How many calories are in a Twinkie?
One Twinkie weighs 42 g and carries 157 calories. Per 100 g the cream-filled sponge cake runs 374 calories. The two-cake package most people open is 314 calories, and 15.7 g of sugar sits in a single cake. Almost two thirds of the weight is carbohydrate.
You'd need to walk about 31 minutes to burn the 157 calories in one cake (42 g).
How long does it take to burn off a Twinkie?
One cake (42 g) is 157 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb
| Activity | Time to burn 157 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 31 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 20 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 22 min |
| Jogging | 18 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 35 min |
Times are for a 155 lb adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (42 g); change it to what you actually ate. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Twinkie quick facts
- US servings, from one ounce to a three-pack
- Hostess flavors and mini cakes
- Sugar and sodium are the rows to watch
- How does a Twinkie compare?
- Most popular twinkie brands
- Twinkie FAQs
Twinkie quick facts
The generic record for this cake is USDA SR Legacy 174943, "Cake, snack cakes, creme-filled, sponge". It is the only USDA entry that describes exactly what a Twinkie is — an oblong sponge cake piped full of creme — and carries a full nutrient panel plus a household measure of one cake at 42 g. Brand records exist too, and they are handy for a specific flavor, but they only reproduce what is printed on the wrapper.
That 42 g is worth pausing on. The Hostess wrapper calls a single original Twinkie 38 g and 140 calories, so the USDA cake is 4 g heavier and 17 calories bigger. Neither number is wrong. They are two measurements of a snack cake that has changed size over the years, and 4 g of sponge is enough to move the total.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 cake (42 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 374 | 157 | — |
| Total fat | 11.54 g | 4.8 g | 6% |
| Saturated fat | 4.14 g | 1.7 g | 9% |
| Carbohydrate | 64.03 g | 26.9 g | 10% |
| Dietary fiber | 1 g | 0.4 g | 2% |
| Total sugars | 37.3 g | 15.7 g | — |
| Protein | 3.47 g | 1.5 g | 3% |
| Sodium | 470 mg | 197 mg | 9% |
| Cholesterol | 41 mg | 17 mg | 6% |
| Potassium | 71 mg | 30 mg | 1% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
There is no added sugars row above, and that is not an oversight. The SR Legacy edition of this record does not carry that nutrient at all, so we cannot put a number on it. What we can say is that a sponge cake and a shortening-based creme have almost nothing in them that brings sugar naturally, so the 37.3 g per 100 g is very close to all added. The %DV column follows the FDA Daily Values for a 2,000-calorie day.
US servings, from one ounce to a three-pack
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | 28 g | 106 kcal |
| One cake | 42 g | 157 kcal |
| Two cakes, one package | 84 g | 314 kcal |
| Three cakes | 126 g | 471 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 374 kcal |
Only the single cake and the 100 g row come straight from USDA. The ounce, the package and the three-cake row are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings.
The ounce is the trap here. At 28 g it is two thirds of a cake, so anyone logging "1 oz snack cake" and calling it done is about 50 calories short of the thing they actually ate. The package is the honest unit for most people: two cakes come sealed together, and few open one and save the other. That is 314 calories, 53.8 g of carbohydrate and 31.3 g of sugar in a snack that takes ninety seconds to eat.
Three cakes, 471 calories, is roughly a quarter of a 2,000-calorie day. It is also more calories than most sit-down breakfasts on MyPlate, which is the comparison that tends to land with people who log their food.
Hostess flavors and mini cakes
Every flavor below is a Hostess label record in USDA's Branded database, so the serving is whatever the wrapper declares — usually two cakes, sometimes one, and four for the minis.
| Version | Per 100 g | Label serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original golden sponge cake | 368 kcal | 1 cake (38 g) | 140 kcal |
| Chocolate Cream | 325 kcal | 2 cakes (77 g) | 250 kcal |
| Banana | 364 kcal | 2 cakes (77 g) | 280 kcal |
| Mixed Berry | 351 kcal | 2 cakes (77 g) | 270 kcal |
| Orange Creme | 338 kcal | 2 cakes (77 g) | 260 kcal |
| Glazed mini cakes | 354 kcal | 4 pieces (65 g) | 230 kcal |
Chocolate Cream is the lightest of the six per 100 g at 325 calories, and its 250-calorie package is the smallest of the two-cake flavors. Banana tops that list at 280 for two cakes — but two original cakes at the label weight work out to 280 as well, by our own arithmetic on the 140-calorie single. So banana is not the calorie upgrade people assume; it is the same package, differently flavored.
The glazed minis look like the small choice and mostly are: 230 calories for four pieces, 65 g in total. Per piece that is under 60 calories, which is the only Twinkie format that fits a snack budget without eating half a package.
Sugar and sodium are the rows to watch
Sugar is the headline. One cake carries 15.7 g, a package 31.3 g. Total sugars have no Daily Value on the label, and USDA's record for this cake does not split added from natural, so the honest answer is that we will not do that percentage — we would be inventing the split. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest keeping added sugars under 10 percent of daily calories, and a sponge cake with creme filling clearly spends a chunk of that.
