Homemade Twinkies

Name: Homemade Twinkies
Total time: 1 h 40 min
Yield: 12 homemade Twinkies.
Cuisine: american
Ingredients: Nonstick cooking spray or vegetable oil; 60 grams (1/2 cup) cake flour; 30 grams (1/4 cup) all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons milk; 4 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; 5 large eggs at room temperature, separated; 12 tablespoons sugar; 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar; 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature; 165 grams (1 1/2 cups) confectioners’ sugar; 3/4 cup Marshmallow Fluff; 2 tablespoons heavy cream

By Jennifer Steinhauer

Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Rating: 4(147)
Notes: Read community notes

Dispirited by the possible demise in 2012 of Hostess, the company that makes Twinkies, Ho Hos, and Hostess cupcakes, Jennifer Steinhauer began to wonder if she could make Hostess snack cakes, as well as other much-loved junk food from the past, in her own kitchen. She started with this classic, the Twinkie, by buying a canoe pan, which conveniently came with a cream injector. This recipe is a traditional sponge cake-style recipe, with whipped egg whites and sugar forming the base, then filled by cream injector with seven-minute frosting. Neighbors were delighted when she shared the results, but it was short lived. By the next day, the cake had absorbed the cream -- so make sure to eat them fast.

Featured in: It’s Not Junk if I Made It

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Ingredients

Yield:12 homemade Twinkies.

For the Cakes

Nonstick cooking spray or vegetable oil
60grams (½ cup) cake flour
30grams (¼ cup) all-purpose flour
1teaspoon baking powder
¼teaspoon salt
2tablespoons milk
4tablespoons unsalted butter
½teaspoon vanilla extract
5large eggs at room temperature, separated
12tablespoons sugar
¼teaspoon cream of tartar

For the Filling

6tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
165grams (1½ cups) confectioners’ sugar
¾cup Marshmallow Fluff
2tablespoons heavy cream

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
For the cakes: Heat the oven to 350 degrees and adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position.
Step 2
To make single-use Twinkie molds, cut 12 pieces of aluminum foil 12 inches wide by 14 inches long. Fold each piece of foil in half lengthwise, then fold it in half again to create a rectangle that’s about 6 inches long and 7 inches wide. Repeat to make a dozen rectangles.
Step 3
Place one sheet of folded foil on a work surface with a standard-size spice jar on its side in the center of the foil. Bring the long sides of the foil up around the jar, folding the sides and ends as necessary to make a tight trough-shape from which the jar can be removed. Repeat to make 12 foil molds. Spray generously with nonstick spray or coat with vegetable oil. Place the molds on a baking sheet.
Step 4
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. In a small saucepan over low heat, heat the milk and butter until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Cover to keep warm.
Step 5
Using a standing mixer, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy. Gradually add 6 tablespoons of the sugar and the cream of tartar and continue to beat until the whites reach soft peaks.
Step 6
Transfer the beaten egg whites to a large bowl and add the egg yolks to the standing mixer bowl (there’s no need to clean the bowl). Beat the egg yolks with the remaining 6 tablespoons sugar on medium-high speed until the mixture is very thick and a pale lemon color, about 5 minutes. Add the beaten egg whites to the yolks, but do not mix.
Step 7
Sprinkle the flour mixture over the egg whites and then mix everything on low speed for just 10 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer, make a well in one side of the batter, and pour the melted butter mixture into the bowl. Fold gently with a large rubber spatula until the batter shows no trace of flour and the whites and yolks are evenly mixed, about 8 strokes.
Step 8
Immediately scrape the batter into the prepared molds, filling each with about .75 inch of batter. Bake until the cake tops are light brown and feel firm and spring back when touched, 13 to 15 minutes. Transfer the pan containing the molds to a wire rack and allow the cakes to cool in the molds.
Step 9
For the filling: Using a mixer, beat together the butter, confectioners’ sugar and Marshmallow Fluff. Add the cream and beat just until smooth.
Step 10
Just before filling the cakes, remove them from the foil. Using the end of a chopstick, poke three holes in the bottom of each cake. Wiggle the tip of the chopstick to make room for the filling. Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch round tip. Pipe frosting into the holes in each cake, taking care not to overfill, until it gently expands. Unlike real Twinkies, these won’t last indefinitely. They’re best served still slightly warm.

