Hostess Cake Balls

 Ingredients:

1/2 batch chocolate cupcakes (baked and crumbled)
1/2 container chocolate frosting, slightly melted (microwaved)

Mix the above ingredients together with your hands or a spatula in a medium size bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (one that is small enough to fit in your freezer, and flat). Roll 1 inch sized balls out and make a finger indent for the filling in the middle of each ball. Place on the parchment and set in the freezer.  Meanwhile...

Filling: 
2 tsp. hot water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 jar marshmallow fluff
1/2 c. shortening (I use Crisco)
1/3 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

In an electric mixer, combine the above ingredients together, whipping for at least a minute on high speed. Spoon into a piping bag and cut a very small part of the tip off. Pipe the filling into the indents, not going too high above the chocolate ball. Take a small portion of  the cake batter and flatten into a disk shape. Place on top of the filling in the bottom half of the cake ball, and gently bring the sides of the disk shape down and smooth out the sides, resembling as much of a circle shape as possible without pushing the filling out. Place back into the freezer for at least 20 minutes until the top is firm.

Melt semi-sweet or milk chocolate in a double boiler, adding nothing, and stirring frequently. (I used semi-sweet for half of the batch, and milk chocolate for the other half, hence two different colors in the pictures). Dip the frozen balls into the chocolate with a fork and make sure they are fully covered. Tap the fork in the side of the bowl so that the excess chocolate slides off of the cake ball. Place back onto the parchment sheet and repeat for the remaining cake balls. Place back in the freezer for at least 5 minutes.

Microwave white chocolate in a piping bag at 50% for a minute, squeeze the bag, and if the chocolate needs more time, heat for 30 more seconds at half heat. Cut a very small tip and pipe the white chocolate onto the cake balls in a swirl pattern. Place back into the freezer until the white chocolate is set.

These are a LOT of work, but they do taste almost identical to Hostess cupcakes (especially the filling), and turn out amazing!