Hostess Cupcake Cake Recipe
OH my gosh. This cake. YOU GUYS! Where to even begin?!? Because, honestly, this cake was all kinds of ridiculous. In the very best way…
I remember back when my mom would pack my lunches and would on a very rare occasion send me to school with a Hostess Cupcake in my lunchbox. I tried to not let my friends see me geek out over a cupcake in (but seriously, how come none of the other 5th graders ever seemed as fall-over-yourself excited about cupcakes as I did?? Was I truly alone in that feeling?!). So I’d carefully set it aside until I had finished my lunch. I wanted it to be the very last thing that I tasted before going back to class.
And there was no just shoveling the whole thing in my mouth. Oh no. I took my time and savored each component separately. First, I peeled (yes, peeled, you know what I’m talking about!) off the chocolate icing and ate that first. Next I scooped out the cream filling. And finally, I’d eat the remaining cake. If I was lucky enough to get a Hostess Cupcake in my lunchbox, you can darn well believe I made it a full-blown experience when it came time to eat it!
Being the mature adult that I am today, it’s been long, long time since I’ve sampled fine packaged delicacies such as a Hostess Cupcake. But that doesn’t mean I hold it in any less regard. In fact, I made this cake as an ode to my favorite lunchbox treat!
Basically, if a Hostess cupcake grew up to be a full-blown layer cake, this is what it would be. And it’s nothing short of OMG SO GOOD. To use my most eloquent terminology there.
Today’s cake recipe combines layers of my all-time favorite chocolate cake with a copycat Little Debbie cream filling (that I also used in these Oatmeal Cream Pies), and it’s topped with a sinfully indulgent chocolate ganache.
It’s literally a larger-than-life Hostess Cupcake with better chocolate frosting, a better cream filling, and much better chocolate cake.
So, what I’m say is pretty much this: if you were that child geeking out in the cafeteria over a Hostess Cupcake… this one’s for you ????.
Football Cookie Cake Recipe
Be the hero of your tailgating parties this weekend! Bake my Quick & Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe into 2 round cake pans, make…
Pumpkin Monkey Bread
Classic monkey bread with a pumpkin twist! Have you ever had monkey bread before? Of course you have!! But if you haven’t, we absolutely…
Apple Cider Donuts Recipe
These Apple Cider Donuts are perfect for crisp, Fall mornings. Soft on the inside, sugary on the outside, and bursting with Apple Cider flavor….
Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies Recipe
Oatmeal cream pies are so easy to make at home and SO GOOD! I have to confess, Oatmeal Cream Pies were never really my…
Snickers Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
The ultimate soft baked, super chewy cookie loaded with hearty oats and Snickers candy bars!
I get asked this question all the time: what’s your favorite recipe??
And, honestly, I have a few. Definitely my mom’s frosted brownies. And this peanut butter apple dip is a daily snack in our house. M&M Brownie cookies, obviously. And omg these Baked Chocolate Donuts. I love them all, and any one of them is worthy of being my most top-notch favorite recipe.
But, as my frequent readers know, my heart will always and forever belong to chocolate chip cookies. As of now, I have 21 chocolate chip cookie recipes on my site (not including all the variations of those recipes). Some of my favorites have included these DoubleTree Hotel Cookies, AllRecipes.com #1 Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, and these King Arthur Chocolate Chip Cookies.
One of my very, very favorite recipes I’ve found as I’ve dug around for new chocolate chip cookie recipes has been this King Arthur Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I have used it over and over and over again (here with M&MS and here with Reese’s Pieces), and it is consistently phenomenal.
And the recipe couldn’t be more straightforward.
Butter.
Brown sugar
Sugar.
An egg and an egg yolk (for extra thick and chewy cookies!).
Oatmeal and flour.
Aside from a few littles teaspoons of this and that, that’s really all there is to the recipe!
Oh, and today, Snickers OF COURSE!
I couldn’t resist taking my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe and adding my current candy bar crush to it.
You know the best part about adding Snickers to cookies? The ooey, gooey melted caramel and nougat. It’s THEE best, and I don’t know why we bother eating cookies any other way.
Take it from me: happy people eat warm cookies stuffed with Snickers.
So go out there and make some people happy!
Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies From Scratch Recipe
You don’t need a mix to make these soft and buttery chocolate chip cookies that taste like a sprinkle-filled piece of cake!
If you’re anything like me, you’re obsessed with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Obsessed. Could you tell? I like my cookies a little crispy and golden around the edges, soft and chewy in the middle, and PACKED with chocolate.
