Are you a Hostess fan or a Little Debbie Fan? A few weeks ago we tried Little Debbie Snack Cakes to mixed reviews. (Though who doesn’t love the Nutty Buddy Bar?) This week we bring their direct competitor to the table with Hostess Snack Cakes. Who will come out victorious? And more specifically, which snack cake is the tastiest?
(Listen to the Little Debbie episode here)
Which Hostess Snack Cakes are we trying today?
Cupcake
Snoball
Raspberry Zinger
Baby Bundt with Lemon Drizzle
Ho-Hos
Ding Dongs
Twinkies
Coffee Cakes
Who is on this diabetic nightmare?
Hannah, plays with her food.
Nate, sugar monster.
Matt, a real ho-ho.
Amy, privileged with the Ding Dongs.
And of course, our subscribers! Thanks to our small, yet coveted group. We appreciate the support. You too can join us on this food journey. All you need to do is… SUBSCRIBE!
The History of Hostess
The Hostess brand was founded by the Continental Baking Company, who bought Taggart Bakery, which was the bakery behind the famous Wonder Bread. Along with Wonder Bread, Continental Baking Company wanted to create a line of treats. So in 1919, they launched the Hostess Cupcake. However, this cupcake was not as we know it today. Originally it was just a chocolate cake with a chocolate frosting on top. No swirled frosting, no vanilla cream filling. The cupcake didn’t get its frosting upgrade until 1950.
More than 10 years later, Hostess became snack cake legends with the creation of Twinkies. Created by Jimmy Dewer in 1930, the company’s bakery manager, these spongy treats were a great way for the company to make an inexpensive product during the depression. You could get two Twinkies for a nickel. Again, this is another Hostess treat that started out quite differently. Sure, they always were the oblong spongy cakes, but they were originally banana flavored. For over a decade Twinkies were filled with banana cream filling. However, they switched to a vanilla center during World War 2, as bananas were rationed during the war.
It wasn’t until after World War 2 that Hostess introduced its next famous treat. The SnoBall snack cakes found their way to the store shelves in 1947. These snack cakes are chocolate cakes with a vanilla filling, covered in marshmallow and coconut flakes.
In 1967 Ding Dongs and Ho Hos were introduced.
In 1995, Interstate Bakeries Corporation acquired Continental Baking company for $330 million.
Despite a couple bankruptcies since then, the company now seems to be back on its feet. The Hostess Brand’s product portfolio includes CupCakes, Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, Donettes, SnoBalls, Fruit Pies, various breads, and more.
Which snack cake do you think is the best selling?
Well if you guessed the Cupcake, you would be right. 600 million cupcakes are consumed annually by Americans. That is enough to circle the earth once. Though if you guessed the Twinkie, I won’t fault you. The Twinkie has had its fair share of publicity over the years.
In 1979, Dan White was on trial for the murder of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the United States. White argued that he couldn’t have planned to murder his boss, because of his sugar high from eating too many Twinkies. And this defense strategy worked. White was convicted of manslaughter instead of murder.
Speaking of eating too many Twinkies, in 2013, competitive eater Joey Chestnut won the World Twinkie-Eating Championship, devouring 121 Twinkies in 6 minutes.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton chose the Twinkie as an “object of enduring American symbolism” for the National Millennium Time Capsule.
And of course, the 2009 blockbuster Zombieland followed a man’s quest to find the last Twinkies after the earth was plagued with the living dead.
The Results
**SPOILER ALERT!**
Listen to the episode first if you do not want the results revealed to you yet!
8th Place: Ho Hos
Amy - 3
Hannah - 2
Matt - 3
Nate - 3
7th Place: SnoBalls
Amy - 3
Hannah - 3
Matt - 5
Nate - 1
6th Place: Raspberry Zinger
Amy - 4
Hannah - 3
Matt - 6
Nate - 3
5th Place: Twinkie
Amy - 5
Hannah - 5
Matt - 5
Nate - 5
4th Place: Cupcake
Amy - 6
Hannah - 7
Matt - 5
Nate - 5
3rd Place: Ding Dong
Amy - 8
Hannah - 6
Matt - 5
Nate - 6
2nd Place: Baby Bundt with Lemon Drizzle
Amy - 9
Hannah - 8
Matt - 6
Nate - 7
1st Place: Coffee Cake
Amy - 8
Hannah - 8
Matt - 7
Nate - 9
There you have it. Hostess Coffee Cake receives the Quest for the Best seal of approval. Check out their website to discover all of their yummy treats!
https://www.hostesscakes.com/
Thank you all for joining us on this episode of Quest for the Best. Let us know what you thought. Have you tried all these snack cakes? We would love to hear your rating as well.
Also, do you have any foods you would love to get the coveted seal of approval? Let us know in the comments what you want to hear next.
And of course, remember to subscribe to hear the latest episodes. Additionally, paid subscribers will have access to monthly content where we put two restaurants head to head in a Quest for the Best battle. You definitely do not want to miss out.
SHOW NOTES:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/timeline-the-history-of-hostess-brands
https://www.mashed.com/83028/untold-truth-hostess-cakes/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joey-chestnut-twinkie-eating-contest_n_4169657
Ho-Ho-Hostess