Every once in a while, I get to do a crazy project like this. Recreate a Twinkie? Hell yes. There's a few key elements to a Twinkie: sponge, marshmallow cream, lack of identifiable ingredients, shape and package. Each of these elements makes the Twinkie special.

Slow motion for me.

Sponge

My first attempt was to steal a copycat recipe that was touted as extremely easy and for beginners. Completely knowing this was going to bomb, I had to set a baseline. This was from a notorious blog and one of the first google finds when I typed in "Homemade Twinkie". The cake was in no way a Twinkie. It was only a lie. It tasted like butter and sugar and to be frank, I was serious when I said lack of identifiable ingredients. It was also sort of dry as it was a pound cake so I soaked it in syrup and baked it longer to get it more golden. Still a flop.

On top of the cake itself being garbage, I learned that my silicon Twinkie-shaped molds would over caramelize the cake where the pan was touching. I would need to bake my molds on a grate for the next trail to have a consistent, beautiful cake.

For the second go, I tweaked a chiffon recipe to produce a lighter, vivacious crumb. It gave to the tooth and melted on the palette. It was so much closer. As soon as it came out of the oven, the little babes started puckering up clearly over-exerted from the medium to stiff meringue I used. My third and final attempt would be perfect.

For this one, I converted all of the goofy cups and spoons to metric units and got to work. I started by making a pate a bombe as thick as humanly possible with one less yolk than before. I measured, mixed and sifted the dry ingredients together. I heated butter, milk, vanilla, and birthday cake extract and emulsified. My meringue was whipped to a flaccid soft peak with cream of tartar and sugar. I made the sacrificial offering of a scoop of meringue into my pate a bombe, worked it in with a spatula, swept the mixture in a fluid motion into the meringue and sprinkled the flour evenly over the entire mass. With the technique and finesse of a surgeon, I folded the mass together and swiftly added the hot butter mixture. Into a readied piping bag, into the chubby, white, silicon molds, into the oven and timer set. Mise en place.

Eleven minutes later a slew of sweet smelling treats emerged from the heat. I quickly flipped over the molds and let the little guys fall out of their respective cradles. Perfection. Onto the cream.

Marshmallow Cream

This would be easy. No rocket science here. I produced an Italian meringue with whites and sugar cooked to 121 degrees Celsius. This was whipped until completely cool. I added soft butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Switching to paddle attachment, the cream is beat for 10 minutes to achieve a homogeneous, thick marshmallow cream. Using an eclair tip, I piped each cooled cake in three spots from the bottom.

Lack of Identifiable Ingredients

This is more important than you think. Trust me, in almost everything I eat, I want to taste real food. When it comes to snack cakes... it better taste like snack cakes. Cloyingly sweet, satisfyingly mushy and I'll be damned if it's not perfectly consistent. The third version of the cake has the addition of Birthday Cake Extract sourced from Terra Spice Company. This sort of disrupted your taste buds and added this weird unidentifiable note. Perfect! Oddly enough, the package and the age of the snack cake also helped out this cause. I found that Twinkie day one vs. Twinkie day four were totally different animals.

Package

It is all about the package, isn't it? Who doesn't want to rip that thing open? It's like a bubble of scent. I'll admit I open them with my teeth just so when that plastic force field is broken the aroma immediately fills my nasal cavities. I achieved my DIY packaging by snipping the sealed side off of a cellophane treat bag and resealing it with a plastic sealer. You can score one on Amazon for around $20 and they're a gift from the goddesses. I carefully slide the greasy little buggers into the sleeve and sealed from the other side. The brand sticker to finish it is the cherry on top. These could so easily be personalized and used as take-aways. I would love to get a package of homemade snack cakes on my way out of a corporate party. Something has to soak up that open bar on my Uber ride home!

Shape

Many sites recommended the NorPro Cream Canoe. With a name like that who wouldn't?

I personally like using the molds I already had. They are great for use in building individual mousse cakes. You can make sweet compound butter gifts with the mold. You can even make individual ice cream cakes. Generally, if I'm buying a pan or mold, I like to make sure it's multi-function. The Silikomart Pillow Mold is perfect for Twinkie making.

Conclusion

Maybe this is obsessive. Maybe that's okay. Either way, I can add the ability to make Twinkies to my resume. Another research and development project complete.

RECIPE COMING SOON, SUCKERS!