Homemade always wins
My Homemade Hostess Heart Cakes are a cross between two typical American treats. First is the Valentines Day candy ‘Conversation Hearts’ which allows you to ask your friends (or foes) to “Love Me” or “Be Mine” (alternately, “Get Lost” or “Not A Chance” etc.). Something about having a conversation using candy has always delighted me!
The second famous American treat is the Hostess chocolate Cupcakes! These chocolate cupcakes have a cream filling, are topped with chocolate ganache, and one white frosting squiggle on top. I also have fond memories of these, which I would eat when the opportunity presented itself. In my house, that wasn’t often!
You know I do love to bake… and homemade things not only taste better, they are better for you! I like knowing exactly what is in my food, and I love to replicate the normal store-bought things in my own kitchen.
It’s nearly Valentines Day!
Valentines Day is just around the corner, and I know you will love these cute little cakes. It’s the perfect indulgent dessert to reminisce about childhood. Instead of a normal cupcake shape, I used a muffin-like tin which sports 4-inch hearts instead. Here’s a link to a similar one on Amazon, should you feel so inclined. This recipe yields 10 heart cakes (I baked and reused my pan a second time to use up all the batter).
Homemade Hostess Heart Cakes Ingredients
For the Cakes
- 125 grams flour (1 cup)
- 30 grams unsweetened cocoa powder (1/4 cup), plus extra to flour tins
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 200 grams sugar (1 cup)
- 75 ml avocado oil (1/3 cup)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 120 mililitres milk (1/2 cup)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 130 ml hot coffee (1/2 cup) or hot water
- Butter to grease the heart shaped tins
For the chocolate ganache frosting
- 160 grams best dark chocolate
- 150 ml heavy cream / Crema Dulce (2/3 cup)
For the cream filling
- 115 grams salted butter (1 stick or 1/2 cup)
- 240 grams (2 cups) powdered sugar
- 45 ml heavy cream / Crema Dulce (3 tbsp)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Homemade Hostess Heart Cakes Instructions
Make the Cake
- Get your ingredients out and get organised. Make buttermilk – add the 1 tsp lemon juice to 120 ml milk, and allow to sit and come to room temperature. Make coffee (you can just use hot water if you prefer).
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease the heart tins really well with butter, and then lightly dust with cocoa powder, tapping to spread. (You can dust with flour instead – but cocoa powder helps keep the cake darkly coloured.)
- Whisk the dry ingredients together (first 6 listed), then whisk the wet ingredients together (second 5 listed), except the coffee. Add the wet to the dry, whisk to mix, then add the coffee. Whisk again.
- Balance the prepared heart tin on a scale so you can measure how much goes into each one – I balanced the centre of my heart tin on a glass so I could see the numbers of the digital scale.
- Measure 70 grams of batter into each heart. This is important! You want them to look consistently sized (like they were manufactured!) and not balloon over the top when they bake. Not to mention, you won’t get 10 cakes if you over-fill several.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes. Check for doneness by sticking a toothpick in, the toothpick should have crumbs but not be sticky.
- Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and place them onto a wire rack to cool completely. I use a spatula to check sides haven’t stuck to the pan as I remove them.
- Lastly, refrigerate them as it will be easier to fill cold heart-cakes.
- Repeat baking steps with remainder of the batter, as required.
Make the Chocolate Ganache
- Create a bain marie – find a metal or glass bowl that sits snugly inside one of your pots. Add an inch or two of water to the pot, and make sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl when you set it inside.
- Now break up the dark chocolate a little bit and put it into the glass or metal bowl. Add the cream.
- Warm the contraption over medium heat for 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. When it’s smooth, remove from heat.
- Put the glass or metal bowl into the refrigerator to allow the ganache to set. If it sets too hard by the time you go to use it, you can just re-warm in the same manner.
Make the Cream Filling
- Start with soft (not melted) butter and whip it using a standing mixer and the paddle attachment on high for 2 minutes.
- Add the cream and vanilla on low speed until incorporated.
- Add the powdered sugar on low speed – it tends to create a big sugar cloud, so add slowly, and I drape a damp tea towel over the mixer to further minimise it 🙂
- Once the sugar is incorporated and the cloud subsides, increase the speed and beat for 3-4 minutes until you have a nice fluffy filling.
- Bear in mind you can add a little more cream or sugar to reach your desired consistency.
Assemble your Homemade Hostess Heart Cakes!
- Find your best very sharp, thin bladed knife. Then remove the heart-cakes from the refrigerator.
- Slice into each cake at an angle to create an inverted pyramid shape in the shape of a heart (or at least a triangle) and remove it.
- Slice the tip of the pyramid off to create space for the filling. You can also scoop some cake out of the heart. Gather these crumbs together in a bowl as you go.
- Spoon some filling into each cake. Don’t be stingy – the taste testers really loved this! You should have enough filling to put 1-2 tablespoons per heart-cake. Spread it out to the edges the best you can. Then replace the top of the heart. It’s okay if it’s messy.
- Spread a nice thick layer of Chocolate Ganache over the top of each cupcake.
- As the final flourish, I love to write little sayings on the heart-cakes just like conversation hearts.
- top of each cake. Or you can write a message to your loved ones!
These beautiful Homemade Hostess Heart Cakes are sure to impress. The chocolate and cream combination has surely stood the test of time, and my version is so delightful! I hope you decide to give it a go.
If you, like me, love anything chocolatey, Death by Chocolate, next you should try my Queque Nube de Chocolate!