Twinkie Cupcake Recipe

A retired for good old faithful friend of the past, the Twinkie. A taste from those childhood years. 
A cake that came in a box that was back then a wonderful treat to have. We didn't have them very often as that was not part of the budget.  For me that delicious delicate sponge cake, filled with a marshmallow buttercream kind of frosting was what I asked for when we had that extra money. The other kids always wanted those marshmallow covered snowballs and
 chocolate famous cupcakes .  Dad liked anything with jelly in the center.

Here is a recipe I felt was the closest to satisfy my craving for the Twinkie. When I want that kind of spongy cake with the whipped marshmallow style frosting centers I make these.
 We like the lightness of these, not too sweet and the cake is awesome and worth the extra work.   You can also get fancy and use a large pastry tip and pipe the long tubes on a silpat mat to make them look like the original twinkie. I prefer to let them be etched in my childhood mind. I wasn't a huge fan of the cupcake but these were a nice treat.  As I grow older now and think of the fond memories we had in our lunch boxes once in awhile of those orginial it brings back some good conversation with many childhood friends. We actually had a Hostess Plant were they made these maybe around four blocks from our house and always could smell the bread baking. Funny isn't it how food memories stay with us forever. I grew out of the twinkie craze as I got older but the wonderful friends I have no idea what happened too or ever saw again as an adult were part of
wonderful Hostess treat era and the memories will remain forever. 
Hope these bring you some happy smiles too! 

Twinkie Cupcake Cake Batter

6 eggs separated
6 tablespoons water

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup sifted flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons cornstarch

pinch a salt

1 1/2  teaspoons vanilla

Beat whites until very stiff, set aside.

Beat yolks in a separate bowl until thick and lemon colored. Add sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, salt , sifted flour and flavoring.

 

 Gently fold in egg whites until just blended. Pour into cupcake lined pans ( I use a little cooking spray in each bottom so the paper won't stick.) Bake around 25 minutes on a preheated oven of 350 degrees.  Cool completedly. Core the center of each cupcake with an apple corer or sharp knife.

 

This makes around 48. I have never cut it in half not sure the outcome.

 

Marshmallow Filling Recipe:

 

2 teaspoons boiling water plus 1/4 teaspoon salt (added to the water)

2 cups marshmallow fluff

1/2 cup shortening

1/3 cup powdered sugar or more depending how thick you want this

1 teaspoon clear vanilla

 

In a heavy duty mixer whip the shortening adding the sugar a little at a time, whip for around 4 minutes until smooth. Add the, vanilla, water and salt. Add the marshmallow fluff slowly beating until smooth and well blended together for around 1 minute.

Place in a pastry bag to pipe into the cupcake centers or use a ziplock bag and snip the end off to fill easy.

Do you like knock off recipes?  See if you like some of thesë:

Samoas
Trefoils Shortbread
Lemon Coolers
Oatmeal Peanut Butter Sandwich Creams
Peanut Butter patties
Thin mints
Nutella Milano

+claudia lamascolo  Author

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