Suzy Q,...... Baby I love you!

One of the downsides to living away from everything is that when you get a craving for something, you know.... um.... bad for you.... it's tough to get. Tonight it was Hostess Suzy Q's. I became a woman on a mission.

The cake was easy. Use a dark chocolate cake mix - preferably devil's food or a fudge one - I had a dark chocolate fudge mix just sitting in my pantry..... go figure! The only change I made to it was to use more oil than it called for - the box says 1 1/3 cups water, 1/2 cup oil and 3 eggs. I basically swapped the oil & water measurements..... try it next time you make a cake - it'll be beyond moist.

I baked the cake according to the package directions - but I used a mini-loaf pan. You can use muffin pans if that's what you have - you could even make a huge Suzy Q with a sheet cake pan! However, it might be a bit tough to handle!! Allow the cake to cool completely in the pans - oh and make sure you get some Baker's Joy spray. It'll save your sanity. Once the cakes are cool, make the filling. I played around and finally opted to use the filling from the Twinkie knock off found here.

After you've made the filling, you'll need to get the cakes ready. Baker's Joy spray is my friend. The little cakes just dumped right out of the pan... like magic!!

Anyway.... first things first - get a VERY sharp, serrated knife and carefully cut off the top of the cakes - you don't want ANY part that's even remotely crunchy... and the tops will be. Not to mention they will be rounded, lumpy etc... definitely NOT looking Suzy Q'ish at all. Save the tops -you never know when you might want a little piece of chocolate cake numminess! Put them in a container and toss in the back of the freezer! Or, if you go overboard like I did, you can make a double recipe of the filling and eat it with the cake tops.

Once you've removed the top of the little cakes, carefully cut them in half so you're left with two slices. Make the top slice a little thicker - removing the slightly crunchy part ruins the structural integrity of the top slice so handle with care. Oh do me a favor would ya? Be sure you make a big 'ole mess of your counter while you're at it, ok?

Next, plop on a generous helping of the filling. Next time I'll use a pastry bag or something similar. The knife method is um.... challenging.

Place the top slice on the filling and set each little sandwich on a cookie sheet over a sheet of either waxed paper or parchment. Store loosely covered with plastic wrap - you can leave them out of the fridge for the first day but then they should be kept cold after that.

Yum... and oh man, did these ever induce a sugar coma....

Yep.... definitely yummy!