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Giant Hostess Cupcake & Raspberry Zinger

Take a study break with these chocolate and vanilla cakes!

It’s back to school week! While I love the nostalgia of lunch box treats, something about them just isn’t quite...cake-y enough, quite yummy enough, quite frankly they’re not GIANT enough! So I knew I had to give these snacks the HTCI treatment but I couldn’t pick just one, and that’s why this week we’re caking double time!

12lbs of my Ultimate Vanilla Cake put the zing in this Raspberry Zinger while 14lbs of Ultimate Chocolate Cake make up this iconic Hostess Cupcake. Filled with secret chambers of sweet Italian Meringue Buttercream, I had to create a brand new type of crumb coat and chill to get these cakes just right. Topped off with ooey gooey glazes, my versions of these treats may be a little too big to fit into your lunchboxes…

Class is in session on my YouTube channel here

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Baking The Cakes

14lbs Yo’s Ultimate Chocolate Cake

12lbs Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake

Icing The Cakes

Simple Syrup

Yo’s Famous Italian Meringue Buttercream

Yo’s Dark Chocolate Ganache

Clear Piping Gel

Decorating The Cakes

8oz Semi Sweet Chocolate

½ Cup Butter

2 Tablespoons Corn Syrup

White Fondant

2 Jars Seedless Raspberry Jam

Royal Icing

Pink & Red Gel Food Coloring

Coconut Shards

Item Name:	Availability:
9" Round Cake Pan
2 x 10" Round Cake Pans
12" Round Cake Pan
2 12x18" Cake Pans
Simple Syrup Bottle	Add to Cart -
Small Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Small Straight Spatula	Add to Cart -
Large Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Large Straight Spatula	Add to Cart -
Parchment Paper
Straight Pins

Preparation

Bake Your Cakes

Pour 6lbs of vanilla batter into each of your 12x18” pans and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour 10 minutes.

Divide your chocolate batter and bake at 350 degrees as follows

9” round pan → 3lbs batter → 1 hour 20 mins

10” round pans → 3.5lbs batter → 1 hour 25 mins

12” round pan → 4lbs batter → 1 hour

Let your cakes cool completely in their pans before continuing

Level & Decaramelize

Level your vanilla cakes and remove the caramelization from the bottom. Level your chocolate cakes except for your 12” round cake which will still need the hump to create the top of your cupcake.

This Parts Simple

Shower all of your cakes with simple syrup and allow to absorb for 5-10 minutes

Carving Time

Zinger:

Cut both of your vanilla cakes in half lengthwise and stack on top of eachother. Round each edge and all corners down to create a domed top

Hostess Cupcake:

Stack your cakes upside down (12”, 10”, 10”, 9”) and trace a 7” cake pan on top. Use this as a guidemark to carve an a-line shape in your cake.

Note: See how I carve my snacks up here

Secret Chambers

Zinger:

Remove the top layer of your cake, and use a paring knife and a ruler to mark out rectangular chamber. Use a spoon to roughly dig out the shape, and create a shallow trough in the top layer of your cake as well.

Hostess Cupcake:

Flip your stacked cake over and use a spoon to scoop a circular chamber from your 2 middle cake layers, and a little from the top and bottom layers as well

Stack Them Up

Zinger:

Fill your chamber with Italian Meringue Buttercream, and use piping gel to stack your layers together

Hostess Cupcake:

Fill your chamber with Italian Meringue Buttercream, and use ganache to stack your layers together

A Different Crumb Coat & Chill

Crumble your vanilla cake scraps and mix with piping gel, and your chocolate cake scraps and mix with ganache. Apply these mixtures to the respective cakes to cover the seams between layers

Note: see this technique in action here

Glazing The Zinger

Combine strained raspberry jam with royal icing, and tint with pink and red buttercream until you are happy with the color. Pour this glaze over your zinger cake, protecting your work surface with parchment.

Coconutty

Press coconut chips into the glaze of your zinger, painting more glaze over certain portions to make it look like the classic snack.

Cupcake Glaze

Melt together your butter, chocolate, and corn syrup and allow to cool for a moment. Pin parchment around the circumference of your cake to protect it, and pour your glaze over top. Gently guide with a spatula but take care not to move it once it starts to harden.

Signature Swirl

Roll a loooong cord of fondant, and using 2 pieces of masking tape as a guide create the signature cupcake icing swirl. Lift and apply to the top of your Hostess cupcake cake.

Congratulations!

If all went well, you should see something that looks like this...

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