Baby Bundt Cakes. The wonderful Coffee Cakes. The Ding Dongs. The Tropical Blast Twinkies… Hostess has shown that they know how to make a snack cake. Let’s see if they can live up to their hype with the Strawberry Twinkies.
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Who are our Questers today?
Kris, Strawberry Shortcake fan.
Hannah, feeling greasy.
Matt, strangely fishy in the middle.
Amy, smelling for Nate.
A History of Hostess
Nothing new here from our other Hostess episodes. But a good read if you need to brush up on your history.
Listen to the Hostess Quest here.
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 Sno Ball 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.
Now apparently, if you peel back the marshmallow, these are simply a Hostess Cupcake that is upside down.
In 1967 Ding Dongs and HoHos 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!
Hannah: “It tastes chemically.” 4/10
Amy: “This tastes like a normal Twinkie.” 4/10
Kris: “Where’s the strawberry?” 3/10
Matt: “It takes a weird turn.” 3/10
TOTAL: 14/40
There you have it. We do not give the Strawberry Twinkies the Quest for the Best seal of approval. Maybe you want to give them a try? Check out their website for more information on where to find some.
https://www.hostesscakes.com/
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, along with your thoughts on this episode.
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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
LIMITED EDITION: Strawberry Twinkies