CopyCat Hostess Cupcake made Low Carb and Sugar Free - Also made into pretty buttercream topped cupcakes

This week I planned on making a Hostess Cupcake CopyCat in a sugar free and low carb version, but I was busy, not in the mood, etc. One day I finally decided to buckle down and get them made and in the end, I made a few into a "Hostess" copycat but I really hate detailed, repetitive work (like putting swirls on the top of cupcakes) and I had a ton of buttercream frosting left over as I made a double batch, so I stopped with the Hostess design and topped them all with a swirl from a frosting tip... creating really fast and simple roses.  So... two styles of cupcakes that day!

I used my 'old' chocolate chocolate chip muffin recipe and simply left out the chocolate chips.  I can't use my favorite filling recipe because it's a 'regular' sugar based and uses marshmallow fluff (marshmallow cream) in it.  There are 'marshmallow fluff' sugar free mix versions but I don't have any on hand, and just decided to do a basic vanilla frosting filling instead. 

I did a chocolate cupcake (sugar free, low carb and it has a healthy boost of flaxmeal!) covered it in a sugar free chocolate ganache and topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting that matches the filling inside.

This is the chocolate 'muffin' I've been making for YEARS and LOVE IT.  I left the chocolate chips out for this but you can still use them and leave them in if you wish!


Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Muffins
2 c almond flour (heaped a little)
1/4 c flax meal
3/4 c unflavored or vanilla whey protein powder
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 c erythritol, or favorite sweetener
3/4 c pure pumpkin puree  (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 stick real butter, melted
3 eggs
2 t vanilla
1/2 c half and half or cream
4 oz. sugar free chocolate chips

In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients;  almond flour, flax, protein powder, baking powder, soda, salt, cocoa and sweetener.    In another bowl mix the pumpkin, butter, eggs and vanilla.   Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon while adding the cream or half and half.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Add a little bit more cream if it's too thick or protein powder or almond flour if it's too thin. Your batter should be thicker than a cake mix yet still able to be scooped or poured into muffin tins.    Pour batter into greased or lined cupcake tins filled  either 2/3 or 1/2 full**.  Bake at 325 for approximately 25 minutes.

**Do not fill 2/3 full to get a nice flat top.  Instead just fill half way, this will give you a flat top to decorate like a Hostess Cupcake with swirls.  You will get about 14-15 of them if you fill 2/3 full for a regular frosting cupcake or about 23 of them if you fill half way for a flat Hostess cupcake.

Let cool completely while you make the chocolate ganache.

Ganache

3/4 c heavy cream

1/3 c powdered sweetener

2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate

1- 2 t vanilla

In a double broiler type set up (a bowl over a pan of simmering water under it to melt gently but avoiding direct heat) place all the ingredients and start stirring as it slowly melts.  Continue stirring until it's all melted and liquid chocolate goodness.  Set this aside to cool a bit until your muffin/cupcakes are done and cooled.  

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1 stick real butter
1 1/4 c powdered sweetener(s) of choice*
1 t xanthan gum
6 T heavy cream
2 T vanilla

Cream the butter, add the sweetener and xanthan and the cream, add the vanilla. Whip. If it's too thick add a little more cream by drizzling - it doesn't take much.  If it's too thin, add more sweetener. 


*If you use a good quality sweetener about a cup is more than enough.

Take a LARGE SMOOTHIE SIZED STRAW (link at the bottom of this post, I find mine at the grocery store hanging on a clip-strip in a random aisle... they don't even have them near the regular straws!?).  Use this to push into the center of each cupcake and pull it back out.  This removes just a bit of the cupcake, to allow for your filling.

Fill an icing bag with your frosting and snip the end to give it about a 1 cm wide - you don't have to be precise.  But not too small and not too large.  Now insert the bag tip into the cupcake, squeeze gently as you start to slowly pull back as you will see the cupcake filling up.  As soon as you see the filling come to the top, stop and pull back.  Don't overfill, it will crack the cupcake and push out the top.  If some is out the top, just scrape it flat with a butter knife.

Dip into the ganache.  Either leave your cupcake in the liner and dip just the top, or remove it from the liner and dip it further down the sides.  To dip the entire cupcake you'll want to double or triple the chocolate ganache topping.  You'll need triple to dip them all but it will make them more like a Ding Dong - yum!

