Who Needs Hostess?!

Not me, that’s for sure!  I’m actually not a fan of all those preservatives, but my boys are.  Unfortunately, they don’t get the treats all too often.  When we found out Hostess was going under, we bought some Twinkies. 

This was the first and last time that my little Monkey had a Twinkie.  Oh, and that is Deege in the picture.

Jingus just turned twelve.  For his birthday cake, he wanted me to recreate Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes. 

I did, and I posted it on Facebook.  That recipe will come next.  Anyway, Ash and I have a cousin named Brady.  When I posted the chocolate cupcakes on Facebook, Brady asked if I could recreate a Twinkie.  I’m always up for a challenge, so I tried.

The results?!  Awesome!  Here’s what I did:

I started off with a sponge cake recipe and cooked it in some muffin pans.  You could use this pan to get the Twinkie shape…

…but I just used a muffin pan.  On to the recipe:

Classic Sponge Cake

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup butter (lightly salted)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1. Beat eggs in large mixing bowl with paddle attachment for 5 minutes.  Do not skip this step!
2. Add sugar, and continue beating for another 5 minutes until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and stir on low until just combined.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients.  Add to eggs and sugar on low speed until just combined.
4. In a saucepan, heat milk and butter on low heat just until butter is melted.  Add to batter, beat just until combined.
5. Pour into two greased and floured muffin pans
6. Bake at 325 until the middle springs back when touched, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean--about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand in pans for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto wire cooling racks and cool completely.
Hint: Cakes are close to being done when you start to smell them.

While the cakes were cooling, I whipped up this fabulous frosting/cupcake filling from my favorite ladies at Our Best Bites.

Now, there are two ways to fill cupcakes.  You can inject the filling with one of these…

…or icing bags and tips.  I would have done this, but my supplies were still needing to be washed from the chocolate cupcakes.  So, I did this instead:

Take a cupcake, and use a knife to cut a circle in the center.

Use a Ziploc bag with a corner snipped off to pipe some filling into the hole.

Replace the circle you cut out.

Flip it upside down…

…and you’ve got a Twinkie! 

***WARNING***

These are MUCH tastier than Twinkies!  :)

They are a lot of work, too.  If I wanted a super tasty dessert, I would definitely make these.  If I just wanted to snack on a Twinkie (ewww gross, but if I did…) I would just pick up a box of these:

But, if you want some homemade tastiness, try these out.  You’re sure to love them!  :)

Enjoy your recipe, Brady!  :)