Dear Elizabeth

My daughter misses "Hostess Cupcakes." I just tried your classic chocolate cake and think the recipe would be great as cupcakes. Is there anyway I could fill them with icing as an extra treat for my daughter?

Cupcakes are all the rage right now! In fact, I laughed when I got this e-mail. You see, this weekend, I need to make 400 raspberry filled cupcakes for my cousin's wedding. (Love is: baking 400 cupcakes when the weather outside is hot and humid!)

Anyway, filling gluten-free cupcakes can be done and it is easy! First, bake the cupcakes as directed (And, yes, the classic chocolate recipe would be *ideal* for filled cupcakes.) Then allow the cupcakes to cool completely. You never want to fill a warm cupcakes. The heat from the cupcake will melt icing or make jam watery.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, fit a pastry bag with a Bismarck tip. (Click here to view the tip.) Insert tip into the center of the cupcakes and squeeze. You want about 1/2 tablespoon of filling in each cupcake. Any more filling than that and the cupcake becomes overwhelmed, and sometimes soggy, with the filling.

For the hostess cupcakes, I would use the filling recipe I created for snack cakes. It is light and airy. Straight icing is much denser than the hostess filling. For the right "mouth feel", the snack cake filling will be right on the money!

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