Tunnel of Twinkie Love
If you've been following my Twinkie escapades, you will know that besides eating them, I've also been grilling them and making Twinkie s'mores. When I recently cracked open the Twinkies Cookbook to plan my next Hostess adventure, it was clear which recipe had to come next. With my love of the Bundt, it could only be the Twinkie Tunnel Bundt Cake.
The basic idea with this cake is that you place Twinkies vertically in chocolate cake batter in a Bundt pan. As the cake cooks, the chocolate cake envelops the Twinkie, creating a "vanilla" tunnel within the chocolate. Genius, really!
While I did like the overall concept and novelty factor (imagine explanations of "How did you do that?!") of this cake, as a Twinkie lover, it was a bit of a disappointment. Everyone knows that the cream filling is the best part of the Twinkie, and that's mostly lost here since the cream bakes out. Though, the bottom of the cake does have an interesting brulée quality to it, where the cream filling escapes and crystallizes. But, if you want that yummy creaminess, you'll have to be satisfied with a dollop of Cool Whip or Reddi-wip (homemade whipped cream doesn't really pair with this cake) on the side.
Here's the recipe, if you want to try it at home:
Twinkie Tunnel Bundt Cake
Ingredients:
1 (18.25-ounce) box chocolate cake mix, batter prepared according to package instructions
6 Twinkies, halved lengthwise
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Directions:
1. Spray a Bundt pan with nonstick spray. Pour the cake batter into the pan.
2. Arrange Twinkies in a circle in the middle of the batter, cut sides out, standing them up vertically. If you do it just right, they'll support each other and stand up straight.
3. Bake according to package directions.
4. When done, remove and cool for 10-15 minutes in pan. Invert pan to remove cake. Cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Dust with powdered sugar before slicing.
Serves 8 to 12
See more photos after the jump!
--KitchenMaus
More photos of the Twinkie Tunnel Bundt Cake. Click any photo to see a larger version.
All photos by KitchenMaus.
on September 13, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Has anyone tried this recipe with whole Twinkies instead of cutting them in half?
Super Colliding Twinkies on September 13, 2008 at 01:09 PM
"Has anyone tried this recipe with whole Twinkies instead of cutting them in half?"
I did.
The result was the production of microscopic black holes and a Higgs boson.
KaziA on September 13, 2008 at 08:47 PM
Try deep freezing the Twinkies before baking this next time. It's an old trick I learned for making Chicken Kiev (freeze the butter before breading and frying the rolled, stuffed chicken breast).
Mrs. L on September 18, 2008 at 03:41 PM
Thanks for making this. I was wondering how this would turn out. I made the Twinkie-Misu and it was actually pretty good.
habitat67 on September 19, 2008 at 07:57 AM
making this tonight!
Kristen on September 19, 2008 at 01:51 PM
So interesting! Now I have a Twinkie craving!
Marilyn Terrell on September 19, 2008 at 02:14 PM
Good news! Twinkies were threatened with extinction earlier this month, have been saved by a buyout firm and hedge fund manager:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-twinkie13-2008sep13,0,7827469.story
Fearless Kitchen on September 20, 2008 at 07:35 AM
This looks so tasty, and yet so distressing...
Fearless Kitchen on September 20, 2008 at 07:35 AM
This looks so tasty, and yet so distressing...