The curious case of the cupcake – Hive and Nest

It was Finn’s birthday last weekend (Happy Birthday, 11-year-old!)

We celebrated by making fudgy bon bons 

and faux Hostess cupcakes (sorry about the weak photo.  All I had with me was my camera phone.)

 I love all three dearly, but I must admit that my heart has long belonged to the Hostess oeuvre.  Sadly, the cupcakes never quite live up to my expectations but last month’s issue of Cook’s Country magazine featured a from-scratch version of my old favorite (or maybe Ho Hos were my favorite. I did love Ding Dongs too.  And don’t even get me started on Little Debbies.  Nutty Bars make me swoon.)

I decided to do a little experiment with the cupcakes. I wanted to make them without paper liners since Hostess doesn’t use them (I’m all about authenticity!)  But I hate to scrub out the muffin tin, so I prefer using liners.  I wondered if it would make a difference in how they baked so I placed cupcake wrappers in half of the pan and simply greased the other half.  I was quite shocked at the outcome:

Same batter, same pan.  Let that be a lesson to you: cupcake liners are not just a silly little extra. Use them!

(by the way, the cupcakes were so good I almost passed out. I couldn’t find them on the Cook’s Country website, though. Bummer for you since I’m not about to type out the whole complicated recipe.)