I also LOVE funfetti cake. Which is why I created this cake batter-cookie hybrid with lots of chocolate, sprinkles, and that buttery golden yellow cake taste (without using a cake mix).
What gives us that cake batter taste without the cake mix?
Three simple extracts that, when combined, become a magical funfetti taste twin. Vanilla extract, almond extract, and butter extract (you can find all three of these at virtually any grocery store) all come together in this recipe to create cookies that taste just like cake batter.
If you’re not a fan of almond extract, have no fear. It won’t stand out on it’s own at all.
Also necessary in this recipe? SPRINKLES.
Lots of sprinkles ????.
Enjoy, friends!
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Banana Bread Recipe
This chocolate chip zucchini bread is devilishly good. You’d never guess that it was full of fruits and veggies with no added oil or…
DoubleTree Hotel Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Here’s the story behind these famous cookies:
In the early ’80’s, many hotels gave treats (like fresh baked cookies) to their VIP guests. But DoubleTree (Hilton) Hotel decided they wanted to make each one of their guests feel like a VIP by offering every single one of them a freshly baked, monstrous chocolate chip cookie.
Every DoubleTree by Hilton hotel follows this exact recipe and bakes fresh cookies for their guests every single day, all over the world! Apparently, they also spread good cheer by donating these cookies to community members like fire fighters, homeless shelters, doctors and nurses, and orphanages. Isn’t that sweet?
Another Yellow Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.
I am particularly excited about this cake, because…. IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!
And I like my birthdays. A LOT.
So, in celebration of my very favorite day of the year, I’m sharing my very favorite birthday cake: yellow cake with chocolate frosting and lots of sprinkles!
I’ve actually shared this cake before. Here.
But I’ve made some upgrades to the cake recipe, so that it’s moister, softer, and fluffier! And I couldn’t use the same chocolate frosting as before. That particular frosting was made to be EXTRA creamy. Which is amazing. But it doesn’t work quite as well on a stand-alone layer cake. I needed to make a chocolate buttercream that could hold it’s own for this cake.
Let’s talk about this cake.
Hopefully, you guys know by now that I put the SIMPLICITY of a recipe at the top of my priority list before I post something new. It’s important to me that all of my recipes are completely do-able in a REAL LIFE chaotic, busy, never-enough-time, at-home setting.
In 99% of my recipes you will NOT find much chilling, softening, sifting, or anything else that is time consuming. With that being said, I hope you’ll trust me when I tell you something like this…
The ingredients that go into the batter of this cake must be brought to room temperature. I wish I was joking. But after umpteen hard and dry yellow cakes, I’ve finally conceded the fact that I have to let all the cold ingredients come to room temp before whisking up the batter.
If you plan it right, it’s really not a big deal. Set the stuff on the counter early morning or even the night before and you’re ready to go a few hours later. And great news– you can actually just melt the butter! So that’s one less cold ingredient you have to worry about.
Just promise me you’ll wait for the ingredients to come to room temp. If you’re desperate for a quick cake, use a mix. I won’t judge you. But don’t rush this recipe!
I could not believe the difference it made to simply let the ingredients come to room temperature before mixing. The cake was moister, fluffier, and downright yummier than any other from-scratch yellow cake I’ve ever made before!
And that chocolate frosting is everything. I don’t know what it is about yellow cake and chocolate frosting, but I just don’t think it gets any better than that. The only thing I would dream of adding is a gigantic scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!
Enjoy 🙂 And Happy Birthday to all the rest of you July birthdays out there!!
Cake Batter Fudge Recipe
No thermometer needed for this easy fudge! All you need are a few simple ingredients and a love of sprinkles.
It’s been way too long since I posted a Funfetti recipe! I looked it up. It’s been over a month. And I haven’t made any fudge since Christmas!
So, yeah. This cake batter fudge was absolutely necessary.
Especially because I’m a fudge-all-year-round kinda girl. I L-O-V-E fudge.
I know making fudge can be kind of intimidating. But no need to worry when you’re here. On Something Swanky, we pretty much exclusively adhere to only shortcut fudge-making methods.
Not that I mind using a candy thermometer here or there. But when it comes to fudge, I just feel like there are so many really, really good EASY fudge-making methods, that I feel like any kind of complicated recipe is just totally unnecessary.
This recipe for cake mix fudge was really popular a few years ago, but I never got around to it for some reason. It’s always been nagging at me in the back of my mind, and I’m so thrilled that I finally tried it! It is insanely easy and SO good.
