Nostalgia Baking, the 'Hostess' Cupcake

Recreating childhood favorites is a fun little subset in the baking world right now, and what better place to start than the classic Hostess Cupcake.  Though these are that classic cupcake in appearance only--a scratch chocolate cake with American vanilla almond buttercream, dipped in Ghirardelli dark chocolate ganache and finished with a loop-de-loop white buttercream trim. The cakes being made with butter and not a hi-ratio, trans-fat laden shortening aren't as moist as the original, and the butter based frosting isn't as marshmallowly and airy either. But there is something just lovely about the design: looping and looping, like spinning circles on the lawn.