One of my guilty pleasures is Hostess Cakes. They are terrible for you and full of preservatives but oh so tasty - in my opinion of course.
They also always look so perfectly made - perfectly formed and symmetrical with the same cupcake squiggles or snoball shapes. They must have a great production line going. I love the look of all their cakes so I figured I'd try to re-create them in cake bite form and use them as Valentines.
Actually these are made from cheesecake and brownie mixed with a little homemade buttercream instead of the regular cake mix plus frosting cake bite. I had leftover cheesecake and brownie that I wanted to use up and thought the flavors would be good together - and they were! Once you have the cheesecake and brownie mixture together you form the mini Hostess cakes by hand. They look more like meatballs versus cake bites at this stage but they will look better soon!
Freeze the bites once formed for about one hour, then dip in or spread candy melt in various colors to get the Hostess cake look.
For the snoballs, tint some coconut pink then roll the ball into the coconut while candy melt is still melted.
Each cake has its own unique look and most you can re-create pretty easily.
The pink snoballs and cupcakes are probably my favorite of them all.
Although in mini form I wouldn't turn anyone of them down!
Do you have a favorite Hostess cake?
Make one or all of them for your sweetie(s) this Valentines Day!
Thanks for stopping by and have a *sweet* week!
How to Make Mini Hostess Cheesecake and Brownie Cake Bites (makes 12- 16)
- 2 cups of cheesecake (or about 1/2 of a 9 inch pre-made cheesecake)
- 2 cups of already prepared brownie
- 1/4 cup vanilla frosting or buttercream
- Candy melts (in various colors, chocolate, yellow, pink, white, tan, red, to match Hostess cake colors)
- Sweetened coconut flakes (tint 1/2 cup pink with pink food gel)
Directions:
- Mix cheesecake and brownie together until well mixed together.
- Add frosting, a little at a time until texture is slightly sticky but can be rolled in your hand into forms.
- Form mixture into cake shapes - use photos or Hostess website as guide
- Melt candy melts in microwave safe bowl in multiple 15 second intervals until just melted. Stir in between intervals. Dip cake forms into candy and let set 15-20 minutes.
- For Snoballs: Once dipped in pink candy melts, roll in tinted pink coconut flakes until covered.
- For Zinger: once dipped in red candy melts, sprinkle with un-tinted coconut flakes
- For Hostess cupcakes: Add 1/4 cup of white candy melts to quart sized freezer bag. Microwave in 15 second intervals until just melted. Snip a small corner and pipe the cupcake squiggle on top of chocolate and yellow cupcakes.
- For Ho Ho: on end of Ho Ho, pipe swirl with white candy melts.
- For powdered sugar Donette: once dipped in white candy melts, sprinkle with powdered sugar until coated.
- For Fruit Pie: dip the bit in tan candy melts (white mixed with dab of chocolate candy melts) and while still wet add white candy melt on top and swirl it around with a toothpick.
- For Honey Bun: dip bottom of bite in tan candy melt. Once candy is hardened dip the top in white candy melt and swirl top with toothpick.
- Place them into re-used Valentines day boxes as super cute and homemade Valentines day treat