Hi.
I made filled cupcakes, some with twinkie filling and some with chocolate icing. I knew the chocolate icing ones filled really well because it was fairly runny and I could see it coming up to the top of the holes. I thought the twinkie filling was filling ok too...they kept filling to the top too, and some cupcakes even started to "blow up" a little at the top from filling. I did three holes in each of them. Maybe my expectation was wrong, but I expected it to be like biting into a "hostess cupcake" where you have that big glob of filling in the middle. A big round circle of filling about the size of a nickel. With mine, you could barely see the fillings...I wondered if they absorbed into the cupcakes. How do I fill these so you get that big filling in the center when you bite into it???

I kept telling my family how cool these "filled" cupcakes were going to be, only for them to joke with me and ask repeatedly...."now where's the filling???" I know it was going into the cupcakes because I kept depleting the decorating bag!

What did I do wrong, or at least how do I get that big hostess cupcake-like filling in the middle?

Any advice would be great!
Thanks.

What was the "twinkie-like" filling made of? Does it melt? You don't want your filling to be made of anything that melts or that is too runny.
Whenever I've filled cupcakes, I've used puddings and I've never had problems with it.

Another thing you could try, instead of filling 3 holes, is to actually cut some of the cupcake out, fill it than cover with a small piece of what you cut then frost it. (Does that make any sense to you?)

Hope that helps a little.

I fill using a long, narrow tip pushed right into the center. As soon as I see the cupcake expand just a little I know it's filled. I use buttercream that's been whipped so it's light and creamy.

You'd be surprised how much filling a little cupcake will hold. You don't want to overfill and break the cupcake but you want enough so the filling is there when you bite into it. When you first start out, do a couple practice cupcakes and bite into them yourself so you can see how much filling is really going in.

One of two things happened...the filling wasn't thick enough and absorbed into the cake or not enough filling was piped in.

Thanks for your advice. I did have the top of the cupcake puffing and cracking at times, but definitely not on all of them. The chocolate icing was probably too thin still - maybe it didn't sit long enough before I used it. It was cooled to room temp, but it was still pretty thin. I used the long narrow tip that Dawn suggests in her tutorial, but I think it was a combination of things. I think maybe with the chocolate it absorbed in due to being runny and I think with the twinkie filling it was that I didn't put enough in. I was kind of pulling up with the tip as it was filling (trying to avoid puffing up the top of the cupcake) and in actuality I probably didn't squeeze enough in. It was fillling to the top, but maybe only because I was pulling it out while filling...ya know.

I don't have the twinkie filling recipe in front of me, but I know it called for Marshmellow creme, confectioners sugar, flavorings, etc. I was going to try the "not real twinkie filling filling" recipe, but this one just sounded tastier to me - probably because of the marshmellow creme. But maybe it was a little too thick. I should have stuck with my gut - next time I will try the other one that everyone has raved about.

Thanks for your suggestions. I will definitely try it again, and go, oh well if I have to bite into a few to test it! hahaha.

Thanks again.

I've used the same twinkie filling recipe you did and I've gotten rave reviews. But I also had trouble with not filling the enough. So the 2nd time I made them I took the long tube (I think its called a Bismark tube) inserted it into the cupcake, while it was in the cup cake I swirled the tube around a time or 2 to make a bigger space for the filling (just be gentle with the swirling because you don't want to crake the cake), then fill it in. It seemed to hold a lot more filling. The only drawback that I could see was when you went to eat the cup cake it was a little more fragile, lots of filling but the cake sometimes broke apart while you bit into it. Hope this helps.
Kate

Well, you could add more icing sugar to the chocolate icing recipe, but I don't find it is one that absorbs into the cake even when it is fairly runny. I use it that way as a filling most of the time, however it can be made thicker.
I know that a lot of folks that make these let the cupcakes sit for a day before filling them, perhaps that would help. Also, I don't use this chocolate icing with cake mixes, I do use it with from scratch chocolate cake.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Thanks again for your tips.

The cake was a scratch cake - The Hersheys Perfectly chocolate cake. I did fill them the same day though. I just wanted that big gob of filling in the middle. I think I will try swirling the tip a little next time to make the hole larger. The chocolate ones came our really good...I was just picturing the one big spot of icing, but I guess when you make 3 holes, you really will end up with 3 drizzles of the filling. I don't think they really absorbed in...it was probably just the three separate holes didn't make the one big spot in the middle I was hoping for. I think I will try one just in the middle next time, and making the hole a little larger.

Hey, it was my first time...I am sure I'll do better next time!
Thanks again.