Snacking

We went to the store today because  . . . well, I wanted to make a cake and needed an ingredient for a revised version of the filling.  And because we wanted to get out.  I hadn't been shopping, really, since March 13, fully two months ago.  It made me nervous.  We were masked--with filters, even--and had our hand sanitizer.  The store wasn't crowded and there were arrows to direct flow.  Everyone was masked and we all stayed 6' apart.  And yet.  Breathing through the masks made me breathe harder, or the anxiety did. Even breathing, perhaps especially breathing, felt risky.  And my hands felt dirty and contaminated the whole time.  How easily I have gotten out of the habit of being around strangers! Target, which is such a familiar and safe place for me, felt alien and a little scary.  And rationally, I don't even believe it's that dangerous, with the proper precautions, which we were all taking.  Still, I was uncomfortable and ready to get home.  I wonder how long it will be before going to the store feels okay--not safe, just okay.  I think I was surprised by how anxious I was.  I'm just going to have to practice, not often, but intentional.  

But we got the marshmallow cream for the Twinkie Cake I'm making.  See, I shared the Smitten Kitchen recipe on my FB page and a friend encouraged me to make it.  But, referencing the Seinfeld episode about Elaine deeming men "sponge-worthy" or not, I said I wasn't sure if the cake was "flour worthy" because I was careful with my less-than-one-bag remaining.  So the friend offered to find flour and to share if I would make it.  Low and behold, she did!  A bag of flour appeared on my doorstep yesterday.  And so I'm making the cake today.  I told her I would share anything I made with that bag of flour.

It's a good thing she found some, too, because Target was out of flour!  And anything with alcohol (first aid wipes, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol), toilet paper, almost all paper towels, any vegetable seed packets, cleaning spray or wipes like Lysol or Chlorox.  It was surprising, even two months on, to see so many bare shelves.  And the arrows, the plexiglass protecting the employees, the long line of people which was then directed to the right open check out (instead of choosing your own line), marks on the floor where to stand, masks on everyone.  But no masks for sale.  No hand sanitizer to use. And you can't use your own bags so we're all back to plastic, which we'd made such in-roads into avoiding.  

I suppose the Twinkie Cake will be my reward tonight (I'm saving back a few pieces for the family and giving the rest away), a reminder of childhood and simpler times when we drank out of outdoor water hoses, rode in cars without seat belts, sat on the tailgates of moving trucks, didn't have helmets for anything, wandered around without cellphones for contact until the street lights came on, ate Twinkies, who knows what else.  Mercy, if this virus had hit during my childhood, I think we would have all just died--laissez-faire 70s parenting wouldn't have embraced quarantines and distance learning and all that.  Though, there would be fewer objections to vaccines than now.  

I remember when we thought Twinkies were going to disappear, years ago.  Mama and I even bought a pack for the kids to try so they would know what they were.  It was good childhood memories (if not good snacks) for Mama and me, but the kids were nonplussed.  They couldn't figure out why we'd eat such things.  Not just Twinkies but those orange Hostess cupcakes and Ding Dongs and Snoballs and the other snack desserts we brought home.  I liked chocolaty Little Debbie Star Crunches a whole bunch too, but don't remember HoHos or Devil Dogs much.  I do remember that the kid who had any of this in their lunch was the lucky one.  And it was rarely me.  I only remember getting those snacks on car trips when you'd stop at the gas station to use the restroom and fill up.  These weren't the big, fancy convenience stores at gas stations we have now, but sometimes just a rack of chips and a rack of Hostess, and one fridge area for Cokes.  Later there were Corn Nuts.  Today is a veritable travel snacker's paradise.

And yet, I find myself making one homemade. . . . 

Twinkie Bundt
Inspired by, but not the recipe from, Pure Vanilla

Cake
1 cup (225 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 large yolks (save the 2 whites for filling, below)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
2 1/2 cups (315 grams) all-purpose flour
1 cup (235 ml) buttermilk

Filling* I'm using the Fluff recipe.
2 large egg whites
2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

Heat your oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 10-cup Bundt pan, either with butter or a nonstick spray; I like to use a butter-flour spray and go over the pan twice. Bundts are sticky! Fortuntely, this cake is not.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl between each, and then yolks. Add vanilla. Sprinkle batter with salt and baking powder and mix briefly to combine. Add about 1/3 of flour, mix to combine, then half of buttermilk, mixing again just to combine, repeating with next 1/3 of flour, remaining buttermilk then remaining flour.

Dollop batter into prepared pan and spread so that the top is smooth. Bake in heated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out batter-free. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto rack and let cool absolutely completely. You can hasten this along in the fridge; it will take about 45 minutes.

When cake is completely and totally cool, invert it again. If your cake had domed quite a bit in the oven, you can use a serrated knife to level it a little. Then, using a melon baller (my first choice), small spoon or paring knife, scoop out several mounds of cake through the underside, being sure not to cut through top or sides of cake. If using a traditional bundt shape (as I show), I used the larger bloops in the pattern (there are 8) for mine. What happens to the cake bellies you scoop out is between you and your gods.

Combine egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl and place this over a pot of gently simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar dissolves and whites are lukewarm to touch, about 3 minutes. Remove bowl from simmering water and use an electric mixer to beat with a whisk attachment on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla and mix to combine.

Scoop filling into a large piping bag fitted with a large, round tip or plastic bag with the corner cut off and fill the indentations of the cake. Center your cake platter over the cake and invert your filled cake back onto it. If desired, dust lightly with powdered sugar before serving.

This cake keeps at room temperature for up to 3 days. I keep mine under a cake dome.

* A few ways to approach the filling:

• Make the recipe as above. The filling will be a bit soft, but very marshmallow-like. Plus, I’ve engineered the cake to give you the spare egg whites you’ll need.
• Go in a different path. The next two things I’d have auditioned as fillings are Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which I know to be fairly stiff (I’d halve the 4 egg white-level frosting, and see if I could get away with just 8 tablespoons butter) or, as suggested by a clever commenter on Instagram, ABC Kitchen via Martha Stewart’s Marshmallow Frosting which is set with gelatin, which is, I think, exactly what this cake would need as you could keep the great marshmallow frosting flavor but not the softness.
• ***Get real and just buy a jar of marshmallow fluff. Seriously, Sever knew what she was talking about. In her recipe, you beat a 7.5-ounce jar with a 1/2 cup softened butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla and I believe many headaches can be avoided this way. Also: yum.