These homemade Twinkies are my take on the childhood favorite. Twinkies got a vegan makeover with a perfect coconut whipped cream filling!

Once upon a time I made mini loaves of bread in a pan meant for vegan Twinkies. I thought, ‘these look like a mini loaf pan, it will work out great!’. Not so much on the mini loaves, but as it turns out, the pan meant for homemade Twinkies is perfect for just that, making Twinkies!

My boyfriend gave me this pan and the decorating bottle for Christmas last year, and I am just now getting around to using it. He has a tendency to note what I do and don’t have in our packed kitchen cabinets, so lucky for me, I always get something new to play with. This time around, it just took me 6 months to get around to using the pan for what it was intended for, but it was worth the wait. Usually, Swiss Cake Rolls have always been my go-to Hostess snack, but the sweet cake and coconut whipped cream filling in these kind of make me want to change my mind! Don’t be intimidated by the length of the recipe, it’s pretty simple once all the components are ready.

I was envisioning that I would need to do at least a few trail runs to get the cake portion of these homemade Twinkies just right, but the first time was a home run! The cake part of these is outta this world good and has me re-thinking my plans for this bridal shower cake, so I will be testing cake recipes in the next week at least a few more times. Who wants to come over and help me eat lots of vegan twinkies and binge on frosting?

I happened to have this handy bottle for filling the homemade Twinkies, but if you don’t have a bottle like this one, I think a regular piping bag fitted with a metal tip would work just fine. I found that more than 3 holes were needed to get the cake filled all the way and to achieve the Twinkie filling effect. When in doubt, just keep on filling!

Also, if you don’t have a Twinkie cake pan, a mini loaf pan will do, but if you are interested in getting one, I have one similar to this one and it worked perfectly. I based my recipe off of Joy The Baker’s recipe and she also used a foil method to make makeshift Twinkie molds. I also imagine this can be made into one loaf and filled with the filling somehow, as well as baked in muffin tins and filled from the bottom. They wouldn’t be the same Twinkie shape, but would taste the same.

Tips for making homemade Twinkies

Would you believe that Twinkies are as easy as making a basic sponge cake, baking it in a special mold, and then filling it with whipped cream? Seriously, this homemade Twinkie recipe is that simple! However, there are a few things you should remember when whipping up a batch of these babies.

Use room temperature coconut oil—In this Twinkie recipe, the coconut oil is acting as the butter. You need the oil to be solid / room temperature so that it can be creamed together with the sugar. If your oil is liquid, your homemade Twinkies might not turn out right.

Use unsweetened almond milk—Most almond milks on the market are sweetened, even if they’re unflavored. Double check that your almond milk is unsweetened so that your Twinkies aren’t a total sugar bomb.

Don’t substitute another type of flour—Sorry, guys, but now’s now the time to make healthier whole wheat Twinkies. All-purpose flour is a must here, but if you use a flour alternative like oat flour and these Twinkies turn out for you, let me know!

Fill the Twinkies once completely cool—You need to wait to fill these homemade Twinkies until they’ve cooled completely on your countertop. If you fill them while they’re still warm, the coconut whipped cream is likely to run everywhere and you’ll have a huge mess on your hands!

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