And by easy, I mean c-r-a-z-y easy. Like… melt some butter, mix some stuff, and pop it in the fridge. That’s pretty much all there is to it.
Just be sure to be gentle when you mix in the sprinkles, and don’t add them until the very end! Sprinkles tend to bleed their colors in warm mixtures, which can look kind of messy in this fudge. Still tastes good though, so no worries if yours bleed a little bit ????.
Enjoy!
Banana Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
This is the best banana cake! It’s simple to whip up, starting with a mix, and is supremely moist and flavorful. The chocolate cream cheese frosting is amazing too 🙂
We always, always have old bananas on the counter. Mostly because every time I go to the grocery store, I get all fired up about eating more fruits and vegetables and buy out the produce department. And then, I’m ashamed to admit, a lot of it just sits around for the rest of the week… not getting eaten. Oops!
Thank goodness, old bananas are a LOT easier to rescue than, say, slimy old green beans. ????
I’ve been wanting to make a banana cake that starts with a cake mix. I love the concept of just throwing a few ingredients into the bowl and whipping up a perfectly soft and fluffy cake. I’ve never been one to shy away from a cake mix, and I’ll say it again: I love that you know what you’re getting with a mix.
You know the cake is going to be soft, fluffy, moist, and flavorful. It’s just so reliable! You know the texture is going to be good and that it’s going to bake up just right. I’ve yet to use a cake mix and be disappointed.
So it’s no surprise that this recipe ended up being a slam dunk.
All you need is a yellow cake mix, a 2-3 bananas, and a few other simple ingredients. It bakes up beautifully in less than 30 minutes, and it tastes AMAZING. Perfectly sweet with a serious banana flavor.
And the chocolate cream cheese frosting... omg.
I almost made just a regular cream cheese frosting. Which would have been good, I’m sure. But chocolate was for sure the right call to go with banana. Although… isn’t chocolate always the right call??
I hope you enjoy every bit of this cake as much as we did!
Death By Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe
???? chocolate cake.
???? chocolate chips inside the cake.
???? chocolate ganache.
???? more chocolate chips on top of the ganache.
This is a MAJOR chocolate experience you guys.
And the best part is: you’re totally getting in your veggies! Not that you’ll even notice.
You won’t believe there are TWO WHOLE zucchinis in there! And you know what they say– you need 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. So, basically, that means you need 2 and a half cakes per day. Which seems reasonable. Amiright? ????
That ganache is practically a superfood on it’s own.
I mean, just look at that! Does anyone else get all ???? ???? ???? watching ganache drip down the side of a cake? Be still my heart!
Ganache is so simple to make. I actually wrote a whole post about it here (which I plan to update soon, in fact. But it’ll do for now). It just takes two simple ingredients: chocolate and heavy cream. I usually nuke it in the microwave in 30 second increments until everything is warm and melty and stirs smooth. But it’s probably a little safer to make it over medium heat on the stove top if you don’t work with chocolate much, just to avoid burning or seizing it.
This cake is seriously a dream come true. You are going to be obsessed with it!!
Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins Recipe
Super soft and fluffy muffins filled with juicy raspberries and creamy delicious white chocolate. Raspberries + white chocolate make me go weak in the…
S’mores “Crack” Graham Cracker Toffee Recipe
Crunchy, sweet, and easy brown sugar toffee made with graham crackers smothered in milk chocolate and topped with mini marshmallows. Better than campfire s’mores!…
White Chocolate Rice Krispies Treats with M&Ms Recipe
An easy recipe for gooey rice krispie treats with M&MS and a white chocolate drizzle.
Since the beginning of summer vacation, my kids and I have been on a major rice krispie treat kick. We buy the mega box at Sam’s club, and lasts us about a week (although, I suspect my husband is going through them faster than the kids are).
Basically, we really heart rice krispie treats.
And this is the MacDaddy recipe of them all. Insane gooey-ness. M&Ms. And a white chocolate drizzle on top. This is my hands down favorite rice krispie treat of all time (and that includes, Biscoff RKT, Toasted Marshmallow RKT, and Butterfinger Butterscotch RKT— all of which are hard to beat).
There is something about this flavor and texture combo that is just so right, know what I mean?
If you like rice krispie treats, you are going to flip for these! Added bonus: *NO BAKING*
Because it is waaaaaaaaaay too hot for that nonsense. Turn off the oven and dig into these instead! Woot!
