I have been giving the deep-fried twinkies at the fair a lot of thought the past couple of days. There just seems to be something inherently wrong with deep-frying cake. I know they get all kinds of raves, but I think mine must be a bit of a rant. I suppose if you are into healthy eating, cupcakes aren’t really the way to go either, but I just can’t see making it worse by the addition of deep frying. So I won’t. 
Bear with me, though. Twinkies are not yummy for me. They kinda have a ‘shelf life of 100 years’ taste to me, but the idea of a cream filled sponge cake–well, really, THAT sounds good. So, why don’t you try this version instead? No preservatives, I promise…
Cupcake Ingredients
- 12 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 to 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat ovento 350 . Place paper baking cups in 24 muffin cups.
- Beat egg yolks and water with electric beater until lemon colored. Add 1/2 cup sugar and continue beating until light yellow.
- Sift together the remaining sugar, flour, salt and baking powder.Fold dry ingredients and vanilla extract into egg yolk mixture.
- Divide evenly between muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until top springs back when lightly touched. Remove from pans, cool completely.
Filling Ingredients
- 1 cup half ‘n half
- 5 tbsp flour
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Mix half ‘n half and flour in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until thickened. Remove from heat and mix in butter until combined. Cool completely. Add remaining ingredients and with a stand or electric mixer beat until light and fluffy. Using pastry bag, fill cupcakes with filling. Enjoy!
- Alternatively, you could use fresh whipped cream to fill sponge cupcakes, but this filling is quite yummy–and holds up a bit better than the whipped cream.
