Friday, August 3, 2007

...Are You A Hostess Cupcake?

I've seen this recipe floating around the net for several months now. At first, I was hesitant about one of my cupcakes being compared to a factory packaged cupcake. Not to mention that I secretly love Hostess cupcakes and would be crushed if my cupcakes sucked. The recipe is from Food and Wine, and while it is reminiscent of the Hostess version it does not come close to being a "real" Hostess cupcake. The problem was the marshmallow filling, it just wasn't as good as Hostess's. The cake part had a mild chocolate taste, not too dark. The icing on top was great, I liked it better than Hostess's but alas, the marshmallow goodness was not there. Do not fret my cupcake lovers, these cupcakes were a crowd pleaser. Even though they did not meet my standards, everyone at work squealed and cried for one. I felt like some sort of cupcake rock star. It was great!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Doesn't the cupcake taste overly sweet with its marsmallow filling? My toddler is turning 3 in 2 months time and I'm thinking about having cupcakes instead of a birthday cake. I believe it's easier to distribute and more fun. Thanks for link to the recipe. I'll give it a try.

Maybe you'd like to have some free chocolates? Dove Women are doing their rounds again this Aug. 2-5 in some major U.S. cities. They're giving out free milk and dark chocolates and here's the list of cities where they'll be doing this: Baltimore/Washington DC, Boston MA, Chicago IL, Houston TX, Los Angeles CA, Miami FL, New York NY, Philadelphia PA, San Diego CA and San Francisco CA. There are recipes too at Dove's web site (www.dovechocolate.com), maybe you can go there and see if something looks interesting to you.

Gigi said...

Anon: The hostess version is overly sweet, I guess thats what I like about it. The Food an Wine version is not as sweet, which may be a plus for you. Serving cupcakes at a toddlers party is a great idea. I try to bake completely organically, that way I control what goes into my cakes. By baking cupcakes for your toddler you can control how much icing you frost the cakes with. good luck.

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

there are recipes all over the internet for hostess or "fauxstess" cupcakes. if you want to try again, just keep looking around for a better recipe.

:)

i think i'm going to make these for my birthday... i'll be 21 in six days!

Anonymous said...

Gigi,

Guuuurrrlllll.... These look sooooo good! Great job.

-Linda

Anonymous said...

Gigi...

You ARE a cupcake rockstar! I love them!

-Michelle

Katie said...

These look great. Living in the UK I have never seen hostess cupcakes but they look so good that I might have a go at making my own.

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

GiGi~ You Rock!
I am tagging you with a unique challenge. Come check it out~ fun I promise =D

Heather said...

Oh my goodness - I just sound your blog though WhistleStop Cafe! Boy am I glad I did. I have an insatiable sweet tooth and like to bake, so this looks like the place for me.

Heather

Anonymous said...

Oh...hostess cupcakes are one of those things I buy on very rare occassions, only because I know I'd eat the whole box.
Yummy! I bet these were a hit.

Kari (GrannySkywalker) said...

Well great. I estimate that I've managed to add a good 10 pounds to my already exploding frame just from looking at the pictures on your blog. That's not to say I plan to STOP looking, however. Just too darn fan-tabulous. I can't cook to save my life...but we DO have a Law & Order addiction in common. Love. That. Show.

P.S. I found your blog through Splaneyo, in case you wondered

Kari (GrannySkywalker) said...

Geez. I must have been suffering from a faux sugar high - I think I read about the Law & Order fixation on another blog. Sorry about that. Either way, your blog looks...delicious!

Gigi said...

Nope that's me. I love law and order. No, that's wrong too, I'm a law and order addict :)

D. said...

Wayne Brachman's cookbook "Retro Desserts" has a great recipe for the faux Hostess cupcakes. The filling is very like the original. It's because it's not actually a marshmallow filling, but a shortening based filling, like the original. Shortening is now a no-no, but I tell you back before I knew better... well, I made them a lot. They're amazing.