Ho Ho and Twinkie Cupcakes

Well, I was inspired this week by the food allergy mama blog.  A while back she posted a recipe for oatmeal cream pies, and it made me think of some of my other formerly favorite snacks.  I made a cream filling and it tastes pretty good but be forewarned, it is ugly! It has that curdled look that mixtures take on when you combine milk substitute and soy butter but it will be inside, so no worries.  This recipe also calls for cake flour.  I haven't been able to find cake flour here that isn't made on peanut equipment, so I make my own.  Just combine 1/4 c. corn starch with 1 3/4 c. flour and sift it.  I make a big batch of it and keep it on hand in the pantry.

Twinkie Cupcake
3 c. cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 3/4 c. sugar
2/3 c. butter ( I used earth balance)
2 T. vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 c. milk ( I used soy milk)


Preheat oven to 350*F.  Combine the cake flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.  In a separate bowl, cream the sugar and earth balance.  Then add in the vanilla, soy milk, and vinegar.  Finally combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir to combine.  Be careful not to over stir as you will lose the leavening from the baking soda/vinegar mixture.  Spoon into paper lined muffin tins filling only about half way. They will rise considerably.  bake until just golden on top.  It took mine 16 minutes.

Ho Ho Cupcake
1/3c. canola oil
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. applesauce
1/2 c. soy or rice milk
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. enjoy life chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Mix the canola oil, both sugars, apple sauce, and milk replacement.  Add in the dry ingredients and mix until blended.  Spoon into paper lined muffin tins, until they are about 2/3 full and bake until done.  It took mine 18 minutes.

Cream Filling
1 c. milk ( I used soy milk)
5 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. cold butter ( I used blue bonnet light)
1 tsp. vanilla.
2 c. powdered sugar (or enough to make it thick)

mix flour with milk and boil until thick.  Mine was all lumpy so I called my mom who said you are supposed to mix the two slowly to make a paste, then just keep stirring and mixing to get a smoother cream.  Any-who... Mix the flour and milk in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil until it gets thick (like pudding thick)  Then let the mixture cool completely, I put mine in the fridge overnight.  Once cool beat it with an electric mixer until it gets fluffy.  Add in the rest of the ingredients one at a time, beating well.

Time for assembly


For the Ho HO cupcakes I used a cupcake corer.  I saved only the top crust of each core.  I filled each center with the filling and then placed the crust back over the hole.  For the Twinkie cupcakes I used a squirt bottle, that looked very much like a restaurant ketchup bottle.  I just put the tip through the top and squirted.  I stored these in the fridge in air tight bags and we have been munching on them all week.