Sodium is the row nobody expects on a dessert. One cake is 197 mg, 9 percent of the 2,300 mg Daily Value; the package is 394 mg, 17 percent. That is a sixth of the day's sodium hiding inside something sweet. If you are watching sodium, that is worth knowing before you treat a Twinkie as a free snack.
Saturated fat lands in the same place: 1.7 g in a cake, 3.5 g in a package, so a package is 17 percent of the day's 20 g. Protein does nothing for you here — 1.5 g per cake, 3 percent DV — and fiber is a rounding error at 0.4 g. Nothing in the panel will keep you full, which is the practical reason a Twinkie eaten at 4 p.m. rarely stops at one.
How does a Twinkie compare?
| Baked good | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twinkie | 374 kcal | one cake, 42 g | 157 kcal |
| Blueberry muffin, commercial | 375 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 106 kcal |
| Cinnamon sweet roll with raisins | 372 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 105 kcal |
| Cheese danish | 374 kcal | 1 oz, 28 g | 106 kcal |
The three neighbors have no household piece in USDA's data, so they are priced by the ounce; the Twinkie row is a real cake. Per 100 g the four are almost indistinguishable — 372 to 375 calories, a spread of three.
Our take: the calorie density argument is a wash, so choose on what the calories are made of. The cheese danish packs 21.9 g of fat and only 37.2 g of carbohydrate per 100 g; the Twinkie flips that, 11.54 g fat against 64.03 g carbohydrate. If you want the smallest fixed portion, the Twinkie wins by construction — it comes in a 42 g unit, while a bakery muffin is often 100 g or more and there is no natural place to stop. For weight loss, a single cake at 157 calories is the easiest of these four to fit into a day. For staying full, none of them work; 1.5 g of protein and 0.4 g of fiber will not carry you to dinner.
Most popular twinkie brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake, Chocolate Cream | 325 cal |
| Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake | 368 cal |
| Hostess Twinkies Banana | 364 cal |
| Hostess Twinkies Mixed Berry | 351 cal |
| Hostess Twinkies Orange Creme | 338 cal |
| Hostess Glazed Twinkies Mini Cakes | 354 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Twinkie FAQs
How many calories are in one Twinkie?
157 calories for one 42 g cake, the household serving in USDA's record, which runs 374 calories per 100 g. The Hostess wrapper for the original describes a slightly smaller 38 g cake at 140 calories, so depending on which cake is in your hand the answer sits between 140 and 157.
How many calories are in a package of two Twinkies?
314 calories for two 42 g cakes, which is our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure rather than a USDA serving. Using the Hostess label instead, two original cakes come to 280. Either way the package carries about 53 g of carbohydrate and roughly 31 g of sugar.
How much sugar is in a Twinkie?
15.7 g of total sugars in one 42 g cake, or 37.3 g per 100 g. A two-cake package comes to 31.3 g. USDA's record does not report added sugars separately for this cake, so no percentage of the added-sugar limit is given here — but sponge cake and creme bring almost no natural sugar.
How many carbs are in a Twinkie?
26.9 g of carbohydrate in one cake, 10 percent of the Daily Value, from 64.03 g per 100 g. Fiber is 0.4 g, so essentially all of it counts as net carbs. A package of two lands at 53.8 g, which is more carbohydrate than two slices of sandwich bread.
Do Twinkies have protein?
1.5 g per cake, 3 percent of the Daily Value, from 3.47 g per 100 g. Even a full package gives you under 3 g. That is the reason a Twinkie reads as empty calories in a food log: 157 calories arrive with almost no protein and almost no fiber to slow them down.
How much sodium is in a Twinkie?
197 mg in one cake, 9 percent of the 2,300 mg Daily Value, from 470 mg per 100 g. A two-cake package is 394 mg, or 17 percent of the day. That is about a sixth of your sodium allowance spent on a dessert, which surprises most people who only think of sodium in savory food.
Are banana Twinkies higher in calories than original?
No, banana Twinkies are 280 calories for a two-cake package of 77 g, and two original cakes at the Hostess label weight come to 280 as well, by our own arithmetic. Per 100 g banana is 364 against the original's 368. The flavor changes; the calorie math does not.
Is a Twinkie worse than a blueberry muffin?
Per 100 g they are the same: 374 calories for the cake, 375 for a commercially prepared blueberry muffin. The difference is portion and composition. A Twinkie arrives as a fixed 42 g piece at 157 calories, while a bakery muffin often weighs over 100 g and carries more fat, 16.07 g per 100 g.
Similar foods
- Salami — 102 cal for 3 slices
- Summer Sausage — 203 cal for 4 slices
- Torta — 215 cal per serving
- Coconut — 283 cal per cup, shredded
- Prime Rib — 340 cal for 3 oz slice
- Brie — 95 cal per oz
Count it without the math
Point the camera at the wrapper and BodyPal counts the cake for you, creme and all.
