Homemade Hostess Cupcakes and Bake-N-Blog (Again?)

Remember my epic Bake-N-Blog fail with those fig cupcakes?  Well, today I get to redeem myself with another Bake-N-Blog event.  My sweet (real-life!) friend Jess at jesstagirl and her officer decided to host a Bake-N-Blog today.  To tell you the truth, I was dragging my feet about joining in at first.  The fig cupcakes really blew my baking ego.  But, last night I came to my senses and realized that supporting Jess was more important to me than risking another cupcake fail.  And that brings us to today's cupcakes!

My cupcake choice this time around is Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Cream Filling (from Ming Makes Cupcakes, of course).  These immediately reminded me of Hostess Cupcakes, so I decided to add the signature swirl and rename them to make them my own.  I think they came out a lot like the original, but with a lot fewer fakey ingredients.

My go-to chocolate cake recipe is cocoa and oil-based, but this cupcake was cocoa and butter-based.  I was pleasantly surprised with the recipe- they stayed more moist than I thought, but that could be all of the yummy cream inside.  The chocolate ganache was simple as well- just chocolate and cream.  I think these would be super cute in a kid's lunchbox, but only as an occasional treat.  They are filled with frosting, after all.

I think they're just the cutest! 

Here's the recipe (you can click on it to enlarge).

I'm so glad this recipe worked out.  Relieved, really.  

I'm back in love with cupcakes.

Please check out Jess's cupcakes and the rest of the bakers' links.  

Thanks, J!