This endeavour was in no way glamorous. If nothing else, these Homemade Twinkies highlighted my ability to make something from nothing. I knew I wanted to make Twinkies, which if you aren’t familiar with, are white cake like treats with a light marshmallow-ish cream center. Amazon sells do-it-yourself-Twinkie-pans, but sometimes I prefer the uphill battle.
So when the need for a Homemade Twinkie strikes, I get out my roll of foil and spice bottle, and I make my own pan. Well, I’m being generous in calling it a pan. I essentially made foil boats for cake batter. I know. Kinda madness. I didn’t dream this notion on my own- thank you YouTube.
I’m almost embarrassed to share this with you…. they were so tasty, but the road getting there wasn’t so glamorous. Sometimes these things happen in my kitchen.
So there’s kind of a lot of things going on with these Twinkies. I’m making foil cake pans, cake batter, and filling. If you’re feeling the spirit and want to make these little gems, I have a step by step picture making extravaganza below. But also, jump on over here and watch Todd Wilbur’s masterful work with the homemade Twinkie. He’ll show you how to make the foil cake pans and how to properly fill them. Just thought you might appreciate the video example.
After much thought and foil folding. I’ve decided that next time I want Homemade Twinkies. I’m just going to buy the pan. Really.
Twinkie Cake
adapted from Gourmet Cookbook
makes about 12 Twinkies
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1 cup milk
Put a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute in between each addition. Beat in vanilla and almond extract. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture alternately with the milk in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until just incorporated.
Spray prepared Twinkie tins with nonstick spray and divide the batter between the cups. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until the cakes are just slightly golden and a pick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before filling with marshmallow cream.
Twinkie Cream
recipe from Todd Wilbur
2 teaspoons very hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups marshmallow cream (one 7-ounce jar)
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine the salt and the how water in a small bowl and mix until the salt is dissolved. Let the mixture cool.
Combine the marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a medium sized bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.
Add the salt solution to the filling and beat to combine.
Scoop into a pastry bag with a small tip and pipe into cooled Twinkie cakes. Flip them over so the browned bottoms of the cakes are on top, and the filling side is on the bottom. Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and give them to all your friends!
Take a 12 to 14-inch piece of foil and fold it in half.
Cut that in half.
Center a round spice jar on the foil.
First fold the foil up around the top and bottom of the spice jar, and then fold the side up. Now we’re cookin’.
Remove the spice jar. And continue the process until you’ve made 12 Tinkie boats.
Give the foil a spray with nonstick cooking spray and fill with cake batter- about 3/4-inch deep with batter.
Once baked, remove from the foil and cool completely. Poke 3 holes in each cake to make room for the marshmallow filling.
Put marshmallow filling in a pastry bag with tip and pipe into the Twinkie cakes. Filling may puff out of the cakes, or split the cakes slightly. Don’t worry, the cakes will be wrapped in plastic wrap and all the goodness with be contained.
Yum.
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Those look delicious! Though as a Twinkie purist, you lost me with the marshmallow fluff stuff.
Great job, and great blog!
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:18 am
Oh my, that is a lot of work. I would be inclined to buy the pan.
BTW- have you tried Twinkie-Misu?
http://watkinslynn.typepad.com/pages_pucks_and_pantry/2007/07/twinkie-misu.html
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:13 am
Lyrical soul- Thanks! Sorry I lost you at the fluff.
Peabody- I know! It was totally a silly amount of work. Next time I want these- I’ll buy the pan!
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:39 am
These look great, and its funny, but I’ve had very much the same idea on my mind (trying to remake some old favorites from when I was a kid–twinkies being high on the list), so its interesting to see how you did it. Great work!
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:35 am
Homemade twinkies…wow! I marvel at your genius yet again!
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:09 am
I’m not a huge fan of the “real” thing with all the creepy chemicals, but I’d be sure to wolf down one or three of these. Looks delicious!
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
That’s some serious dedication to junk food. I’m impressed!
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Wow! I am not a twinkies fan but looking at yours makes me suddenly crave one
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
That is fantastic, my kids are going to love these. Now that I think about it they have never had the joy of a real twinkie. What kind of a mother am I?
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
oh my…those so remind me of when I was a kid..trying to suck out all of the frosting!! YUM
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
I’m glad to hear you say they are worth just getting the pan. My 5 year old asked for twinkies at the store the other day, but I just couldn’t do it. He would probably go nuts if we made them ourselves though. Great job!
June 24th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Wow, that’s a lot of work! Your twinkies look fab!
June 24th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Seriously, you could not be more genius if you tried!!
June 24th, 2008 at 8:46 am
What a great recipe! They look like a lot of work, but I bet they are a lot better for you than the real deal!
June 24th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Sharon and Zoe- The “real deal” Twinkies are filled with so many creepy chemicals. I can’t imagine that I would encourage my kids to eat the,, So I don’t blame you Soe.
And Holly- These would be so fun to make with your son!
Deborah- Yea, lots of work. If you do this, just buy the pan… ha! Much easier.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Great news…you don’t even need to buy the pan! Wilton.com has mini loaf baking cups. The link below is to the ones that are lined in foil so that you don’t need a pan. Hope it works out!
http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=415-452&CMP=AFC-CCF
June 24th, 2008 at 11:26 am
That is the funniest video EVER!
June 24th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Amazing. Those don’t look easy at all to make. But I’m sure they tasted awesome. And probably healthier than the chemical-laden ones in the stores. Really nice job.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
My family would love me forever if I made this! Lovely!
June 24th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I was always partial to Twinkies, but also to the butterscotch crumpets (krumpets?), which were Twinkies with a butterscotch icing. I’m sure they had a million calories apiece, but oh were they delicious!
June 25th, 2008 at 7:14 am
First off I applaud your hard work, I would be inclined to buy the twinkie pan. Second, I love twinkies and they don’t make them like they use to, now that I can try them at home I am one happy camper. Fun, fun post, thanks.
June 26th, 2008 at 5:40 am
This is fantastic! I have homemade twinkies on my too try list, but I think I’ll go the twinkie pan route when I do. I do admire your gumption, though!
I am sooooo glad I found your blog again. One of my favorites, for sure!
June 26th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
thanks for this recipe! i have the pan actually (although it’s in storage in the states for the time being), as i found it on sale super cheap at a williams-sonoma outlet. made the recipe that came with it, and it wasn’t great. i’ll try yours when i get my hands on my pan again!!
June 27th, 2008 at 8:45 am
those are hilarious! i’m incredibly frightened of twinkies, but i could definitely eat yours without hesitation!
June 27th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Absolutely wonderful!!! I love twinkies in theory–a light as air cake with a creamy filling–but it’s all those extra ingredients that frighten me. These look delicious.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:09 am
These look perfect for my nieces! They would have a ball baking them!
July 16th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Hi Joy! I’m about to start culinary school and your posts make me get so excited about starting the pastry program! Everything looks so amazing!
September 25th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
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