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!
