Healthy Hostess Cupcakes!
Hostess cupcakes iced with Hot Chocolate Butter.
Along with yesterday’s Healthy Cookie Dough Dip, I brought these cupcakes to Sunday’s pirate party.
For a while now, I’d been looking for an excuse to try making a healthier version of the popular creme-filled cupcakes. So when I discovered I could stretch the “yo ho/ ho ho” pun and pass these off as pirate-themed, I knew they had to be made. Unlike Hostess’ cupcakes, mine are whole-grain, low in fat and calories, and free of high fructose corn syrup and trans fats.
But seriously, people will eat them up!!
Healthy Hostess Cupcakes
Inspired by My Favorite Chocolate Cupcakes
- 1 cup spelt, white, or Bob’s gf flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar or xylitol
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 and 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt of choice, such as SoDelicious
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1/2 cup milk of choice
- marshmallow fluff – I use my Vegan Marshmallow Fluff
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients, then add wet – excluding marshmallow fluff. Don’t overmix. Pour into cupcake tins, and bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool, then cut or poke holes in the tops and scoop in the cream. Re-cover the tops. (Recipe continues below.)
Frost cupcakes with warmed Hot Chocolate Butter or with melted chocolate chips. Then put the cakes in the fridge for the frosting to harden. Once hard, you can use an icing writer for the tiny squiggles if you wish. Yes, I know the icing isn’t healthy. But it’s only like a 1/8 tsp, so I still feel justified in calling these cupcakes healthy.
An alternative to the creme:
Try stuffing them with Healthy Cookie Dough Dip.
Or, you could imitate some of the people at the party and dunk these cupcakes into the cookie dough dip. Sugar on top of sugar. So much for this being a healthy dessert blog!
Omg! I love it! That is too adorable and it never occurred to me to make my own cream filled goodies. Oh the things you learn at CKK 😉
Dear Katie,
I live in Albania and am gluten free. My mother in CA told me about your website. I have tried some of your recipes, and I really like them. I can’t get a lot of GF flours here, only (Corn, and rice, I also can get almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, and peanuts, which I grind in my blender) Can you try to do some more GF recipes but that use only these types of flours instead of Bob’s red mill? Thanks! 🙂
Hi Lule,
I don’t have much experience with gf baking. I bet you are much more experienced with it and knowledgeable about it! So, if you want, you can be my taste-tester and adapt my recipes to use the flours you can eat. Then I’d be happy to change the recipe posts to include those options!
Also, for sweeteners I only have sugar white and brown, and honey… (and fruit of course)
These look DELICIOUS! It’s 7:43am and I want a cupcake… I’ve done a Hostess makeover too! What is it about these cupcakes?!
Here’s mine 🙂 http://www.itsbeenreal.net/?p=670
Have a great day!
I made a few changes: Bobs GF flour with part GF pancake mix, banana instead of oil, part stevia/part sugar, and So Delicious frozen Chocolate Velvet non-dairy ice cream. I also added some milled flax seeds and a little extra vanilla. Believe it or not, I actually got the “approval” from my non-vegan father who has a hard time with anything that doesn’t contain butter!
I have still yet to win him over with the whole bean browine concept or spinach ice cream but at least these cupcakes are a good start 😀
Thanks Katie!
Oh wow, yours sound awesome! I especially love your idea to add banana!
I just use whatever I have to work with; it keeps things interesting!
Ahh these were my favorite as a kid!! I cannot wait to try them!
I am such a chocolate fanatic, I am sooo happy I found your site!
I’m so happy you found me too! It’s always awesome to meet another chocoholic… the world needs more of us. Or maybe not… then we might not have enough chocolate ;).
I made these today, but only 1/4 of the recipe (in fear that I’d eat the whole batch in an hour. That can so happen!). My baby half sister, who is 19 or 20 months, loved these! She ate a whole cupcake which is rare for her since she doesn’t like to eat a lot.
