Rainbow Vanilla Ding Dongs
These Vanilla Ding Dongs are a twist on the classic cream-filled Hostess snacks, made with vanilla cake mix and coated in vanilla glaze. You can make them plain vanilla or use food coloring for a rainbow effect!
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the Vanilla Cake
- 1 box white vanilla cake mix
- 1 cup milk
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup oil
- Gel food coloring in a variety of colors (optional)
For the Whipped Cream Filling
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 packet Whip It (or substitute any whipped cream stabilizer)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Vanilla Glaze Topping
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk
- Rainbow sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 °F and spray 2 jumbo muffin pans with nonstick spray.*
- Make cake batter according to box instructions, substituting milk for water and using whole eggs in place of egg whites. Split the cake batter evenly among 5 bowls (about 6 ounces each) and dye each bowl a different color of the rainbow using food coloring. Starting with red or pink, place 1 large spoonful (about 1 tablespoon) of batter in each cup of the prepared muffin pan. Repeat with each color in rainbow order until you’ve used all of the batters. Bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
- Make stabilized whipped cream: in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine heavy cream, powdered sugar, Whip It, and vanilla extract. Whip on medium speed for about 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form.
- Fill ding dongs with whipped cream: Use a round cookie cutter (about 2 ½ inch diameter or the same size as the bottom of the cupcakes) to cut a straight-sided cylinder out of each cupcake. Trim the top of the cupcakes to make the tops flat if necessary, and flip over so the smooth side is on top. Then, using a smaller round cookie cutter (about 1 ½ inch diameter) make an indent in the top of each cylinder (pressing about ¾ of the way down, not all the way though). Use a spoon or small offset spatula to hollow out the center. Then, cut a thin slice (about ¼ inch thick) off the top of the hollowed-out center, and discard the rest of the inside of the cake, reserving just the top slices. Fill each ding dong with about 1-2 tablespoons of whipped cream and replace the top slice to conceal the filling. Refrigerate until well-chilled.
- Make vanilla glaze: combine all ingredients (except sprinkles) in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Adjust the consistency if necessary by adding more milk to thin or more powdered sugar to thicken.
- Coat ding dongs with vanilla glaze: working one at a time, place the ding dongs on a slotted spatula and hold over the bowl of glaze. Spoon the glaze over top until the top and sides are completely coated. Then transfer to a baking sheet lined with wax paper and sprinkle with rainbow sprinkles if using. Place the tray in the refrigerator uncovered. Allow glaze to fully set (at least 1-2 hours) before serving.
Notes
- If you don’t have a jumbo muffin pan, you can use regular cupcake pans or a large shallow cake pan to make the cake.
- To make plain vanilla ding dongs, skip the step with the food coloring, and just make vanilla cupcakes (with the substitutions listed).
- For alternate instructions on how to assemble, see this homemade ring dings recipe.
Find it online: https://butterandthyme.com/rainbow-vanilla-ding-dongs/