Homemade Twinkies

two halves of twinkie stackes on parchment paper with more around, white flowers, and vase behind

Everyone's favorite childhood treat...now made easily at home! These Twinkies are soft, fluffy, perfectly sweet, full of vanilla flavor, and SO much better than store-bought.

Course: Snacks

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 1

Servings: twinkies

Calories: 296kcal

Ingredients

Cake

2 cups cake flour sifted
1⅛ cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs room temperature
½ cup whole milk
⅔ cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Filling

2 large egg whites room temperature
⅔ cup granulated sugar
2⅔ Tablespoons water

Instructions

Cake

Heat oven to 350°F/177℃.
Spray cake pans with baking spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.
Pour over dry ingredients.
Whisk until smooth.
Spoon into prepared pan, filling each cavity ⅔ full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until done.

Filling

With an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites to stiff peaks.
In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water.
Heat over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is melted.
Raise heat to medium.
Continue to cook until sugar reaches 246℉-250° F/119℃-121℃.
With mixer running, slowly stream hot syrup into egg whites.
Beat until cool.

Assembly

Fit a piping bag with a #10 round tip.
Spoon meringue into a piping bag.
Turn cooled cakes over.
Pipe filling into the bottom of each cake, in the middle and on both ends.

Notes

Substitutions:

If you don't have cake flour, you can mix all purpose flour with cornstarch. Measure out 2 cups of all-purpose flour and then remove 4 Tablespoons, then add 4 Tablespoons of cornstarch.
You can use store bought marshmallow fluff to fill the cakes.

Expert Tips:

The cake flour NEEDS to be sifted.
When making the cake batter, be sure the batter is smooth! You don't want any lumps.
You may need to cut the bottoms of the cakes after baking and cooling. This helps them lay flat!
Be careful when cracking the eggs and separating the yolk from the white. If there is any yolk in the whites, they won't whip!
The egg whites for the filing need to be whipped to about stiff-peaks. Turn off the mixer and make your syrup. Once the syrup is at temperature, turn the mixer on high and slowly stream the syrup in.
Do NOT stir the syrup once the sugar is dissolved.
Keep a bowl of water and pastry brush nearby. You will need to brush the sides of the pan down to keep the sugar from crystalizing.
Beat the meringue until it’s completely cool. This takes about 5-10 minutes. You can feel the temperature of your mixing bowl to gage if the meringue is cool.
If you don't have a piping bag, you can use a zip top plastic bag to pipe in the filling.
Your Twinkie should be quite heavy when properly filled! Be careful about adding too much filling. If you add too much meringue, it will spill out!
If you don't have a piping tip, use a skewer or a knife to poke three holes evenly across the bottom of each cake; then, snip the end off a zip top bag or piping bag and carefully fill each cake.

Nutrition