Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

I feel like I’ve said this before, but this is truly my new favorite cupcake recipe. Honestly. I close my eyes in delight every time I bite into one. They are that good.

Why You’ll Love These Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

The cupcakes are basically this popular chocolate cake, but halved Extra soft & moist, not dense or dry at all Extreme chocolate flavor; hot liquid “blooms” the cocoa Sweet, fluffy vanilla cream in the center Chocolate topping is just 2 ingredients and sets into a soft fudge-like texture Like the packaged American treat, but fresh & homemade

Even for an assembled/decorated cupcake, the process is still pretty straightforward. Make the cupcakes, carve a little hole in the center of the cooled cupcakes, fill with an easy whipped buttercream, and spread ganache on top. Use any extra filling to pipe on a squiggly loopy-loop (technical terms). Let me explain some key ingredients and show you this process in photos. Spoon/pour the thin batter into muffin pan lined with cupcake liners—you should have enough batter to make 15 cupcakes, so you will either need 2 muffin pans or you can divide and bake them in 2 batches. Fill the liners about 2/3 full. If you use the batter to make fewer than 15 cupcakes, you are overfilling the lined cups and your cupcakes will spill over the sides. For the BEST texture and flavor, you need these key ingredients: You also need all-purpose flour (cake flour is too light when paired with cocoa powder), baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, egg, & vanilla extract. Optional (but recommended) step: When the cupcakes are completely—or nearly completely—cool, place them in the refrigerator for 20–30 minutes to make them a bit easier to carve into and fill. The cupcakes bake up nice and flat on top: And now… is there any topping more rich and indulgent-tasting than chocolate ganache?

Whipped Vanilla Buttercream

For the cream portion of these cream-filled chocolate cupcakes, use fluffy whipped vanilla buttercream. This is the same whipped buttercream frosting I use for vanilla sheet cake, but with the ingredient ratios adjusted to yield less. You need just enough to fill 15 cupcakes, with a little leftover to pipe the squiggly loops on top. LOL. You need just 2 ingredients to make chocolate ganache: Heat the cream on the stovetop, pour over finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl, let sit for a few minutes, and then slowly stir until the chocolate has all melted. The ganache will be very thin at first, but since chocolate is solid at room temperature, the ganache will thicken as it cools: You’re basically making a regular vanilla buttercream frosting, but whipping it on high speed for a few minutes to make it extra light, fluffy, and almost marshmallow-tasting. Many homemade Hostess-style cupcake recipes use shortening or store-bought marshmallow creme (fluff) in the filling, but this one uses just 5 simple ingredients: butter, confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Feel free to use this marshmallow meringue as the filling instead, if you’d like. Some readers have also filled them with raspberry cake filling or pastry cream—YUM! Let’s see all of that come together: This can get messy because the cupcakes are oh-so-soft and moist. That’s fine, you’re covering up the mess with ganache. With a knife or small icing spatula, spread the thickened chocolate ganache on top of the cupcakes.

Optional: Pipe the Squiggly Loopy Loops

For the finishing touch, fit a small round piping tip (I use Wilton #6) to a piping bag and fill with the remaining whipped buttercream. I went for the signature Hostess cupcake look by piping the loopy loops across the top of each cupcake, but feel free to get creative with your design. An initial, a heart, smiley face, birthday age/number, etc. You could even decorate them as Halloween cupcakes. Or skip this decorating step entirely. How about a cake version? I thought some might ask! See recipe Note below. And if you love trying this nostalgic treat, be sure to try my chocolate cake roll recipe, too!