocolately. Oh, and I also used 2 different kinds of unsweetened cocoa in my cake. I used my black cocoa powder (King Athurs Flour) so it would be really dark chocolate, then the remainder was the Hershey's.

I should have made a lot more glaze. I would have just liked to actually dip each cupcake into the glaze but I had to conserve and spoon it on top. I barely had enough to cover everything.

I bought these snack cake pans at Williams Sonoma about 5 years ago. I was so excited to get these but rarely use them.

As you can see from this photo, I added 3 squirts of filling into each snack cake!

I could have added plenty more filling to this cupcake.

HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" 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

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

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 pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.



Satiny Chocolate glaze

Ingredients:

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips 3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.	In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add vanilla.
2.	Spread warm glaze over top of cake, letting it drizzle down the sides.