Lemon Raspberry Twinkie Recipe
You’ll love this homemade Twinkie™ recipe! These Lemon Raspberry Twinkies are all-natural, homemade, made from scratch without all the preservatives of the original.
Remember those iconic snack cakes – the original Hostess™ Twinkies? Filled with a fluffy, vanilla cream filling, full of high fructose corn syrup, cellulose gum and who knows what else?
Well now you can have a healthier version of the Twinkie in your own kitchen! This twinkie recipe is a spin-off from the original recipe and is easy to make!
Why this recipe works
- This homemade Twinkie recipe is the real thing – full of all-natural ingredients: no yellow cake mix, artificial flavor with real ingredients – no sodium stearoyl lactylate, monocalcium phosphate or xanthan gum or artificial flavor
- The texture and flavor is similar to the original Twinkie snack kinda like a soft sponge cake, however this homemade twinkie recipe does not have a long shelf life due to the absence of additives, preservatives and fillers.
- All-natural: No instant vanilla pudding mix, no Cool Whip, no marshmallow cream, no box mix, no vegetable oil
Equipment for making homemade Twinkie™ recipe
You’ll need a non-stick pan suited for the “Twinkie” shape – these are called canoe pans or, you can order a Hostess® Twinkie brand pan from the internet. If you don’t care about the shape being like the original Twinkie, you can use a bundt pan to make a giant twinkie bundt cake, or a muffin tin to make twinkie cupcakes.
Make sure your pan is non-stick; if it isn’t, spray it lightly with a little nonstick cooking spray.
Next, you’ll need an electric hand or stand mixer with a wire whisk attachment and a paddle attachment, a cooling rack, pastry bag, or piping bag, (or large plastic sandwich bag)
Ingredients
This is a great recipe for kids! It’s mostly combining and stirring ingredients together, but the end result is just like the real thing! It’s almost as fun as making a Flaming Banana Split!
For the Twinkie batter, you’ll need: cake flour, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, eggs (separated), butter (unsalted), milk, lemon extract, vanilla extract, cream of tartar, salt, baking powder
For the Twinkie filling, you’ll need: raspberries, cream cheese, butter, fresh lemon juice, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, also known as confectioners’ sugar,
A note about the cake flour: if you don’t have any, make your own for this Twinkie recipe by measuring 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour in a measuring cup; then remove 1 tablespoon of the flour and replace that tablespoon with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.
How to make Lemon Raspberry Twinkies
There are several steps to this twinkie recipe, however it is pretty easy to make. For best results, prep some of the items first.
Prep:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flours with baking powder and salt; set aside
- Separate eggs; reserve yolks in one bowl and egg whites in another
- In a smaller bowl, microwave butter, milk, lemon and vanilla extracts; set aside (you’ll use this butter and milk mixture later)
- Use a stand or hand mixer on medium speed and beat egg whites till frothy; gradually and sugar and cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form; set aside
- Set out the cream cheese and butter (for the filling) so it can get to room temperature
- Preheat oven to 350°F
Combine the ingredients:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar until creamy and pale yellow (you can do this by hand or use the paddle attachment on a stand mixer)
- Add beaten egg whites to the egg yolk mixture; do not mix; just dump the foamy egg whites on top of the egg yolk mixture
- Sprinkle the flour mixture to this and mix on low speed for 10 seconds-just enough to combine
- Make a well on the side of this mixture and pour in melted butter/milk/extracts; fold gently
- Immediately pour batter into non-stick, or lightly oiled baking pan; fill only 1/4 of the way; bake @350°F on middle rack for 18-20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown
- When Twinkies are done; gently remove from pan while they’re still warm and place on a wire rack; refrigerate for 15 minutes while you make the filling
Make the filling:
This Twinkie recipe calls for raspberries. If you’re not a fan of raspberriesk you can substitute with strawberries, blueberries or no berries at all! Just make the vanilla cream filling without the fruit!
- Make the raspberry puree: in a small saucepan on low heat, add raspberries, sugar, cornstarch and fresh lemon juice; cook until raspberries dissolve into a liquid; use a fine meshed strainer and strain seeds from puree
- Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, combine room temperature cream cheese and butter; gradually sprinkle in confectioners’ sugar while continuing to mix
- Pour filling into piping bag (or plastic bag)
- You may have some leftover – if you want,serve a little of the lemon raspberry twinkie cream on the side, or use a little to put on top of cake (s)
Stuff the Twinkies:
- After the Lemon Raspberry Twinkies have cooled, remove them gently from the refrigerator and place upside down on wax paper (due to the high sugar content, I do not recommend using parchment paper – they stick to it. If you must use parchment, lightly spray it with oil first.
