chocolate cream-filled {hostess} cupcakes.

How can you resist these cupcakes?

On top of being crazy-adorable, the cupcake itself is rich and deep in dark chocolate flavor – and so is the ganache frosting. These are truly an adult version of the Hostess cupcakes we all loved as kids.

They’re also filled with marshmallow cream. I’m telling you – impossible not to love.

I think it’s safe to say that this will be my new go-to recipe for chocolate cupcakes. With or without the cream filling, they are divine. They’re adapted from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe, so you know they have to be on point. The only change I made was that I used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, which CI used in the recipe to make the cake sturdier so that it would hold up to their ganache filling. I figured that because a marshmallow filling should be softer than a ganache filling, I didn’t need to go the bread flour route, and I was correct. They came out perfectly – the chocolate flavor the coffee brings out is everything.

Chocolate Cream-Filled Cupcakes

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated and Food & Wine

• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup hot coffee
• 3/ 4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

{bake the cupcakes}

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-size muffin pan with liners. Place chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl. Pour hot coffee over mixture and whisk until smooth. Set in refrigerator to cool completely, about 20 minutes. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Whisk oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla into cooled chocolate-cocoa mixture until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until cupcakes are set and just firm to touch, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.

{make the filling}

In a medium bowl beat together the butter, confectioners’ sugar, Marshmallow Fluff, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the heavy cream until fluffy. Reserve 1/2 cup of the mixture and transfer the rest to a pastry bag fitted with a small (1/4-inch or so) round tip. Beat the remaining 1 teaspoon of cream into the reserved 1/2 cup of filling, cover and reserve.

Line a large baking sheet with wax paper. Insert the tip of the pastry bag about 1/2-inch deep into the bottom of each cupcake; squeeze lightly to fill with cream. Set the cupcakes on the sheet.

{make the ganache frosting}

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until steaming. Add the chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. Add the butter and stir until smooth. Spread the top of each cupcake with the frosting. Spoon the reserved filling into a pastry bag fitted with a very small plain tip and pipe decorative swirls on each cupcake. Refrigerate the cupcakes for at least 10 minutes to set the frosting.