Saturday, May 8, 2010

Shortcut Homemade Twinkie Copycats

I couldn’t face producing three batches of Twinkies from scratch for Jesse’s work this week. So I didn’t. Instead, I tweaked Todd Wilber’s pound cake mix version into something more Twinkie-like. What's neat about Todd's version is he made his copycats without a cream canoe pan by wrapping foil around spice jars to created molds. If I didn’t have the pan already, I’d have done things his way.

There were a couple problems with Todd’s recipe. I’m not sure if they’re because I used a nonstick pan instead of foil, but they needed a roll in simple syrup. Without it they weren’t really Twinkies, just pound cakes with filling and strange crusty outsides. I adjusted the cooking time as well, but that’s probably just a difference in baking methods. If you use the foil method they’ll take longer to bake.

If you’re not into shortcut baking, Leslie Bilderback made a fantastic, but complicated Twinkie recipe from scratch. It might be fun to tackle if you have the spare time, or are making just a single batch.

I think sometimes a shortcut is perfectly fine though. Especially for something fun like this. Overall, these little cakes are pretty darn Twinkie-like, not too difficult, and have that cool novelty of being baked at home. I'll be making these again.

Shortcut Homemade Twinkies
Simple Syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water

Boil together in a small pot with a lid. Once mixture comes to a boil remove the lid and cook for three more minutes to ensure the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.

Cakes

Crisco for greasing
4 egg whites
1 16-oz box of golden pound cake mix
2/3 cup of water

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a cream canoe pan with Crisco. (Butter doesn’t work as well here).

Beat the egg whites until stiff but not a solid mass. In a separate bowl combine the cake mix with water and beat until blended. Then, fold egg whites into the cake with a spatula then beat it with the hand mixer at the end until just combined.

Fill the molds half full of batter. Bake for around 22 to 23 minutes, or until the cakes are lightly golden brown around the edges (but light on top) and a toothpick comes out clean.

Run a toothpick around the cakes to loosen the sides. Dump the hot cakes onto parchment paper. Turn cakes upside down so the bottoms are now on top. Place some of the simple syrup into a wide shallow bowl and immediately roll the tops, sides, and ends of hot Twinkies in the syrup. Try not to get syrup on the bottoms. Fill with cream filling, below.

Repeat the process for second set of cakes. Be sure to grease the pan again.

Cream Filling
2 teaspoons very hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups marshmallow cream (or one 7 oz jar)
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 chopstick

To do the cream filling, first mix the salt into the bowl of hot water, and mix until the salt is dissolved. Let it cool.

Combine the marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and mix, preferably with an electric mixer or stand mixer on high, until fluffy.

Now pour the salt-water solution in and mix.

When the cakes are mainly cool, poke a hole into the bottom in three places like a Twinkie with a narrow ended chopstick. Move the chopstick around inside to make some room for filling. Then stick a pastry bag into the holes and press gently to fill.

Storing “Twinkies”
Store in a wax paper lined covered container for a few hours before serving. Twinkies need time for their outsides to get soft. Twinkies also freeze quite well after filling.

Makes 16 Twinkie Copycats.

Adapted from Todd Wilber from Top Secret Recipes. Picture by Laura Flowers.


19 comments:

l'optimiste said...

what is Crisco?? and what is 'a box of golden pound cake mix'? hmm - need to do translations for us Poms! ;o)

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

No mention of how these hold up against the real deal? I had a twinkie a few years ago and it was nothing like they were when I was a child. Your filling sounds much more appetizing!

:)
ButterYum

The Cooking Photographer said...

Crisco is just shortening. Golden pound cake mix is just pound cake, or a heavy cake. You all don't have pound cake on your side of the pond? I'd be willing to do a trade for some stuff we don't have lol! :)

The Cooking Photographer said...

I'll be honest with you Patricia. I haven't had a Twinkie in about a dozen years, or more. Maybe almost two dozen lol. So I have no clue!

The Cooking Photographer said...

They were pretty good though if it helps!

Chef E said...

You crack me up! What happened to the day off?

gosh I just cannot get into the mood to bake at all today...and now this!

Pink Little Cake said...

Can you believe I haven't had a twinkie in my whole life? They look good. Hava wonderful Mother's Day my dear friend. Hugs from here.

The Cooking Photographer said...

Patricia I did it. I bought and ate a Twinkie lol. They're pretty close and exactly how I remember them.

Kathia you have to eat a Twinkie once in your life.

Plain Chicken said...

Our cat, Marmalade, LOVES twinkies. She use to go in the pantry and steal twinkies and eat them. She would open the wrapper and gobble them up. Craziest thing!

Veronica said...

I'm laughing at Steph's comment--HILARIOUS! That crafty little minx. These look so gorgeous! I'm wondering how long before you make homemade Oreos. :)

The Cooking Photographer said...

Steph that is awesome! Your cat is so cool. You should get a video or some photos!

Katrina said...

Those are awesome looking!

Sarah said...

These are just like the originals! My kids will love this treat, as for the homemade oreos, I have a great recipe :)

Sara said...

These look pretty good but the other recipe looks awesome...a must make. I have never thought to make my own.

Anonymous said...

These look better than the originals! Bravo!! When you get a second, go check my blog,i have something for you.

The Cooking Photographer said...

Sara that other recipe is awesome!

Elizabeth said...

ZOMG those sounds delish!!! Thanks so much for sharing and I posting a link to your fabulous and yummy sounding recipe on my craft forum here: http://www.missimagination.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15526#post15526

The Cooking Photographer said...

Thanks!!

Laura

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the comments have turned into a form of personal communicating. Where is the moderator?

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