- Use a straw or a piping tip to poke holes in the bottom (about 4-5 holes)- make sure your holes are in the middle of the cake
- Pipe the lemon raspberry filling into the little pound cake; plate on serving platter and dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar (optional)
Tips
- Do the Prep steps first; this will help avoid confusion later
- You can use fresh or frozen raspberries or another fruit if you prefer; or no fruit at all in your twinkie recipe
- When you add the beaten egg whites to the batter, DO NOT MIX
- When the batter is ready to go into the pan, work quickly – the success of this recipe depends upon baking the Lemon Raspberry Twinkies while the batter is still fresh. Do not wait a couple of minutes or a couple of hours to bake these after the batter is combined
- These little snacks are delicate, so be careful when removing them from the pan.
- I’ve found they’re easiest to fill when they’ve been refrigerated for a while
Variations
You can easily turn this individual Twinkie recipe into a cake or cupcakes!
Simply assemble the ingredients in a single layer in a cake pan or muffin tin. When it’s time to add the filling, you can either follow the recipe instructions below for the individual Twinkie recipe, or slice the cake or cupcakes in half, layer the filling, the place the tops back on!
You might have more than enough filling leftover, so feel free to use that as icing for your Twinkie cake or Twinkie cupcakes!
Surprise your kids by making this homemade Twinkie recipe! They’ll be amazed at how good they are and it will save you a trip to the grocery store!
Storage and make ahead
Due to the all-natural ingredients, the shelf life of this Twinkie recipe is about 5-7 days. Store them in a plastic container in the refrigerator in an air tight container. When ready to serve, allow to come to room temperature.
As for making these ahead of time, you can bake them then store them in an air tight container in the refrigerator with or without the filling.
If you want to fill the Twinkies right before you serve them, be sure to fill them when they’re a litle bit cold.
More dessert recipes
- Flaming Banana Split
- No Bake Lemon Icebox Pie
- Orange Creamsicle Icebox Pie
- Scandinavian Almond Cake
- Foolproof Peach Cobbler
- Classic Southern Pecan Pie
- Classic Buttermilk Pie
If you make this recipe, please scroll down and leave a comment and rating! I love to hear from you!
Lemon Raspberry Twinkie Recipe
Equipment
- Stand or hand mixer
- Non-stick Canoe pan or Twinkie pan (See recipe notes about pan)
Ingredients
Twinkie Batter Ingredients
- ½ cup cake flour (See Recipe Notes)
- ¼ cup flour, all-purpose
- ¾ cup sugar, granulated, divided ( 6 tablespoons for the yolk mixture; 6 tablespoons for the egg white mixture)
- 5 large eggs, separated
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter, unsalted
Twinkie Filling Ingredients
- 6 ounces fresh raspberries
- 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 stick butter, unsalted, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2½ tablespoons sugar, granulated
- 1½ teaspoons corn starch
- ½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Instructions
Prep
- Preheat oven to 350° F
- Combine cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl; set aside½ cup cake flour, ¼ cup flour, all-purpose, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt
- In a small glass bowl, microwave butter and milk; once that's warm, add lemon and vanilla extracts; set aside2 tablespoons milk, 4 tablespoons butter, unsalted, 2 teaspoons lemon extract, ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Separate eggs; put egg whites in stand mixing bowl and yolks in another big bowl5 large eggs, separated
Make the Twinkie Batter
- With a hand or stand mixer, beat egg whites on high until white and frothy, or foamy5 large eggs, separated
- Gradually add 6 tablespoons sugar and cream of tartar to egg whites; beat continuously until soft peaks form; set aside¾ cup sugar, granulated, divided, ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- In a large bowl, combine egg yolks and 6 tablespoons of sugar; combine until smooth and pale yellow5 large eggs, separated, ¾ cup sugar, granulated, divided
- Add the egg white mixture to the egg yolk mixture - DO NOT MIX THESE TOGETHER; JUST DUMP THE EGG WHITE MIXTURE ON TOP OF THE EGG YOLK MIXTURE
- Sprinkle in the flour mixture you made earlier to the bowl with the egg whites and egg yolks
- Use a mixer and combine on low speed for 10 seconds
- Make a well in this mixture and pour in the butter/milk mixture
- Fold ingredients together gently - do not overwork (about 8 folds)
- Pour batter into an ungreased, non-stick Canoe pan or Twinkie pan; fill each slot only about a quarter of the way
- Bake @350°F for 18-20 minutes, or until the center comes out clean on a toothpick
Twinkie Filling Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine raspberries, sugar, corn starch and lemon juice; cook on medium heat until raspberries turn liquid; strain through a fine strainer and set aside6 ounces fresh raspberries, 2½ tablespoons sugar, granulated, 1½ teaspoons corn starch, ½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- Use a mixer and cream together softened butter and cream cheese16 ounces cream cheese, softened, 1 stick butter, unsalted, softened
- Gradually add powdered sugar in increments4 cups powdered sugar
- Add raspberry puree and combine well; put into a piping bag
- See Recipe Notes for filling the Twinkies
