Vegan Twinkies

This past week was the week of the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. I went to both the NYC bake sale at Moo Shoes and the Long Island bake sale in Wantagh. I made twinkies for both. My inspiration came from the recipe at Vegan Lunch Box. I made a couple of changes. First, I wanted a yellower cake to get that real contrast between the cake and the filling. Second, I didn't have (nor did I want to search for) barley malt powder.

So, for the cake part, I used the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Look for the Really Golden Cupcakes under Variations after the regular vanilla cupcakes. If you want that twinkie shape, you have to go out and find a cream canoe baking pan. You can find it in some specialty baking stores or buy online (Long Islanders: I got mine at The Chocolate Duck in Farmingdale). If not, go ahead and bake them as cupcakes. I won't tell anyone. The twinkies take less time to bake thank cupcakes; it should be about 16 minutes.

Twinkie filling:

1/4 cup vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)

1/3 cup non-hydrogenated shortening

1/4 cup soy milk powder

1 - 2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup ricemellow fluff

Beat together the margarine and shorting until light and fluffy. Mix in soy milk powder. Add powdered sugar, a little at a time, until it becomes fluffy and creamy, just a little softer than a buttercream frosting would be. Fold in the vanilla and ricemellow fluff. 

Use a pastry bag to inject frosting in three spots along the flat side. It's hard to tell how much to put, but I just fill them until I feel them plump up in my hand and almost explode.