Twinkie Tunnel Cake was inspired by a recipe from the newly published Twinkies Cookbook from Ten Speed Press.
The idea, which I wish was my own, was to bury Twinkies vertically in a Bundt cake. The book doesn't go into detail about what ingredients you should use other than an 18.25 box of chocolate cake mix and Twinkies. It pretty much says to bake the cake mix cake as directed, pour half of the cake mix batter into the pan, cut some Twinkies lengthwise and stand them (cut side out) vertically in a circle in the pan. Next, you cover the Twinkies up with the rest of the batter and bake. The end result is a chocolate cake which you slice up to reveal a stripe of Twinkie. Yup, this is definitely something straight out of the crazy file, which is probably why I had to try it. Besides, I was dying to know what would happen to the Twinkie Crème filling.
Here's a picture of a slice. Update: This is a horrible, horrible photo that makes me not want to bake the cake, but as I recall it was actually really good.
Twinkie Tunnel Cake with Cake Mix
This is one recipe where you really must use a cake mix. Twinkies and scratch cake just don't go together -- they don't, so please don't try scratch cake plus Twinkies, as the existence of such a cake will surely throw off the balance of the universe. If you make a scratch chocolate bundt cake, then make your Twinkies from scratch as well.
Do use a doctored cake mix recipe. There are 100 million doctored chocolate cake mix cake recipes to choose from on Allrecipes.com. I chose this one because it had the most stars and reviews. It boiled over a little, so if you use this one, you might want to put a tray on the lower rack to catch any drips.
Look Like I Deleted a Photo
Here's what it all looked like before going into the oven. As you can see, I just sort of mashed my Twinkies in there. I should have followed the book's directions and cut them lengthwise so that they'd all stand side by side closer together. I also should have covered them completely with cake batter (even if it meant trimming the ends). Ideally, every slice of cake should have some Twinkie in it. In my cake, some slices don't.
The cake rose considerably, so once it was baked, I had to do a lot of trimming. It's extremely moist (go figure) and the Twinkies add a special touch. The crème filling dissolves into the Twinkie cake making it very moist. It almost looks too moist in this picture, doesn't it?
Twinkie Tunnel Cake
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
2 cups sour cream
1 cup melted butter
5 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract (I used vanilla)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
6-8 Twinkies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a bundt pan with Pam For Baking.
In a large bowl, stir together cake mix and pudding mix. Stir in sour cream, melted butter, eggs and extract. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Blend in chocolate chips. Pour some batter into prepared pan. Press Twinkies into batter then pour on remaining batter so that they are covered. Note: I couldn't shove my Twinkies all the way in and the tips were singed during baking. You may have to trim your Twinkies a bit - maybe cut about ¾ of an inch off the top? I also wonder how the cake would work if you just laid them sideways end-to-end.
Place a cookie sheet on lower rack of oven to catch boil overs. Place bundt pan on middle rack and bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Ice with some sort of glaze or ganache. Me, I melted together 1 cup chocolate mini chips and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Use whatever glaze you like.
Cara
Looks amazing! Has anyone tried it? I want to make this for a group, but i hate experimenting on guests....would love some feedback! Thanks!
joan
I am discovering all sorts of new recipes here thanks to your new and improved recipe index. Who knew this cake even existed here? I once owned a cookbook (it might have been edited by Jane and Michael Stern, the Roadfood people who wrote for the now defunct Gourmet Magazine) that had a recipe for "Undescended Twinkies." It was a jello salad that had partially submerged Twinkies in it. The cookbook was a sort of tongue-in-cheek collection of retro recipes. I wish I had kept it.
julie
Excuse me if I am being dense - did you lay the twinkies horizontal? I pictured them sliced lenghtwise and putting them horizontal -cut side down- side by side (like sardines)
Tami
Great blog! I love twinkies! Found you on BE! I write a food blog to called ChefTami and a cupcake blog if you have a chance check them out at http://cheftami.blogspot.com/ http://cupcaketami.blogspot.com/
Kelbeaux
YUM YUM YUM. I cant wait to make this. Which cake recipe did you use? The link was broken.
Anna
Kel, I fixed the link. Sorry about that!BTW. I reported that Todd didn't like the Twinkie cake much. Well, he took it to work and apparently, it went over exceptionally well. So it'd definitely worth making.
Maureen
Yes, we did live high on hog. On special occasions, I got the Hostess Apple Pies. :)The sad thing is my mom loved baking. I wanted the twinkies over her homemade baked goodies. 🙁
Anna
Maureen, sounds like your family lived high on the hog. On the rare occasion my mother bothered to my lunch (I was a meal ticket kid), I got a Little Debbie snack.Which is not to say that I don't still crave Swiss Cake Rolls every so often. Mostly, I just like looking at them.
Maureen
OMG does that cake look good. Growing up, I had a twinkie in my lunch everyday! It was by far my favorite dessert.
purplecupcake
Can you say 'YUMMY'? I hart Twinkies! That's one awesome bundt cake! I want that cookbook now..
Jen
OMG - I've been obsessed by Twinkies lately! For some reason, they have been predominately displayed in every grocery store. I can't let myself buy them because I know I would eat the whole box in one sitting. Now I'm going to dream of this cake. Hmmm. . . maybe if I bought the twinkies ate one and immediately made the cake for someone else, it would eliminate my problem.
Anna
Jen, I often become obsessed with Twinkies as well. The cure it to eat one. I was obsessed with this bundt cake as well. Now I'm looking forward to getting peoples' reaction.P-cupcake, I think the cookbook is on sale now, but am not sure. It was just published, that I know. There are some really interesting sounding recipes in there. That there is a chapter called "Twinkies and Meat" says it all.