I dipped just the tops this time. 

Let set to harden for a bit.  Now using an icing bag with either a tiny round tip or snip just the very end off the bag for a tiny opening, carefully make the swirl design on top of your cupcake with the frosting.  This is time consuming and I hate repetitive, mind numbing tasks like this.  So I lasted all of about 5 cupcakes before I looked at my frosting, decided I had enough to ice them all (I had made a double batch intending on refrigerating some to use on cookies this weekend) so instead, I popped a large icing tip on a new bag, filled it with icing and did a quick swirl on top of each. 

Some product links are at the very bottom of this post if you need some ingredients or want to see what I used.

The cupcake/muffin batter

Don't overfill - you want them to have a flat top

Melting your ganache.  It will look like this when it starts to melt.  Keep going.  It will come together!

It will turn into a nice liquid ganache.  If you WANT TO you can add the sugar free chocolate chips to this if you didn't use them in the original muffin/cupcake recipe.  Or just toss in about 1/4 cup of them if you wish.

Out of the oven!
Let them cool.

Ready to dip!

Making the frosting.  I made a double batch so I used it for filling AND frosting them.

The smoothie straw inserted into the cupcakes and pulled back out to make room for a filling.

Ready to fill

Just smooth the tops with a butter knife to make them flat before dipping in the chocolate ganache.

Ready to dip!

Dipped.
And I'm FINE WITH LEAVING THEM LIKE THIS.  They are like a Hostess Ding Dong!
And for those of you like me who DO NOT LIKE FROSTING OR SWEET THINGS - THESE ARE PERFECT JUST LIKE THIS!  :)

At this point they remind me of Ding Dongs... which I like better than cupcakes.

I hate this part. I have NO patience for this so after only four or five, I quit and used the icing to frosting them!  God bless you if you have patience... you're lucky.  :)

So much faster!

Although this much icing does make them sweet!  Too sweet for me actually.  But when I eat them I just take the icing off and eat the cupcake!  Ha ha.

 This is one freshly made.

Repost - Blue Cheese and Bacon Coleslaw

This is a recipe I posted previously, but recently posted it on my Instangram when I made it again last week.  It goes fabulous with meals like pulled pork sandwiches - which is what we had.  You can find the original post here: https://www.housewifebarbie.com/2019/01/blue-cheese-bacon-coleslaw.html

Blue Cheese & Bacon Coleslaw

1 small head of cabbage, shredded
Tops of 3 green onions (can add the onion if you wish)
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/4 c sour cream
salt and pepper
1 t sweetener of choice
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 t lemon juice
1/2 t celery salt
1 t mustard
1/3 - 1/2 c crumbled blue cheese
Real bacon crumbles

Place the shredded cabbage in a bowl or large Ziploc baggy.  Mix the rest of the ingredients together except the bacon crumbles.  Pour over the cabbage and mix.  You can add the bacon now or later; it's up to you.  Let this chill and set for the best flavor.  At least 2 hours but it's best if you can give it at least 4-6 hours or more.

(I used up leftovers 2 days later for lunch by adding some sliced kalamata olives and feta cheese... oh my it was good!)

I cooked a "whole mess" of bacon at once to be used in various recipes over the next couple weeks.  It's EASY to do!  Just bake it on a large baking pan in the oven at 375 or 400 degrees until it's done. It has incredible flavor this way and the whole piece is SUPER crispy.  Not like when you make it in a pan.  You can use what you want and FREEZE THE REST for future recipes.

Keto Mozzarella Sticks - a Repost since I made a huge batch of them again yesterday for the freezer

Keto Mozzarella Sticks - Prepped and ready for the freezer

Here they are fried and ready to eat!

Low Carb Mozzarella Sticks


2 eggs, beaten
1 c almond flour
scant 1 c powdered Parmesan cheese
optional:  1/2 c wheat resistant starch 75
optional:  1/2 c ground pork rinds
(If you don't use the wheat resistant starch 75 or pork rinds just use more Parmesan or almond flour)
Approximately 20 sticks string cheese
2-3 T Italian Seasoning
1 t garlic salt

Cut the string cheese in half.
Lightly beat the eggs and pour into a small shallow dish.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large Ziploc baggy.
Roll the cheese stick halves in the egg and dip in the dry mix. Press lightly to help it adhere.
Place the breaded cheese sticks on a baking sheet and freeze at least 2 hours or up to 3 months.
When you want to make them, heat about 2 inches of oil in a pan and fry the sticks for 1-2 minutes. Do not crowd the pan.  Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.  You can salt them if you wish for more salt.  Serve hot with low or no sugar marinara sauce or ketchup. 

