These ding dong cupcakes are moist chocolate cupcakes filled with creamy vanilla filling, frosted with chocolate ganache, and decorated with loops using the same vanilla filling.
As a base, I have used my eggless chocolate cupcake recipe which I used for my chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe. Feel free to use any of your favorite chocolate cupcake recipes.
I hope everyone in your family loves this ding dong cupcake recipe.
Why you will love these ding dong cupcakes?
- Quick and easy to make.
- Tastes much better than store bought hostess cakes.
- Can make ahead of time, freezer friendly recipe.
- Rich, chocolatey and not overly sweet.
- An ideal dessert for your little ones birthday party or sleepover party.
How to make ding dong cupcakes – overview?
It’s very simple. You just have to make a few different components and assemble them. Let us see how!
| Sr. No. | Steps |
| 1. | Make cupcakes. |
| 2. | Prepare cupcakes filling. |
| 3. | Make frosting. |
| 5. | Assemble, decorate and serve. |
Ding dong cupcakes ingredients
Chocolate cupcake ingredients
- Milk – Use regular full fat (3.25% milk). I do not recommend replacing it with low-fat that is 2% milk.
- Vinegar – Reacts with baking powder, making cupcakes to rise.
- Oil – We use oil instead of butter in this recipe to make them extra moist. Replace only half the quantity of oil with butter if you wish to.
- Water – Simply use room temperature plain water 🙂
- Caster sugar – Use regular caster sugar for this. This is also available as granulated sugar or sugar in some parts of the world.
- All-purpose flour – Use regular all-purpose flour of your favorite brand. Stay away from cake flour or self-rising flour. Cake flour makes them lighter and self-rising flour do contain rising agents, which are already there in our ingredients list.
- Baking soda – Reacts with cocoa powder and vinegar to help the cupcake to rise.
- Salt – Just a 1/2 teaspoon but do not skip as it will enhance the cupcake flavor. Skip out completely if using salted butter.
- Coffee – I always use coffee in all of my chocolate treats, be it a cake or a cupcake. Coffee will bring out the chocolate flavor. So, it will make it more chocolatey. Don’t worry you will not taste coffee. Feel free to skip if you do not wish to add.
- Cocoa powder – Use regular cocoa powder or any brand. Strict no no to Dutch processed as they are not interchangeable. We need to adjust the rising agent base on the cocoa powder uses. Hence, do not just replace it.
Ding dong cupcake filling base ingredients
Some recipes uses marshmallow filling while some uses buttercream. I am making flour frosting filling for this recipe as I wanted to make less sweet chocolatey treat. Here is a list of ingredients for your reference.
- Sugar – Again a regular caster sugar or granulated sugar, nothing fancy here.
- All-purpose flour – Use regular all-purpose flour, nothing fancy here as well.
- Salt – Just a little pinch.
- Milk – Use full fat which is 3.25% milk.
Do you agree that these ingredients are easily available in everyone’s kitchen?
Ding ding cupcake filling ingredients
This is nothing but flour buttercream. so we will need filling base along with real butter.
- Filling base from above
- Unsalted butter – Filling base has salt so I prefer using unsalted butter here. If you do not have it please skip out the salt from filling base.
- Vanilla extract – You will just need a half teaspoon of vanilla. Use either pure or imitation, based on that is available.
Ding dong frosting ingredients
- Chocolate – Use pure quality chocolate bars which you can get easily in the baking aisle of any grocery store.
- Heavy cream – Use heavy whipping cream, whipping cream, or double cream that has a minimum fat percentage of 35%
Ding dong cupcakes step-by-step recipe
Chocolate cupcakes step-by-step recipe
- Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C for at least 10 minutes. Line the cupcake pan with paper liners.
- Combine milk and vinegar in a small bowl. Keep it aside for a few minutes. Mix it with a spoon to see if the milk has curdled.
- In a large bowl, sift all dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt ). This will remove any lumps from cocoa powder, evenly distribute the rising agents, and also incorporate the air.