Tip

Adapted from leitesculinaria.com

Ratings

4 out of 5

147 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Devilsporkchop6 years ago

interested in finding out a way to make this with a choc sponge and mocha filling.

Tink6 years ago

The recipe actually yields 24 cakes if you use the silicone twinkie pans available at your megamart retailer.

Also, the recipe doesn't adequately explain that you cannot see if butter lingers in the bottom of the bowl once you add it to the whipped yolks, whites, and flour mixture.

Baking them now. Not sure whether they will turn out ok.

Homemade Twinkie5 years ago

These were good, but I bought mine at the store.

elissa-wa9 months ago

Filling is very, very sweet. 10 year old soon thought they didn’t have much flavor. 16 year old daughter liked the cake part. 62 year old husband was bummed they weren’t filled with whipped cream.

susan11 months ago

The filling made as written was not fluffy for me. It was very runny. I scrapped it and made an Ermine Buttercream, and it was superb, both in flavor and texture. No grit whatsoever.

Steve2 years ago

As the author of "Twinkie, Deconstructed" I quite appreciate this recipe! I made some myself as research, and my 8 year old and friends devoured them. I wrapped one in plastic and put it aside, for research of course, and it was solid green within a week! It is sponge cake, so the crumb will absorb the cream filling pretty quickly, which is why there's no cream in the 'creme' filling in the commercial product. Frankly, I think the shape and size of Twinkies are a major part of their appeal.

pat k2 years ago

Delicious...the NYT recipe had a lot of extra batter so I used paper-lined cupcake pan ...everyone was thrilled. My family had a huge discussion about Twinkies and how good they were. My DIL said they were all artificial additives (she was right as I found). So I found this recipe, ordered a canoe pan, and baked both the NYT recipe and then the recipe that came with the pan ( Delectovals Mini Cakes, their name for Twinkies). The Delectovals recipe is smaller and made 12- exactly enough the pan.

pat k2 years ago

Made these after a conversation with my son, daughter in law, and grandkids. They had never had Twinkie! My DIL said they're full of umpteen additives for long shelf life (true, as I discovered) , so I found this recipe, ordered a canoe pan, and baked. Big hit! There was more batter than needed for the 12 canoes, so I used the rest in my cupcake pan, with great results.

Eleanor3 years ago

I made these in the hostess Twinkie maker it took 5-6 minutes and made six at a time and for the filling i only used about half the amount of sugar and. About 2 tablespoons more marshmallow fluff with 1 teaspoon more of cream and they turned out great as for the shrinking the reason they shrink is when the butter isn’t mixed enough so just mix it more next time.

connie3 years ago

I use the canoe pan and these came out very good. I should have greased the pan more as they stuck a little bit. I think next time I will cut back on the amount of sugar in the filling, as I found them on the overly sweet side. As to Rose’s question, the ones that were browner seemed to shrink more. You might want to cook them a little less than the 13 to 15 minutes, and be sure to move oven shelf to lower level.

Rose3 years ago

I made these with a Twinkie-style pan, and they looked great when I took them out of the oven — puffed up, voluminous. But after they cooled in the pan for about 10 minutes, I saw they had shriveled up. They taste good, but they don't look appealing at all. Anyone know what might have happened?

kara4 years ago

I have a canoe pan. These were amazing. People devoured them. They are really easy.

twinkies by pat4 years ago

Made this recipe with actual Twinkie pan, called a canoe pan. Came out great but I had extra batter- made 6 traditional round cupcakes as bonus. Needed a bit more baking time. Made the filling and for the cooks-taste-test , I just spread the filling in middle of freshly baked Twinkie cut lengthwise ( will use actual piping later). Delicious,

Mary4 years ago

I made these - the self-made aluminum troughs did NOT work. Mine oozed everywhere in the oven and there was way too much sponge recipe for 12 little spice bottle sized rafts (easily could've been double so I don't know what sized bottles the author has). Also, as someone below mentioned, there was a pool of butter in the bottom of the bowl... I'm going to try again with actual Twinkie-style pans.

Homemade Twinkie5 years ago

These were good, but I bought mine at the store.

Devilsporkchop6 years ago

interested in finding out a way to make this with a choc sponge and mocha filling.

Tink6 years ago

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