Homemade Hostess Cupcakes (A Hall of Fame Recipient!)

A few weeks ago I went back up north to visit family and friends and decided it was time to unveil my new found baking skills. This was a big deal. It's hard to really grasp how anti-kitchen, anti-baking I was until a couple of months ago. The thought of making a box of brownies used to be a daunting task for me and any excuse I could find to take out dinner, I would. Why did I change my ways? I'm not sure, but I think it was partially that my biological domestic clock finally kicked into gear and I was ready to uncover my inner Martha Stewart.

I have to admit, I was rather excited to show off what I had learned and decided to try a new recipe to test my skills that wasn't too difficult, but promised to be delicious. I chose to make Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Cream Filling, basically a Homemade Hostess Cupcake. The recipe comes from "Ming Makes Cupcakes", a blog about, well, cupcakes. Although it is a three step process it is surprisingly easy and AH-MAZING! These were an instant hit amongst family and friends and did not last long on the dinner table. Also, these may be the best looking cupcakes or dessert in general I've ever made. They actually look like the picture for once! Small victories. Here's the recipe: (ps. it yields 12 cupcakes)

Here are mine:

Her's. Photo from http://www.mingmakescupcakes.yolasite.com/

Yummm. Everyone loves cream filling

Pros: I can't even think of the adequate adjective to describe just how yummy these are. The chocolate is chocolatey, the cream is creamy, it's perfection in a cupcake!

Con: I didn't love the set up of the recipe. In fact, I even screwed up the first time through making these and followed the instructions for making the ganache when I was making the cream filling. I would suggest saving the recipe to your desktop and reformatting it to your liking.

Revisions: NONE! But, I have a nifty suggestion for carving out the middle of the cupcake for the ganache. Instead of using a knife, I used a little tool I got from Williams and Sonoma. It's called a cupcake corer and it makes a neat little hole in the cupcake for you to fill with whatever you desire. It really saved time and was super easy to use. Best of all it's only $5!

Cupcake Corer. Photo from http://www.williams-sonoma.com/

These are a definite Hall of Fame recipe. They are relatively simple to make and delicious. You'll never want to buy the store bought kind ever again!