As I mentioned above, I've posted this recipe previously.  And since lots of pictures is always a good thing... here are the photos from the original post.  I used a ziploc bag for the breading that time, a bowl this time. Do whatever you prefer.

I hate breading items.  I hate how the egg and dry coatings 'coat' my fingers.  So I used a steak knife to hang on to the stick this time.  The most recent time I made them, I had a box of disposable gloves so I put those on my left hand to 'bread' and I used tongs to roll the cheese in the beaten egg.  

All breaded! 

Now you have to freeze them...  at least a couple hours if you want to make them today otherwise they can stay in your deep freezer for a few months.  (If they last that long.)

Here I am carrying them to the freezer.  I freeze them like this for a couple hours then transfer them to a freezer baggy (Ziploc).

Yum!  Great plain... but honestly I like them with ketchup best. 

Sugar Free and Low Carb - Caramel Bars! Buttery Goodness - can be made into "salted caramel" easily

It's nice to keep snack options or dessert options on hand for when you get a craving, because when you eat low carb and sugar free, you end up doing all your own cooking and baking.  This is time consuming, so it's easy to sabotage yourself when you are craving something NOW and it's easier to find, eat or buy something quick and easy instead of staying on track with healthy. 


Caramel Bars - Sugar Free and Low Carb

2 c almond flour
2 T coconut flour
2/3 c Erythritol with Monk Fruit (granulated sweetener of your choice)
1/4 t sea salt
6 T butter, melted
1 t vanilla
1/2 c sugar free caramel sauce like Smuckers Sugar Free Caramel 

Whisk together the dry ingredients; almond flour, coconut flour, sweeteners and salt.  Melt the butter in cup in the microwave and add the vanilla to it.  Pour this into the dry mixture and mix with a spatula until it starts to come together.   Press just over half the dough into a greased 8X8 inch pan.  Bake this bottom crust for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Take it out and let it cool for about 10 minutes.  Drizzle the caramel sauce all over the crust, getting up into the corners and sides as well.  Now crumble the rest of the topping over it all and press down lightly just to adhere to the caramel but don't flatten it.  Return to the hot oven and bake for 25 minutes until turning golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool completely to cut.  (I was craving these immediately so I used a fork and ate it warm from the pan... it would be great over vanilla ice cream this way too!)  And then this morning, when they were totally cool, I sliced them into bars... and had one for breakfast with my coffee. 

You can add extra salt sprinkled over the caramel layer if you like 'salted caramel' desserts.  I thought they were delicious as is.

Photos: How I made a fondant covered white and gold birthday cake with edible ribbons

This weekend we are going to be celebrating two very important birthdays... both my FIL and my Grandmother are turning the big 8-0. Yep - 80 years old! And I volunteered to bring dessert. I decided to do a white cake for one and a chocolate cake for the other thereby giving them each their own cakes but also satisfying the crowd pleasing "both" options of chocolate and vanilla cakes.

I used the same white cake recipe that I used for both my girls birthday cakes as I love the flavor, the texture, and how it holds up to decorating.

After a thin layer of buttercream icing I put the cake in the freezer while I prepared the fondant.


I flavored the fondant with a bit of almond extract and got busy rolling, rolling, rolling....



Once the cake was covered I used the buttercream icing to decorate it.


I had NO IDEA what I was doing or how to do it... but I had a 'general' idea in my head of what I wanted to accomplish so I just went with the flow and this is what I ended up with.

I used more fondant to make 'bows' and left them to dry and harden.


This morning I had to be up at 5:30 am to wake the kids for weight lifting class so I made some icing cement (thick royal icing) and attached the bows to the top of the cake.


Now let's see how it travels! We have three hours to the first house, overnight, 1 hour to the next house in the morning before finally traveling 1 more hour that evening to the place where the double birthday parties are being held.