We were craving Hostess Raspberry Zingers, so we decided to make copycat versions at home instead.
This week’s CopyCaturday experiment takes on the iconic pink coconut snack cake — and let me tell you, it was a journey.
CopyCat Hostess Zingers
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray cake pan with non-stick spray, generously.
- In a mixer bowl, beat the eggs, oil, and water until combined. Add your cake mix in and blend on medium for 2 minutes. Add the pudding mix and beat for another 3 minutes.
- Scoop about 2.5 ounces of batter into each "boar" pan (or muffin tin).
- Bake for 20 minutes, then check for doneness with a toothpick. Once toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven. Allow to cook slightly before removing from pan. Cool completely on wire racks.
- In your clean mixer bowl, combine the butter, shortening, vanilla and salt. Beat on medium-high for about 3 minutes, until it is creamy with no lumps.
- Add the confectioner's sugar. Starting on low, so that you don't create a sugar tornado in your kitchen, then gradually increase speed to high. Beat until light and fluffy.
- Add the marshmallow fluff and beat on high until everything is light, airy, and looks like clouds.
- Boil the water, add the jell-o, and stir until it dissolves. Stick in the fridge for 30+ minutes until it is thick but not fully set. You want it syrupy, not jiggly.
- While that is chilling, pulse your coconut in a food processor until the flakes are small. Dump it into a shallow dish and add 2 tbsp cornstarch. Mix it up. If it's clumpy, add another tablespoon of cornstarch until its loose and easy to roll in.
- Using a knife, cut a small slit in each cake. Load your filling into an icing bag (or ziplock with the corner snipped off) and pipe it into the cavity. Hold the cake gently so that it doesn't split. Once fillied, place it cut-side down on a cooling rack.
- Pour your thickened Jell-O into a shallow dish. Roll each filled cake in the jell-o to coat it completely. Work quickly - you want it coated, not waterlogged.
- Immediately roll the jell-o coated cake in the coconut mixture. Place it back on the cooling rack.
- Allow them to sit for about 2 hours to set and "cure". This gives the coating time to stick and the cake time to settle.
- Eat them. Share them. Pretend you didn't eat three before anyone else got one.
This batch of Zingers was made using a homemade yellow cake mix instead of a boxed mix.
The original recipe I referenced used a box mix, but I prefer making my own — so I FrankenNancy’d it.
If you’d rather use a store-bought mix, that works too.
Ingredients
Method
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Add in butter, and using a pastry blender, combine until butter is mostly combined.
- Store in an airtight container and use in place of 1 yellow boxed cake mix.
Copycat Hostess Zingers (CopyCaturday Edition)
Somewhere along the line, Instagram decided Saturdays belong to cats, creating the beloved Caturday.
We love ours — but since they mostly supervise and judge — we started CopyCaturday instead.
One Saturday a month, we recreate a restaurant or brand favorite and decide if it’s close enough to skip buying the original.
This CopyCaturday recipe takes on Hostess Raspberry Zingers to see if a homemade version is worth the effort!
Making Copycat Hostess Zingers: The Setup
I went into this fully prepared. Ingredients measured and lined up in order.
I even bought the actual Hostess Zingers so we could do a proper comparison.
What could go wrong?
Round One: The Pan Disaster
The first batch. I had to dig these out with my hands.
Everything went wrong.
While researching methods for baking Zinger-style cakes in a Twinkie pan, I noticed several recipes didn’t mention greasing the pan at all — which didn’t feel right to me. I split the difference and lightly greased the pan with shortening before baking.
That was not enough.
The first batch of copycat Hostess Zingers stuck to the pan so badly I had to dig them out by hand. The cakes came out in pieces, with chunks missing and bottoms torn clean off. There may have been colorful language
Keep in mind, while the first batch was baking, we were trying to move to step two, the filling. But today was Zingerfest Day (although at this time, we did NOT know this, or we may have ditched the whole idea!) and we couldn’t find the paddle attachment for the mixer. Thirty minutes of searching while parts of the mixed filling sat there waiting. By the time we found it, I’d already started the filling with the whisk attachment, then switched mid-mix to the paddle. The filling turned dense and frosting-like instead of light and fluffy.
I was ready to call the whole thing off.
Round Two: Redemption (Sort Of)
Second batch came out! Fat on the bottoms because I overfilled them, but they released from the pan.
After seeing how badly the first batch stuck, I stopped being conservative and thoroughly coated the pan with cooking spray for the second batch. This time, the cakes actually came out. They were a little thick on the bottoms (I overfilled the wells), but they were INTACT. Twinkie-shaped. Recognizable.
Progress.
The Process: Filling, Soaking, Rolling
We piped the filling into three spots per cake instead of the one the recipe suggested. Zach handled the piping, which meant I had the camera ready — because he always squeezes too hard and pops the tip out mid-fill.
And this time, I got it on video. Classic.
Next time, we plan to pipe into the BOTTOM of the cake.
Then came the jello soak (which took forever to thicken, not the 15-30 minute suggestion I saw somewhere), followed by rolling each cake in shredded coconut and cornstarch mix. The coconut stuck to the tacky jello coating perfectly. Finally, something went right.
After a two-hour set in the fridge, we had seven Copycat Hostess Zingers that actually looked like Zingers.
The Trifle Salvage Operation
All those mangled cakes from the first batch? I wasn’t wasting them. I layered the broken pieces with the leftover filling, jello-soaked them, added coconut, and made a Zingers trifle.
It looked pretty good, actually.
Until Jemma (our pittie) got on the counter while I was in the back and Zach was out doing laundry. Because, dogs. She helped herself to a good portion of it. Zach managed to salvage two bites from a corner she hadn’t touched.
He said trying it was a mistake — because now he knew what he was missing.
Was It a True Copycat Hostess Zingers?
Ours on the left, Hostess on the right. Ours are paler pink, bigger, and have way more filling.
Honestly? Ours might be better.
The homemade Copycat Hostess Zingers are lighter in color (pale pink instead of that artificial red), bigger, and have way more cream filling thanks to our three-spot piping method. The coconut coating is generous, the jello soak gives them that signature raspberry flavor, and the cake itself is soft and moist.
Zach preferred ours. I thought both were good, but I’d make ours again.
Hostess has their process down to a science for mass production, but homemade wins on flavor and texture — even after a disastrous first batch.
Will We Make It Again?
Maybe. But next time:
I’m verifying Zach has the paddle attachment BEFORE we start
I’m using way less batter per well
I’m using cooking spray instead of shortening to grease the pan
I’m keeping the dog off the counter (yes, this SHOULD be a given, but Jemma, she’s a special duck)
The Copycat Hostess Zingers turned out great in the end, but it was a battle. If you’ve got patience and don’t mind a little chaos, they’re worth making. Just be prepared for things to go sideways.
Nancy’s Remix Ideas
Now that I’ve nailed the original, 😂, I’m already thinking about variations:
Coconut Cream Zingers: Swap the marshmallow filling for coconut cream
Lemon Zingers: Lemon jello soak, lemon curd filling, candied lemon peel (or naked like a Twinkie)
If those happen, you’ll see them here!
Caturday Recipes Aplenty!
If you’re on the hunt for more weekend kitchen experiments, here are a few of my favorite copycat resources:
- Top Secret Recipes — tons of paid restaurant copycats (or get 8 free a month with a membership).
- CopyKat.com — hundreds of free recipes, plus cookbooks available on Amazon.
Some of my favorite cookbooks to explore these recipes:
Want to see what we’ll CopyCaturday next? Check out the rest of our cozy kitchen experiments in the CopyCaturday Series.