Trim Healthy Mama Trimtastic Mostess Cupcakes Review

I was commissioned by The Salesman to make a “Little Debbie” type snack cake. You see, my friend Kimberly, brings boxes of snack cakes from her Little Debbie route when she comes to our home for a visit. The Salesman thinks they are for him. And when he knows that she is coming, he will now request his favorite Little Debbie varieties from her. A diabetic does not need sugar laden snack cakes.

It’s a big job going up against a tried and true, longstanding snack cake company. The Salesman specifically requests Kimberly bring Swiss Cake Rolls, and he wondered if I could make Trim Healthy Swiss Rolls. So, I got busy looking in my Trim Healthy Mama cookbooks for what could compete with the pre-packaged cakes. The closest I could find was their Trimtastic Mostess Cupcakes recipe. My mind went back to my childhood and I wondered if these would look and taste like the delicious treats I would sometimes find in my tin lunch box. Oh goodness, remember the days of Hostess Cupcakes in the clear package with the cupcakes set down into the two brown plastic mold containers? Or Ding Dongs wrapped in foil, do you remember those? Oh my. Those were the days. The days of sugar, and we are not doing that any longer.

So, I was thrilled to try a snack cake recipe for my Number One Snacker. If you have a Number One Snacker, here is where you will find the recipe:

Cookbook: Trim Healthy Table

Chapter: Cakes
Page: 395

Recipe: Trimtastic Mostess Cupcakes
Serving: Makes 12 cupcakes
Fuel: S – satisfying

There are three parts to this recipe:
The Cupcake
The Whipped Cream Filling
The Ganache Topping

We will review them part by part, starting with the cupcake. The cupcake is the Trimtastic Cake that I have made many a time, just in cupcake form. You have the same options for making the cupcakes as the cake, you can make it with zucchini or pumpkin. I made it with zucchini, and as usual, the batter is tasty. I filled the cupcake liners almost to the top.

My kitchen smelled like a dream when they came out of the oven. The chocolatey batter rose beautifully.

After the cupcakes have cooled, you are to use an apple corer to take cylindrical pieces of the cake out to have a home for the whipped cream filling.

I used a melon baller to remove the centers since my apple corer works differently than the recipe intended. If I had used mine, the cupcakes would also be evenly sliced like apple pieces. If I make this recipe again, I would core out more of the cake to allow for more filling in each cupcake.

Now, for the Whipped Cream Filling:

I bristled a bit when I read that gelatin was used in the filling because I have not had the best results with Trim Healthy Mama recipes using gelatin; but, I decided to make it using the gelatin the first time. It looks good in the pictures; but, I will not recommend using the gelatin. I do not like the texture of it. It reminds me of the consistency of jello and I just don’t like it. The recipe suggests cooling it in the refrigerator and maybe I let it get too cool, I don’t know. If you want to use gelatin in the recipe, I’d suggest letting the mixture for the filling with gelatin in it cool at room temperature verses the refrigerator. I filled my scooped out cupcakes with the filling.

Lastly, we will review the Ganache Topping, which looks fabulous in this picture! If I hadn’t used gelatin in the filling and stopped at this point, the cupcake would have been good; but, I wanted to follow through to the end. For the Ganache Topping:

There has to be a mistake in the ratio of chocolate and cream that is printed in the cookbook. I would do a 2:1 ratio of chocolate and cream. I tried it as printed and the color of the chocolate was too pale. I added more chocolate, and then more chocolate again to get the rich Hostess Cupcake look. The recipe gives the option of using Trim Healthy Chocolate Chips or another Stevia sweetened chocolate chip or chopped 85% chocolate. I used the chopped 85% chocolate.

Also, let the ganache cool before pouring over the cupcakes. The ganache will thicken as it cools and be the consistency you want for your Mostess Cupcake. My cupcake was also cold and I do think that helped as well.

I was a proud baker at this point. I thought the Trim Healthy
Mama Trimtastic Mostess Cupcakes were going to win a prize from The Salesman. They looked really pretty.

Then it was time to decorate the top of the cupcakes with the leftover whipped cream by putting some in a baggie and cutting a hole in the corner to make the little loop de loops.

Go ahead, I’m not going to be offended, yes, it does look like a kindergartener decorated them. I wish I could blame it on my dislike of the gelatin in the topping; but it was me. Cupcake decorating is not my thing. Obviously.

The Salesman tried them and said that they weren’t what he expected and that he liked the Magic Salted Caramel Cupcakes better. I liked the cake and ganache part of them; but could not get over the gelatin chunks in the filling. There is a part of me that wants to make them again and give them another chance. If I made them again, I would:

1. Make it in a cake form verses cupcakes.

2. I would double the whipped cream filling recipe and make it without the gelatin and then spread it over the cake in a thick, delicious layer.

3. I would make the ganache in a 2:1 ratio, letting it cool until thick and then pour it over the filling and slice and eat it by the piece. My cake would not have any loop-de-loops on the top unless one of my talented daughters was home to make it lovely looking.

I will probably make this one again. Have any of you Mamas made this one? Did you have similar problems? Let me know, I’d love to hear your feedback.