Enjoy 🙂
Cookies & Cream Baked Chocolate Donuts Recipe
Moist chocolate donuts that are baked instead of fried, topped with a sweet glaze and Oreo crumbles.
Happy Thursday! It’s almost the weekend, which I think calls for donuts!!
I’m obsessed with donuts. Cream filled, chocolate frosted, sprinkled, glazed, baked, fried, whatever. If it’s a donut, I want it. These baked chocolate donuts with a glaze have an especially soft spot in my heart. I love the texture– they’re a little bit crispy around the edges, just like a fried donut, but soft and airy on the inside. So much perfection in one little breakfast food!
Today, I’m taking my favorite chocolate donut recipe, and cranking it up a notch by coating the glaze in Oreo cookie crumbles and adding a drizzle of cream cheese frosting to top it all off.
These donuts are incredibly simple to make. The ingredients are simple and straightforward, stuff you have on hand. And the mixing and baking process is a breeze as well. Basically, what I’m saying is that you can have homemade chocolate donuts in about 20 minutes.
Which I think we can agree is something we allllllllll need. ????
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!
Salted Caramel Oreo Ice Cream (No Churn) Recipe
Homemade Cookies & Cream ice cream swirled with salted caramel and fudge. No machine required! Remember when I was OBSESSING over this new 2-ingredient…
Cookies & Cream Chocolate Layer Cake Recipe
Two layers of rich, chocolate Oreo cake with a fudgy chocolate buttercream and Oreo crumbles on top.
Today I’m bringing you a ridiculously indulgent chocolate cake filled with Oreos and chocolate buttercream and topped with even more cookies! It’s a chocolate cookie lover’s dream come true. And *omg*, saying that it’s GOOD doesn’t even begin to cover it.
This recipe combines my very favorite, ultimate go-to chocolate cake recipe with my favorite chocolate buttercream. So you know it’s going to be amazing.
In addition to being uber amazing, this cake was my chocoholic two-year-old son’s birthday cake this year.
Can I just take a second to say, what the what???? How on earth is my sweet baby two years old?! I know for a fact that I didn’t give him permission to get that old. Man, I miss my sweet little baby! ????
Annnnnnnnyway. Since it was his birthday cake, and the day was kind of crazy, I didn’t get around to taking pictures of the cake sliced. So you’ll have to make do with pictures of the outside of the cake and use your imagination a bit on the inside, so sorry!
It looks a lot like the slice of cake in this post. But picture more Oreos.
Take my word for it, this cake is totally something you need in your life.
Enjoy!
Apple Pie Bread Pudding Recipe
Cozy, warm, delicious bread pudding piled high with a homemade apple pie filling and buttery streusel on top.
This post is sponsored by King’s Hawaiian.
Now THIS is the ultimate bread pudding! Made with sweet melt-in-your-mouth , brown sugar, FOUR eggs for a custard-like texture, homemade cinnamon-spiced apple pie filling, and a buttery cinnamon streusel to top it all off.
It makes a large 9×13 dish FULL of apple pie and ooey-gooey bread goodness.
Remember how we talked about the magic that happens when you bake King’s Hawaiian bread? All that real butter goodness inside makes them become ridiculously soft and pillow-like. These Sticky Buns made with Sweet Rolls are unreal. They literally melt in your mouth.
Same thing with this bread pudding. The layer of egg-y, custard-y bread at the bottom is so sweet and soft, it really feels like it just melts in your mouth.
You’ll start by cubing the bread. I used the big loaf of , but you could also cut up King’s Hawaiian rolls or buns if you have those on hand. Make the custard and pour it over the bread, and just let the bread soak it all up while you move on to making the pie filling and streusel topping.
The pie filling is SO easy (no stovetop required)! It’s simply sliced apples coated in a sugar/flour/spices mixture.
Next, you’ll spread the bread pudding in the prepared baking dish, and then layer the apples on top of the egg-y bread.
Now the streusel topping! Do you love streusel as much as I do? What’s not to love?? Brown sugar, cinnamon, and lotsa butter. It really takes this bread pudding to the next level. Cut the COLD butter into the other ingredients until it’s nice and crumbly and sprinkle over the apples.
Bake it all up until it’s golden delicious and a little bubbly on the sides. You can top this with whipped cream, ice cream, or even some caramel sundae sauce. No matter how you eat this, it’s going to make you feel all warm and cozy from head to toes!
Red, White, and Blue Berry Cheesecake Trifle Recipe
This recipe has become a particular favorite of mine. It’s super easy to put together, and it seriously tastes SO GOOD. It’s made up…