- In another bowl, combine sugar, coffee, and all wet ingredients (oil, curdled milk). beat with a hand whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Slowly pour wet ingredients over dry and gently stir until it is just mixed. DO NOT OVERMIX. It will create gluten, making dense cupcakes.
- Now add hot water and mix until it turns into a smooth batter.
- Divide the chocolate cupcake batter into 12 cupcake liners. Make sure they are not more than 2/3rd of their capacity so that they have enough space to rise.
- Bake in preheated oven at 350F or 180C for 15 to 20 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.
- Perform the toothpick test. The toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
- Once the chocolate cupcakes are out of the oven, keep them on a wooden board for 10 to 15 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Ding dong cupcakes filling base recipe
- In a pan, add sugar, flour, salt, milk and mix until well combined.
- Keep it on the stovetop and cook over on low-medium heat.
- Continuously whisk on low to medium heat until the mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency.
- Turn off the stovetop. Remove from heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl. Cover with a piece of cling wrap, ensuring that it touches the surface of the filling. This will prevent skin from forming. Set aside and allow to cool completely to room temperature while we make the chocolate cupcakes.
Ding dong cupcake frosting chocolate ganache recipe
- Combine chocolate and heavy cream in a small microwave-safe bowl.
- Microwave on high for 15 seconds. Stir well and microwave for another 10 seconds. Whisk the mixture together until completely smooth. Microwave again for 10 to 15 seconds if not yet smooth. It should be smooth with a spreadable consistency.
Ding dong cupcake filling recipe
- In a large mixing bowl, combine softened unsalted butter. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium to high speed until it is light and fluffy. Use a paddle attachment if using a stand mixer.
- Reduce mixer speed to medium and slowly add the filling base, one heaping tablespoon at a time. Before adding the next spoonful, ensure that the previous one is properly integrated and well-blended.
- Once all the filling base mixture is added, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Add the vanilla extract and start beating. Gradually increase the mixer speed to medium-high, then whip the frosting until smooth.
- The ding dong filling is ready.
Assemble
- Use the other end of a piping tip to extract a little bit of the cupcake from the center. Set aside the portion to cover later.
- Place vanilla filling inside each cupcake.
- Cover with the removed part of the cupcake.
- Frost with a teaspoon of chocolate ganache.
- Decorate the loops with vanilla filling like hostess cupcakes.
Serve
Serve them right away or keep them at room temperature for a couple of hours.
Watch me making (video)
Storing and freezing instructions for ding dong cupcakes
If you have any leftovers, you can store them at room temperature or in the refrigerator or even freeze them. And the best part is, you don’t have to worry if they are frosted or not.
Storing instructions
Store them in an airtight container for up to 3 days. In case of stacking, use a layer of parchment paper in between them as they are frosted with chocolate ganache and they might stick if we don’t use parchment paper.
After 3 days, store them in the refrigerator. They stay ok for up to1 week. Make sure to bring them to room temperature before serving.
Freezing instructions
You can make them ahead of time and freeze them for up to 2 months. Store in an airtight container in the same way as you would for storing in fridge.
In short,
| Sr. No. | Storage type | In days/weeks/months |
| 1 | Room temperature | 3 days |
| 2 | Refrigerator | 1 week |
| 3 | Freezer | 2 months |
Thawing instructions
To that, either place them in the refrigerator overnight or directly on the kitchen counter for a couple of hours. For better taste, they need to be at room temperature so give them enough time. I would not suggest microwaving them because frosting might melt.
Secret tips for the best ding dong cupcakes
Cupcake tips
- Use high quality ingredients – As always, use best quality ingredients to make the cupcakes or ganache.
- Room temperature ingredients – Use room temperature ingredients to avoid making dense cupcakes.
- Do not overfill – Always fill your cupcake liners only 2/3 of its capacity so that they have enough space to rise. They could either sink or overflow in case of overfilling.
- Cool the cupcakes – Do not fill or frost cupcakes when they are hot or warm. Allow them to cool completely on wire rack.
