Gluten Free "Hostess" Cupcakes

My husband's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to bake him a gluten-free cake from scratch, but I really didn't have time when I got home from work and so I made cupcakes using Pamela's Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix.  They were absolutely delicious...moist, rich and super chocolatey!  For the egg substitute, I used Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer, but ground flax meal/water would work just as great.

To be honest, my husband probably would of preferred if I made Hostess Twinkies instead of the cupcakes, but Twinkies are so boring...it's just a vanilla sponge cake with piped in frosting.  No creamy ganache icing or fun squiggly decoration on the top...just a boring sponge cake.  Anyway, he loved them and I think that I made a chocolate lover out of him!

For the filling I used the same buttercream recipe that I used for my Veggie Cupcakes, but only made half of the recipe and I added a little more cashew cream about 1 Tbsp to make the filling smoother.  Using a small plain piping tip and squeezed in enough frosting to cause the cupcake to puff up, but not to break.

 

For the ganache topping I used 1/2 cup Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips and about 3 Tbsp cashew cream.  I placed it in the microwave for about 30 seconds until melted and then stirred in 1 tsp Earth Balance Butter.  Before decorating the cupcakes, I let both the cupcakes and the ganache cool to room temperature and the iced the top of the cupcakes using a small off-set spatula. 

And for the squiggle design I used a 1/2 cup sifted confectioners sugar with 1 Tbsp cashew cream and stirred until smooth.  You want this to be really thick so that when you pipe the icing will hold its shape.  Also, let the ganache set-up completely for about 30 minutes before piping the squiggly design.  To speed up the process you can place the cupcakes in the fridge for about 10 minutes until the ganache sets.