Twinkies!

As promised, I have a Twinkie post for you. It's a little ambitious as I am going to show some of the processes that went into making these remarkably easy treats.

I'll also show you how little hardware I used, which is key when you don't have much space to work with.

First you need to grease and line a jelly roll pan. I like to line with parchment paper, because then the outside of the cake doesn't become as hard as if you only greased and floured the pan.






Next, I made my yellow cake batter, using my trusty hand-held Sunbeam mixer. It's surprisingly powerful and does the trick when I want to whip up something quickly. If you don't want to make the batter from scratch, just use boxed mix. I like to add a little vanilla powder just to make the cake taste richer.

Next, pour the batter into your jelly roll pan and pop in a 350 deg oven (Fahrenheit) for 25-30 minutes or until the cake is springy to the touch and has an even golden color. Or you can use the toothpick test.




This is what it's supposed to look like.










Now, while the cake is cooling, you might want to make the cream. It's super easy - 20 oz. jar of marshmallow fluff, 1/2 of unsalted butter, 1/3 cup of confectioners sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla powder. Just whip it all together and pop it in the fridge while your cake is cooling. Easy as whipped cream.


Next, you'll want to assemble the Twinkies. First, turn out your cake onto a clean, dry surface. You might want to line the surface with cling film so that it doesn't make a mess. Clean off any rough edges or hard areas on the cake and brush off any crumbs.

Measure and cut the cake in half width-wise. Take out that cream filling and spread evenly on one half, making sure that you leave about a 1/2 inch of the edge of the cake without filling. Place the other half on top of the cake and then using the cling film, wrap the cake up tightly.

Place the now filled cake into the fridge for about an hour. This will let the filling spread out and the flavors to blend. Not to mention, it'll make it easier to assemble.
Assembly
Take the cake out of the fridge and unwrap. Cut the cake into even pieces - I got 12, but you can get more or less depending on your cutting skills. Mine are only so-so.

Wrap each piece with a good amount of cling film, and let refrigerate overnight, or for as long as you can stand. What you'll end up with is something that looks a little like this:
Pretty neat, right?

And I only used the following in this production:


And let me tell you, not one was left. My classmates loved them and my professor gave them two thumbs up. Score!