Ganache tips
- Use cream at right temperature – While making ganache, do not overheat chocolate and cream mixture. Microwave them for not more than10 to 15 seconds and check if it at right consistency.
For more tips on chocolate ganache, have a look at my detailed blog for chocolate ganache.
Vanilla filling tips
- Continually whisk – When cooking the milk, sugar, and flour mixture, continuously whisk them otherwise it will form lumps.
- Practice using vanilla filling- After filling the vanilla icing in a piping bag, practice making a design on a plate before doing it on the ganache directly.
Want some more?
if you want some more desserts, try these
When are you making?
Over to you now 🙂. Please make these yummy ding dong cupcakes and let me know if you made them exactly as mentioned here or did you make any changes? I would love to hear that from you.
Do not forget to tag me @dessertkatta if you post it on Instagram or just use a hashtag #dessertkatta.
Recipe card + ( FAQ’s)
Eggless Ding Dong Cupcakes
Description
Don't look any further. It is time to make those store-bought hostess cakes at home with my ding dong cupcakes recipe. Eggless chocolate cupcakes are filled with vanilla filling and frosted with chocolate ganache. Let's start baking them!
Ingredients
Chocolate cupcake recipe
Vanilla filling base ingredients
Vanilla filling ingredients
Chocolate ganache ingredients
Recipe
Chocolate cupcake instructions:
-
Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C for at least 10 minutes. Line the cupcake pan with paper liners.
-
Combine milk and vinegar in a small bowl. Keep it aside for a few minutes. Mix it with a spoon to see if the milk has curdled.
-
In a large bowl, sift all dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt ). This will remove any lumps from cocoa powder, evenly distribute the rising agents, and also incorporate the air.
-
In another bowl, combine sugar, coffee, and all wet ingredients (oil, curdled milk). beat with a hand whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved.
-
Slowly pour wet ingredients over dry and gently stir until it is just mixed. DO NOT OVERMIX. It will create gluten, making dense cupcakes.
-
Now add hot water and mix until it turns into a smooth batter.
-
Divide the chocolate cupcake batter into 12 cupcake liners. Make sure they are not more than 2/3rd of their capacity so that they have enough space to rise.
-
Bake in preheated oven at 350F or 180C for 15 to 20 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.
-
Perform the toothpick test. The toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
-
Once the chocolate cupcakes are out of the oven, keep them on a wooden board for 10 to 15 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Instructions to make filling base
-
In a pan, add sugar, flour, salt, milk and mix until well combined.
-
Keep it on the stovetop and cook over on low-medium heat.
-
Continuously whisk on low to medium heat until the mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency.
-
Turn off the stovetop. Remove from heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl. Cover with a piece of cling wrap, ensuring that it touches the surface of the filling. This will prevent skin from forming. Set aside and allow to cool completely to room temperature while we make the chocolate cupcakes.
Chocolate ganache instructions
-
Combine chocolate and heavy cream in a small microwave-safe bowl.
-
Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir well and microwave for another 20 seconds. Whisk the mixture together until completely smooth. Microwave again for 10 to 15 seconds if not yet smooth. It should be smooth with a spreadable consistency. Keep aside.
Ding dong filling instructions
-
In a large mixing bowl, add softened unsalted butter. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium to high speed until it is light and fluffy. Use a paddle attachment if using a stand mixer.
-
Reduce mixer speed to medium and slowly add the filling base, one heaping tablespoon at a time. Before adding the next spoonful, ensure that the previous one is properly integrated and well-blended.
-
Once all the filling base mixture is added, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Add the vanilla extract and start beating. Gradually increase the mixer speed to medium-high, then whip the frosting until smooth.
-
The ding dong filling is ready.
Assemble
-
Use the other end of a piping tip to extract a little bit of the cupcake from the center. Set aside the portion to cover later.
-
Stuff the vanilla filling inside each cupcake.
-
Cover with the removed part of the cupcake.
-
Frost with a teaspoon of chocolate ganache.
-
Decorate the loops with vanilla filling like hostess cupcakes.
