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For the cupcakes:
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Preheat oven to 375 F. Line your muffin pans with cupcake liners (recipe makes roughly 30 cupcakes). Set pans aside.
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Combine your flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set it aside.
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Place your oil and sugar into your standing mixer bowl. Mix well. Stir in your applesauce and vanilla. (This recipe was my 1st attempt at baking with applesauce instead of eggs! It worked beautifully!)
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Add half of your flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix until combined.
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Slowly pour the water into the batter. Mix on low until combined.
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Add the 2nd half of your flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Scrape sides of the bowl as needed. Combine until just mixed.
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Slowly add the milk into the batter. Beat on low until well combined.
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Fill each cupcake liner about half full. I use an ice cream scoop to fill my cupcake liner with the batter.
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Bake for 15-18 minutes. Then remove from the oven and allow cupcakes to cool completely before adding filling.
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To make the filling:
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Cream together the butter and powdered sugar using your mixer. Stir in the vanilla and a pinch of salt.
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Mix in the Marshmallow Fluff. Whisk until light and fluffy.
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Cover your bowl with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.
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After cupcakes are cooled and the filling chilled, add the filling to the cupcakes! I recommend that you use your pasty bag and tip. Simply put the filling into the bag, insert the tip into the top of the cupcakes and squeeze filling into the cupcakes. (Or you can cut a little hole out of the top of each cupcake and use a knife to add the filling. I've used this method too. The piping is faster and cleaner though.)
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I was a bit worried that I would pipe too much filling into the cupcakes and not have enough for the design on the frosting. There was PLENTY though. Have no fear!
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For the frosting:
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Melt the butter, chocolate chips and corn syrup. I added these ingredients into a microwavable bowl and microwaved for 30 seconds at a time. Stir after every 30 seconds and continue heating for additional 30 second increments until smooth and glossy. Stir in the vanilla.
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Cover the bowl of frosting and chill for 20-30 minutes until thickened slightly.
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Once frosting is chilled, remove from refrigerator and stir. Frost the cupcakes by spreading it on top of each cupcake. Then use the piping bag and pastry tip again to add the classic Hostess design on top, using the remaining filling!
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Recipe from Bakingdom.