Awwww this made me smile so much!
Oh my goodness I have to try these! Once in a while I find myself craving a hostess cupcake from my non-vegan days…. but it looks like these would definitely satisfy that craving. I’m absolutely loving your blog, by the way. I’m a relatively new follower and it’s great to find another vegan chocoholic like myself 🙂
Hi Ruby!!!
*Waves like a crazy girl*
I am so glad to know another vegan chocoholic too! Can you believe I used to think vegans couldn’t eat chocolate?! Oh how very wrong I was! (Thank goodness!!)
I just put these in the oven– my daughter has a dairy and a soy recipe. The batter was delicious. I used So Delicious Vanilla Yougart and So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk. I can’t wait to try them. I don’t have the ingredients on hand to make the frosting, so I may try to make a ganache instead or my thrownback quick buttercream frosting. Thanks for sharing!! I can’t wait for my daughter to see and then try these beauties.
Aw you are so welcome… I hope she likes them!!
I loved Hostess 100 calorie packs during my Fall quarter in Virginia. These look much better!
Just made these for my non-vegan family filled with your coconut ‘whipped cream’. Everyone thought they were delicious and addictive! Keep up your recipes Katie, they’re fabulous!
Aww, thank you! I am so excited they liked the cupcakes! And apparently it’s National Chocolate Cupcake Day… I didn’t even know that until a few hours ago! 🙂
Loved hostess when I was little! Can’t wait to try your made over version!!!
Hi! It’s not quite your professed arena without the chocolate, but I happen to like the orange ones (which is a bit odd in itself as I don’t often like orange flavored things. I guess it’s kind of this way: there are other chocolate cakes, but I don’t think I’ve come across an equal orange one.) So, a few questions:
1. Would you have any ideas how to make these orange flavored instead of chocolate? (I’m still thinking on the frosting substitute)
2. As I am not vegan, would dairy yogurt work? (probably?) I’m unlikely to have non-dairy yogurt, but I do drink almond milk sometimes, so non-dairy milk could probably happen.
3. Not related to these cupcakes, but, despite not being vegan, I’m curious about something I read (in another of your cupcake recipes, I think) on a chia or flax egg substitute? Care to point me towards further information on that?
I’m not vegan (omnivorous, actually), but I encountered your blog sometime ago through channels that are lost to my memory because of time passing, and remembered it fondly enough that I was able to look it up today! I’m currently trying the oatmeal trick for breakfast this coming morning, and many of your other recipes sound good.
(And now I feel silly for pointing out that I’m not vegan thrice in such a small space. I was not trying to emphasize the fact, but I suppose that is what comes of writing quite late at night.)
Hey Sarah!
I have actually never even seen an orange cupcake, let alone tasted one… maybe try a vanilla cupcake recipe with orange extract?
And yes, I think any yogurt would be fine.
As for chia eggs, I’ve never actually used them but if you google “chia eggs” or “flax eggs” there are lots of easy tutorials on how to do it. I probably should try it one of these days :).
Thank you for another GREAT recipe!!! I made these and they turned out GREAT!!! I used Splenda for the “sugar”. Then for the filling and the little swirl on top – I mixed tofu with sugar-free white chocolate pudding. It is WONDERFUL!!!!
Just bought the ricemellow creme to make these! Before I start, I just wanted to know: do you think I can use spelt flour? And for the frosting if I don’t have coconut oil, could I use olive?
I’ve never tried them with spelt, so I can’t vouch for the taste.
For the frosting, it must be coconut oil in order to harden.
I just finished making these. Of course I already ate one. INCREDIBLE. I ended up using the spelt flour, too. Soooo good. The frosting is hardening in the fridge now. One question though: Once the frosting has hardened in the fridge, can the cupcakes be stored outside the fridge or will the frosting un-harden? Thank you so much for the recipe.
It depends on your outside air temp. For example, right now where I am they COULD… but come summertime, definitely not! 😉