Every once in a while my parents would let us pick out some sort of Hostess treat from the grocery store. If I wasn’t picking out the Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies, it was these Hostess Cupcakes. They’re rich, chocolatey, have a sweet, velvety filling and a smooth chocolate ganache on top to tie everything together.

There is something so nostalgic about Hostess treats. This copycat recipe is just as delicious as the original cupcakes we all know, love, and remember.

Copycat Hostess Cupcakes | The Squeaky Mixer

Copycat Hostess Cupcakes Key Ingredients:

Cocoa Powder – Cocoa powder helps to balance the sweetness of the filling, ganache, and frosting, adding a slightly bitter note that complements the sugar, other ingredients, and other components to this cupcake. Cocoa powder can also help to retain moisture, making it tender and moist.
Fluff – Much like a whoopie pie filling, the fluff mixed with the most common buttercream ingredients (butter and confectioner’s sugar) helps to create the perfect copycat Hostess Cupcake filling. Fluff is deliciously sweet and pairs perfectly with the rich chocolate cupcake. It also provides that smooth, velvety texture in the filling.
Butter – The butter in the filling and icing for the swirl on top helps to create the fluffy, smooth texture that we need for both components.
Semi-Sweet Chocolate – While you can absolutely substitute semi-sweet chocolate for milk or dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate has that perfect balance of richness and sweetness.

Recreating The Iconic Swirl

The most nostalgic part about Hostess Cupcakes aside from their deliciously familiar flavor, is the piped, white swirl of frosting across the top. I use these Tipless piping bags from Amazon. They work perfectly for creating designs without the icing curling when trying to pipe and prevent you from needing a metal tip.

The best way to pipe any design is to hold your piping bag in the center rather than at the very top. This will give you more control. You can practice the swirls on parchment paper, scrape up all the practice swirls, then place is back into your bowl or piping bag. When the time comes to execute on top of the ganache, work slowly or at a pace most comfortable to you and work your way from one side of the cupcake to the other.

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I hope you’re enjoying trying out the recipes and ideas I’ve shared😊 It would bring me so much joy to see your wonderful creations! If you make something inspired by my suggestions or recipes, please share it on social media and tag me @thesqueakymicer – I can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

@thesqueakymixer
Copycat Hostess Cupcakes! 🤎 I LOVE creating these copycat recipes! Let me know I’m the comments what I should recreate next 😋 Find the full recipe on my website, link in bio! 🫶🏼 #bakingtiktok #bakingtiktoks #recipe #thesqueakymixer #bakingszn #fyp #yummy #recipes #bakingrecipes #baking #hostess #cupcakes #caketok #caketiktok #cake #cakerecipe #chocolate
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Copycat Hostess Cupcakes

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Maddison Koutrouba – thesqueakymixer.com

Servings

12-15

servings

Cooking time

minutes

Total time

hours

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on.

For the cupcakes

1 cup 1 flour
1 cup 1 sugar
1/3 cup 1/3 unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. 1 baking soda
1/4 tsp. 1/4 salt
1 1 egg
1/2 cup 1/2 milk
1/2 cup 1/2 vegetable oil
2 tsp. 2 vanilla
1/2 cup 1/2 hot water
For The Filling
1/4 cup 1/4 unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup 1/2 powdered confectioner’s sugar
1 heaping cup 1 heaping marshmallow fluff
Chocolate Ganache
4 oz. 4 semi-sweet chocolate baking bar, chopped
1/3 cup 1/3 heavy cream
For the Icing Swirl
1/4 cup 1/4 unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cups 3/4 confectioner’s sugar
1-2 Tbsp. 1-2 heavy whipping cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. and lightly grease a cupcake pan. Set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate, larger bowl, whisk together the egg, vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix just until the batter starts to come together then add in the hot water while whisking.
Once the batter is nice and smooth, scoop and fill the cupcake pan 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick interested comes out clean.
Allow the cupcakes to cool completely. In the meantime you can make the filling, ganache, and frosting.
To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a heat safe bowl. In a separate, microwave safe bowl heat the heavy cream until it begins to bubble. Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate. Allow to sit for one minute then whisk until smooth. Set aside.
To make the filling, use an electric mixer to whisk together the butter and sugar until smooth.
Add the fluff to the butter mixture and mix until well combined and there are no lumps. Set aside.
To make the icing swirl, cream together the butter, confectioner’s sugar, and heavy cream until nice and smooth and there are no lumps. Set aside.
Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, pipe filling into each one. To do this, insert the piping bag filled with the fluff mixture about halfway into the cupcake. Gently squeeze the piping bag while lifting it out of the cupcake. Repeat this process.
Use an offset spatula to flatten the filling on top of each cupcake. Freeze the cupcakes with the flattened filling for 20 minutes.
Re – heat the ganache for about 15-20 seconds if it has thickened. One at a time, dip each cupcake with an even layer of ganache on top. Repeat for each cupcake then freeze again for 10-15 minutes.
Lastly, it’s time to add the swirl on top of each cupcake. To do this work slowly or at a pace most comfortable to you and work your way from one side of the cupcake to the other moving up and down to create the iconic loops across the top of each cupacke
Enjoy!