Dining Detour

It was my friend Jenna’s Birthday party this past Saturday night. She hosted a great pre-party and then we all went out downtown to Sixth Ward. I decided to bring dessert and asked what her favorite was. Jenna, without hesitation, answered twinkies. So I got to thinking of all of my favorite junk food growing up and only one thing came to my mind; hostess cupcakes. I decided to make a twinkie bottom with a hostess top and combine the best of both worlds.

I made the cupcakes from a box, and the ganache and filling from scratch. This turned out to be a good idea, since they took time to decorate and in my experience it is a challenging to get the cake mixture to come out perfect. I was happy with the end result and will definitely be making these again.

Ingredients

Cupcakes – follow recipe on box. Basic ingredients listed below.

• box of yellow cake I used betty crocker
• vegetable oil
• cup water
• eggs

Vanilla Filling recipe: Suite101

• 1 stick of butter softened
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Chocolate Ganache recipe: Suite101

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 oz (1 bar) semisweet chocolate, such as Ghirardelli or bittersweet chocolate.

Instructions

Make cupcake according to package directions. Let cool. Meanwhile, make vanilla filling. Using a handheld mixer, mix butter and vanilla until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add half the powdered sugar and half the heavy cream, mix well. Add remaining powdered sugar and heavy cream. When your cupcakes are cool, fill a pastry bag with vanilla filling, but reserve some for the squiggles. Using the pastry bag, place the pastry tip at the top of the cupcake. You can also use a ziplock bag with a small hole cutout of one corner, but for the piping still need a small pastry tip. OR carefully cut a small hole out of the top of the cupcake and add vanilla filling with a spoon, and put the top back on. Apply pressure to pipe the vanilla filling into the cupcake.

For the Ganache, heat heavy cream over a medium heat. In a small bowl, break the chocolate into pieces. When heavy cream comes to a slight boil, pour over chocolate. Let mixture sit for 3 minutes and the whisk until smooth. Use right away.

Dip each cupcake top into the ganache. Refrigerate for ten minutes to let ganache set. Use remaining vanilla filling to make squiggles and enjoy!

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