-Week 2- Ding Dong cupcakes- testers' rating: 5 stars

This is week 2 of my quest to find the best cupcake recipes out there. The recipe I have to share with you today: Ding Dong cupcakes!

You may not know what a Ding Dong is, but I’m almost sure growing up you had a version of it: Devil Dogs, Hostess cupcake, Devil Squares, or a Pinguino, in Latin America. It’s that yummy combination of chocolate cake and marshmallow filling, covered with chocolate ganache.

I tried several recipes until finally I’m confident to share this one with you.

One of the recipes I tried had a ‘doctored’ version of a box cake, which came out really moist. I liked the cake part, but the filling was really bad. I’m sorry, it was. Made with milk and flour, it had the consistency of thick gravy, not so good. I then found a recipe on the epicurious website; Devil Dog Cake. It was a made-from-scratch chocolate cake. Unfortunately, the cupcakes came out a little dry. But the filling/frosting was awesome!

So, I married the two and got a winner. It still has room for improvement. I would like to try making the cupcakes using my Dark Chocolate Wedding cake recipe. But for now, this one got a 5-star rating among my ‘testers’. I will update this entry when I try them with my recipe.

I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did!

For the cake:

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix I used Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe.

               1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.

Into a medium bowl, combine cake mix and chocolate pudding

mix. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggs, oil and

buttermilk. Mix with an electric mixer until well blended.

Devide the batter evenly into the cupcake liners.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes completely on a wire rack.

Filling:

2 large egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine frosting 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.

Ganache:

1 cup heavy cream

8 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons of light corn syrup

In a small saucepan bring cream just to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, butter, and corn syrup. Let ganache stand 3 minutes and whisk until chocolate is melted. Chill ganache just until cool, about 30 minutes.

Assemble cupcakes:

There are different methods to fill cupcakes. The easiest one, in my opinion, is using a small biscuit cutter or a round cookie cutter to cut a disc out of the center of each cupcake. Push the cookie cutter in the center of the cupcake and twist slightly. remove the cake disc. Fill the cupcakes using a teaspoon. Replace the cake disc, and your cupcakes are ready for the ganache.

 

Once the ganache is firm and chilled, spread it over the cupcakes using a spatula.

And your Ding Dong cupcakes are ready to eat!!

If there are any cupcakes left, keep them in the fridge.

Stay tuned for another yummy cupcake recipe next week!

The search for the ultimate recipe - week 1 - Cookies and cream cupcakes

This is the first entry of my blog. As some of you know, I bake at least once a week. On Wednesdays I take my baked goods to my husband's therapist's office, where they await for the 'goodies' anxiously. 

 I recently decided to search for the ultimate cupcake recipes, from recipes I have, or come across on the web. I have a 'group of testers' and they will rate them and give me their opinion on what can be improved for next time. Obviously, opinions are all relative, but I'll let you know the results. At the end of this journey, we all will come up with great recipes. Enjoy!

Yield: 24 cupcakes


Ingredients:


For the cupcakes:
 


2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour


1 tsp. baking powder


½ tsp. salt


1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature


1 2/3 cup sugar


2 large eggs

2 large egg whites, at room temperature


2 tsp. vanilla extract


1 cup milk


24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached

10 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped + the 24 other halves. Set ¾ cup aside for garnishing.

For the frosting:


8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature


6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature


1 tbsp. vanilla extract


4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted


2 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:


Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners.  Place an Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together and set aside.  With food processor or  electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.  Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Blend in the vanilla extract.  Beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. 


 Fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.

Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners.  

Bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth.  Add the vanilla extract.  Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until incorporated and smooth.  Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired.  

Garnish: Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs.

Results:

Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars

What can be improved: Nobody thought there was something to be changed. They loved them, maybe they're just nice people. But, I'll tell you what I'll try next time. The half Oreo on the bottom looks cool. But it gets soft. I like my Oreos crunchy. The  chopped Oreos in the mix remained crunchy. Next time, I won't put the halves and see if I like them better.

Let me know if you try them. :)