Chocolate Twiggies/Twinkies

[Rant mode on.]

People can be so thick.

The media has been buzzing with news about flight MH370 lately, which departed for Beijing yesterday. It was due to arrive in 6 hours but just 2 hours after the plane took off, all contact with the ground stations were cut off and the plane couldn't be located. The entire plane had vanished, 239 people on board and all.

Authorities have been questioned and the government has been interviewed but until now, there hasn't been any news other than two of the passengers apparently boarded the plane with stolen passports. Since there hasn't been any news of any wreckage, the most plausible assumption would be that the plane has been hijacked. While it isn't a good thing per se, it seems better than a plane crash because then everyone on board would still be alive and the chance for them to come home safely is still there. So why are people spreading rumors that the plane crashed ? Why is it that, when I log on to any social networking site (especially one that rhymes with Bacefook), I see people say, aside from the usual "pray for MH370" or "May the passengers be returned safely", "my condolences to the families of victims for their loss ?" While I deem the first two statements acceptable (even though there are some cynics who have questioned how many actually said a prayer for the passengers on board), I find the latter statement unnecessary. Come on people, no deaths have been confirmed, so stop acting like a know-it-all by saying that they'll never make it out alive. Have hope, please. 

Radio stations have taken to giving regular updates about any finds regarding this issue. Since there hasn't been anything new for, oh, the last ten hours or so, some have taken to interviewing some pilots/regular listeners/a lady who was supposed to be on the flight but didn't make it on board. Her excuse was that she just didn't feel like boarding the plane. Good for her, and believe me, while I am glad that it means once less person on board the missing plane, I was pretty annoyed when she announced that she didn't make it on board because "God had bigger plans for her" and that "she was born with a mission and she still had to fulfill it before she passed on." Lady, are you implying that the 239 missing people have no missions in life ? Or that God does not have any plans for them ? I choke on my green tea. Pah.

I am comforted in a way, to see that so many of us have put out wishes and prayers for the missing passengers, whether sincere or not (I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt). But still, there are some souls who, I suppose, mean well, but when they put their thoughts into words, make me want to thwack them with a frying pan. I guess the words sounded a lot better in their heads.

I refuse to give up hope. I believe that everyone on board that plane is still alive and I am hoping  and praying with all my might that they will all make it back safe and sound.

[Rant mode off.]

On a brighter note, I made Twinkies ! Or Twiggies, if you live in Malaysia like me (though I suspect Twiggies are a rip off the ol' American classic). I used to eat them for breakfast when I was a kid in primary school or bring to with me to school for recess breaks. Unlike the cool kids, I was never given enough pocket money to buy cafeteria food until I turned 14. Which meant around 11 years of bringing packed food in plastic tupperwares to school. Not that I minded, since most of the time it means French toast with sugar or muffins or sweet buns, and yes, Twiggies/Twinkies. Anyways my best friend's mom at the time, who would pick us both up after school, bought me ice cream on a regular basis. And I wondered why I was a chubby kid..

It's been years since I last had a Twiggie. Not only because I decided it would be better for my waistline to not eat the entire pack of two between my breakfast and lunch, and also having discovered the joys of scrambled eggs and nuggets for - erm, lunch. Oxymoron. But I digress. They just don't seem to taste as wonderful as they used to, or maybe that's because I don't have recess time snacking to look forward to anymore. Anyway, I decided to try making them at home, having spotted so many bloggers making them a little while ago (and at the same time making the discovery that these finger-canoe-cakes actually existed outside Malaysia, albeit under a different name). Did they turn out exactly as I remembered them ? No, because I don't remember how they tasted like when they were at their best. That was so many years ago. But these babies, the homemade ones, are softer and lighter than their factory-made counterparts, probably due to the beaten whites that are folded in at the last minute. I love the plain vanilla ones but my sister has been hinting at some chocolatey baked goods (this was the same person who said she was tired of brownies. Huh ?) so I added some cocoa powder into the batter. I wanted the filling to be creamy and sweet like I imagined it to be so I improvised and practically just threw the ingredients into the mixer. The recipe below is my approximate version of it so if it goes wrong, please let me know.

I've never seen the canoe molds anywhere around either, so I made my own using some foil and a spice bottle. It's kind of fun folding and crimping the foil, a little like being back in kindergarten, making boats out of paper to float on the ponds outside the class. See, there's something about recreating these childhood treats that makes you feel like you're five again. Other than popping a cold, chocolatey cake filled with sweet cream into your mouth without the hassle of having to head back to class after. And, for the record, regardless of what the original name is, they will always be Twiggies to me.

P.S: sorry about the ugly pictures. They're impossible to photograph - they look like brown logs. Taste a lot better, though.

P.P.S: do not overfill them. Tempting as it might seem, you could potentially end up with 10 exploded Twiggies. Not that it's a bad thing - the more filling, the merrier, I say - but then they might stick together when you try to put them away. That's when things really get messy. 

Chocolate Twiggies (Twinkies)

Recipe adapted from this site.

For the cake:
90g cake flour
13g cocoa powder
128g sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cold water

1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, separated

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Spray a canoe pan with non stick spray or butter them instead. If you don't have a canoe pan (which I don't), you can make your own Twinkie molds by following the instructions here. She even has pictures of how to make them !
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, cold water, vanilla extract and egg yolks. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet, stir until just combined.

3. In a stand mixer or by hand, whip the egg whites till they form stiff peaks. Fold in a quarter of the whites into the chocolate batter to lighten it a little, then fold in the rest of the whites in two batches. Do not over mix, just fold until you can't see streaks of white any more. 

4. Pour the batter into a measuring jug with a spout - this makes it easier to pour it into the molds. Pour the batter into the molds until they're 3/4 full, bake them for 10-15 minutes, until they spring back when lightly pressed and a skewer inserted comes out clean. 

5. Remove from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes in the pans or molds. If using pans, turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely. If using the makeshift molds, carefully peel away the foil from the cakes and set them on wire racks to cool completely. Be careful as they're soft and fragile.

For the filling:
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme
3 tbsp shortening
1/3 cup icing sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup whipping cream

1. In a stand mixer fixed with the whisk attachment, beat the shortening until fluffy, then add the marshmallow cream and salt. Beat until incorporated.

2. Add the icing sugar and beat in. Pour in the whipping cream and turn the speed up to high and whip until the mixer is fluffy and holds firm peaks. 

3. Put the filling into a piping bag fitted with a plain tip. Pipe the filling into the bottom of the cakes in three places - just stick the tip of the piping bag into the bottom of the cake and squeeze in the filling. When it's full, you'll meet some resistance and the piping bag with be pushed out of the cake. You want to squeeze in a lot of filling but not so much that the cake explodes on you so fill with care. Once they've been filled, you can eat them straight away or just chill them in the refrigerator for 10 minutes so the filling sets up a little (my preference).