Homemade Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes

5 from 3 votes

These homemade Hostess chocolate cupcakes have a rich devil's food cake, a fluffy vanilla cream filling and a chocolate ganache topping. Made within 30 minutes, these copycat cupcakes are dairy free and with the signature icing swirl.

Prep Time10

Cook Time33

Total Time43

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 178kcal

Author: Dee Dine

Equipment

Measuring cups & spoons
Mixing bowl
Hand mixer or stand mixer
medium sized ice cream scoop
cupcake pan, paper liners

Ingredients

Cupcakes

1 ½ cups (190g) all purpose flour or GF baking flour
½ cup (25g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (207g) cane sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (240ml) dairy-free milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
⅓ cup (75g) pumpkin puree, canned
¼ cup (62g) unsweetened apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache Top

⅓ cup (80g) dairy-free milk
1 cup (170g) chocolate chips

Vanilla Creme Filling & Squiggle

1 batch white frosting My recipe here

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prep

Make a batch of your favorite white frosting or use my white frosting recipe.
Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Line cupcake pan(s) with 16-18 paper liners.
Activate your milk by adding lemon juice to it and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Make cupcakes

To the large mixing bowl, add the sugar and wet ingredients and use a hand mixer or stand mixer to mix until smooth, about 1 minute or until the sugar is dissolved.
1 cup (207g) cane sugar, 1 cup (240ml) dairy-free milk, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, ⅓ cup (75g) pumpkin puree, canned, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ cup (62g) unsweetened apple sauce
Add the dry ingredients through a strainer if your cocoa is clumpy.
1 ½ cups (190g) all purpose flour, ½ cup (25g) unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt
Mix up the batter with a hand or stand mixer. Mix about 2 minutes or under until just combined.
Add the batter about ⅔ full to each cupcake liner using a medium cookie scoop or 3-4 tablespoon of batter.
Bake cupcakes for 16-18 minutes. Or until tester comes out clean. If they dome anyway, press with a spatula while they are hot to flatten.
Let cool for ten minutes in the pan, then put cupcakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool for 30 minutes or longer before filling.

Fill the cupcakes

Cut a cone out of the center of each cooled cupcakes using the tip of knife held at an angle.
Fill the empty hole with frosting, and spread it smooth on top.
1 batch white frosting

Top the cupcakes

Melt the chocolate chips in a pyrex measuring cup for 1 minute. Stir until all chips are melted. Microwave another 10 seconds if need be.
1 cup (170g) chocolate chips
Microwave dairy free milk about 30 seconds to warm it.
⅓ cup (80g) dairy-free milk
Then pour the milk into the melted chocolate and stir until creamy. And pour the chocolate mixture into a dipping bowl.
Frost the top of the cupcakes either by dipping or spooning on the glaze.

Add the white swirl

Add white frosting to a ziplock bag or a frosting bag fitted with a writing tip Wilton #3 or #5 or cut a small opening in the bag to use for piping the looping squiggle.
1 batch white frosting
Once the chocolate top is dry, pipe on the loop in a straight line down the center.

Store

The cupcakes are fine at room temperature for about 2 days and then they begin to dry out. If you used all purpose flour, they will last a bit longer - oat flour dries out faster. Refrigerate in a sealed container for a week, then freeze for a longer term.
To store cupcakes long term, assemble them and then pack them in an air-tight container and freezer for a month.

Video

Notes

This recipe makes 16 cupcakes.

Use 1 ½ scoops from a medium-sized ice cream scoop to fill cupcake container ⅔rds.

Use pumpkin puree from a can, and not pumpkin pie filling. Sweet potato puree is also fine.

Nutrition