Hostess Cupcakes

Well, well, well, another chocolate cupcake recipe that disappoints. Through out all of our chocolate cupcake troubles, Michele and I have come up with three criteria that would lead us to the perfect chocolate cupcake. We named it the trifecta to perfecta-- moisture, structure, and chocolaty goodness! Usually a recipe meets one or two of the standards, but lacks in the third area. As was the case here. This recipe was outstanding as far as chocolate flavor and structure, but was very dry. The weird thing is that when Zach and I taste tested them the night they were baked they were perfect, but the following day they were dry as could be.

I am just baffled by how chocolaty these cupcakes tasted with such a small amount of cocoa. We have made previous recipes with three times as much cocoa and they all ended up lacking the chocolaty-ness factor.

Well it is a good thing these cupcakes look so darn good on the outside. Being that the cupcake isn't anything grand and they don't have the typical cream filling like the original hostess cupcakes. When I tried to inject the cream filling into the cupcakes using a pastry bag I met complete resistance- even causing a few of them to crack down the middle. I probably should have just cut a hole out of the tops and squirted in the cream filling, but for some reason that night I didn't feel like going through the bother. Maybe next time...


And this is the one I made especially for Zach. I know, pretty cheesy, huh?

Source: Annie's Eats