Do these look familiar to you?

Every so often a recipe or idea makes it's way around the food blog world. This is one of those ideas. I'm sure you've already seen it on other food blogs but I just had to give it a try because it is too darn cute! And, I wanted to make something fun to celebrate. I finished my first quarter of nursing school!! And I am *hopefully* going to be getting straight A's! So these are celebratory cupcakes.

It's hard to really cite one source for this idea because I have literally seen it everywhere so I will just link the website that pushed me over the edge today, Beantown Baker. I used the filling and ganache recipe found on her blog but I used a different recipe for the cupcakes.

Hostess Fake Out Cupcakes

Cupcake
Source: Hershey's, This is a recipe I have actually made quite a few times but surprisingly I have never blogged! I think this recipe is a great staple for any kitchen. For these cupcakes I cut this recipe in half.

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water


1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3.Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

Filling
Source: Beantown Baker

2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Combine filling ingredients with a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled. Reserve 1/2 cup of the filling to use for piping the swirls on top of the cupcakes at the end.

Chocolate Ganache
Source: Beantown Baker

1/4 cup cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

In a small saucepan, heat cream until steaming. Remove from the heat, add chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. Add the butter and stir until smooth. Transfer the frosting to a small bowl and dip the top of each cupcake to thoroughly coat.




Assembly

Cut a hole in the top of the cooled cupcakes (about the size of a quarter). Remove that part of the cupcake. I cut the top off of each "hole" to put over top of the filling once piped and set aside.

Fill the hole in the top of each cupcake with the filling. Then put the hole top over the filling.

Dip the top of each cupcake in the chocolate ganache. Put the cupcakes in the fridge for about 5 minutes to set the ganache.

Pipe the swirls on top of the ganache. Then put back in the fridge to set again for 10-15 minutes.