Jumbo Hostess Cupcakes

Wow, I can't believe it's already time for April's Martha Stewart Cupcake Club entry. This means it's almost Tax Day! Yay! Hope everyone's getting refunds! =)


This month's cupcakes were really fun to make! I was actually surprised at the simplicity of it. What could be better than homemade Hostess Cupcakes??

Whisk together all the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Then add in eggs, one at a time.


Add in the flour mixture in batches, alternating with sour cream. I know there are many chocolate cake recipes out there that call for sour cream, but I've never tried it before. It seems like such a weird ingredient to have in a cake, doesn't it?

You should get this beautiful and thick chocolate batter!


Scoop your batter into greased jumbo muffin tins.


Bake at 350 degrees and cool.


Meanwhile, prepare the cream filling!

MMMmmmm...is it wrong to love marshmallow creme?? Because, really, I could eat it out of the jar all day, every day. But then I'd probably die of heart failure at age 26. lol.


Anyway, back to this cream filling. It's super easy to make. You just beat together softened butter and Marshmallow Creme until well combined. SO good!

Ok, now we fill them! Ready for this?


The recipe says to use a melon baller. But I didn't have one, so I just took a small knife and cut a circle in the bottoms of each cupcake. The little circle of cake lifted right out and remained in one piece. Then I took the tip of the knife and gently carved out some of the cake in the center. The crumbs were really soft and loosened up easily. Then, all you have to do is tip the cupcake and the crumbs will fall out. I was surprised at how easy it was! I was expecting a few failed attempts, but all of them came out perfectly.

Fill it with the cream. I just spooned it in. No biggie.


Then I replaced the circle that I cut out earlier.


Ta-DA! Happy cream-filled cupcakes! Now, turn 'em around to face upward.

Fear not! No cake was wasted in this process. These crumbs made it to my happy tummy~!


And now, place the rest of the filling into a piping bag and snip off a small hole. No piping tip needed.

Draw some squiggles!


Check out all that ooey gooey goodness!

These didn't taste very much like the real thing but no one really cared! They were suuuper delicious in their own right and got gobbled up almost right away. For those of you who are doubtful/frightened by the Marshmallow Fluff, give it a chance! You'd be surprised at how awesome it tastes! hehe.

Happy Tax Day, everyone! woo! Taxes and cupcakes rock my socks! =)



CLICK HERE for the recipe.

The Best Spice Cake EVER

Hi everyone! I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to put up a decent post! I hope you still remember me... you know, the woman who used to write a food blog. hehe.

Things have been crazy and hectic here in Cali...in the best way possible! I've been meeting a ton of new people and experiencing a lot of new things. I come back to my hotel room at night just to crash and I barely have time to do anything else. I've already been here for three whole weeks and it's seemed to fly by SO quickly! I thought I would be super homesick, but actually, I'm happy to report that I'm doing just fine out here by myself. The sun makes me so giddy! =)

***EDIT*** Scratch what I said before. Half way through typing this entry, a 7.2 earthquake hit! And I was SCARED!!!!! The walls of my hotel room were shaking and swaying back and forth! I thought, "I'm going to die! I'm on the 11th floor!" And to top it all off, this was the second one I've experienced in the span of three weeks. Ok, I'm definitely ready to go home now! lol.


Anyway, enough about me. Onto this recipe! I'm so excited to be sharing this spice cake with all of you!


Remember how I did the Flourless Chocolate Cake a while ago? It was a fabulously decadent chocolate cake with a secret ingredient that no one can guess- BEANS. Well, you're in for a treat today because this spice cake also has a secret ingredient! And you'll NEVER guess what's in it!

You'll be shocked. You'll gasp in surprise. Are you ready for this?? Brace yourself. It's none other than..........

A can of Campbell's Tomato Soup! Oh, the insanity of it!

For me, it was one of those "that sounds SO incredibly gross that I must try it immediately" kind of things. lol.

You know how I am about these things. =)


In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients along with all the wonderful spice cake spices! Give it a good stir. Mmm...the room smells wonderful already!

And now, for the secret ingredient!

It definitely looks kinda gross at this point! hehe.

Also add the butter (it calls for shortening but I can't ever bring myself to use it- yuck!), eggs, and water. Combine well. I love that this recipe only uses one bowl! Super easy and convenient.

Pour it into a bunt pan and bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes.

I used my new Heritage bundt pan (Williams Sonoma) for this. It was my first time making a bundt! And I thought this pan was just the most beautiful thing ever!

It came out beautifully, didn't it?

For the glaze, I used a simple vanilla-cinnamon frosting. I just improvised. I threw together a stick of softened butter, powdered sugar, cinnamon, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix it all together until you get the consistency you like. (Add more or less powdered sugar, depending on if you like it thicker or more thin.)

Ok, so this bundt was pretty without the frosting, but the swirls make it hard for the glaze to "fall gracefully" over the cake. humph! And now I've made it ugly. =)


This spice cake was one of the best I have ever tasted! You can't detect the tomato soup at all. I totally fooled my friends with this one! But the soup really brought out the flavors of the spices. The crumb was super soft and moist- it was incredible!


And I can't believe that this recipe uses only one bowl! It makes for a super easy clean up.

I have to thank Mike of Mike's Blog for introducing this fabulous recipe to me! Check out what he has to say about this recipe too!

If you like spice cakes, this is the only recipe you'll ever need. Guaranteed. YAY for weird secret ingredients! =)

Happy Easter, everyone!

Click HERE for the recipe.