How to make a Twinkie Ice Cream Cake

Twinkies are an American icon, aren’t they? Even though I’m not much of a snack cake eater myself, I felt a little twinge of regret last November when I heard that Hostess was going out of business. Followed by a little giggle at the folks who were stockpiling Twinkies!

So it was nice to hear that Hostess had been revived and many of their products were going back into production again! Walmart and Hostess asked the Walmart Moms to help celebrate “The Sweetest Comeback Ever” by creating a recipe using one of the Hostess products.

So while I enjoy Donettes, Hunny Buns, Ho Hos, and Ding Dongs, I knew that I had to create a treat using Twinkies! The products hit the stores again (starting with the Twinkies and Donettes) in mid July. I was actually a bit nervous about finding them at my Walmart–some of the other bloggers were reporting empty shelves (folks were snapping them right up!). But my local Walmart had a nice, big , endcap display full of them–and for a good price!

I briefly considered trying my hand at Deep Fried Twinkies (like they sell at the state fair) but the unusually hot weather changed my mind. I wasn’t about to deep fry ANYTHING. So I decided to go completely in the other direction and try something frozen. A Twinkie Ice Cream Cake!

Making this cake was simple, and only took 4 ingredients. Twinkies. Cool Whip. Ice Cream. Yellow Sugar or Sprinkles.

Start by taking out a half gallon of vanilla ice cream and leaving it on the counter to soften. While it is softening, line your loaf pan with wax paper–of you can just use a silicon loaf pan like I did.

Once the ice cream is soft, simply layer the bottom of the pan with unwrapped Twinkies and spoon the soft ice cream over them. Freeze the entire thing overnight.

Unmold your ice cream cake onto a serving platter. I like to run a bit of warm water around the outside of the pan to help loosen things up, then I use a butter knife to make sure that the cake is loose all the way around before flipping it out of the pan. Use cool whip to “frost” your ice cream cake, cover it liberally with yellow sugar or yellow sprinkles (so it looks like a big Twinkie!) and then return it to the freezer for at least an hour before serving.

Cut in slices and enjoy!

Wondering what else folks could possibly come up with for recipes? Well the rest of the Walmart Moms did some really creative things! Mommy’s Kitchen made a Banana Split Twinkie Cake, Rock’in Mama made a Hostess Cupcake Milkshake, A Cowboy’s Wife did Chocolate Dipped Twinkies with Strawberry Glaze, Lille Punkin made Easy Hostess Ice Cream Cupcakes, Hoosier Homemade did Twinkie Strawberry Shortcake Bites, The Domestic Diva did a Twinkie Banana Trifle, and Sophistishe when all out with 3 recipes: Chocolate Donettes Ice Cream, Twinkie Strawberry Sponge Cake, and a Cupcakes Cake.