Hostess: the CupCake no longer beloved

by Sarah Gilbert, Posted Nov 4th 2005 @ 11:57AM

When I was little, the treats I literally dreamed of came in packages with blue letters and a red heart: Hostess baked goods. HoHos, Twinkies, DingDongs, Suzie Qs, I loved them all. But it was the Hostess CupCakes that seemed to combine everything good about Hostess: the cream filling, the chocolate frosting, the plentiful devil's food cake.

But now, I'm an adult and my palate has expanded a tad. I've tasted cupcakes from fine bakeries all across the country, and become quite a cupcake chef on my own right. You'd think I would know better. Nope. Last night when my three-year-old asked for the CupCakes as his treat to sustain him (and me) through a late, cranky drive, I handed over my $1.19 and asked him if I could have one. What a disappointment.

The cake was barely moist and when the chocolate hit my tongue, it was redolent of chemicals and had the harsh bite of cheap cocoa. The frosting was almost grainy, tasteless, a sham. The cream filling was the cupcake's only saving grace, but I saw that "partially hydrogenated" stuff on the label. All I could think about was how my GI tract would suffer. I took a few bites for the sugar fix and left the rest to my little boy. Enjoy it while you can, I thought mournfully. For me, the Hostess ouevre is no longer beloved.

Filed Under: Raves & Reviews, Ingredients
Tags: chocolate, dessert

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-04-2005 @12:37PM Misty said... I agree that they are definatly not as good as they used to be, but I still like the Orange Cupcakes from time to time... I wonder if it's because we're getting older or if cupcakes are getting more processed... probally both.
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11-04-2005 @1:13PM E1000 said... What still gets me every time I eat a Twinkie is that they used to have real banana in them. Its hard for somebody as young as me to invision a time in which all prepackaged foods didn�t have as many preservatives as ingredients... one can dream cant they?
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11-04-2005 @1:20PM Punisher2K said... Put chocolate powder on dirt and kids would eat it. As adults we have to steer them away from that crap.

Misty, I think its the later. It's not the same cakes we used to eat. It's all about volume and keeping down the bottom line.

I'm trying to teach my daughter and niece/nephew that the best stuff doesn't come from the grocery store, but from small shops where people actually care about the product.
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11-04-2005 @4:05PM Barbara Carlsen said... The first Hostess cupcake I ever had was a pkg from my pre school graduation in 195someting. We couldn't stay for the party so my teacher gave me the package to take home. I can remember sitting in the car with this wealth of chocolate cupcake in my hot little kid hands. My mother gave me a third of a cupcake every day for the next week! They were the best!
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11-04-2005 @9:05PM Dulce said... Punisher2k, I agree completely with you. I don't remember that the original's tasted any better, though, but then, I never ate a Twinkie with a banana in it! I have iconized Hostess foods, and the Twinkie especially, as the epitome of processed food (and I always suspected that petrochemicals were involved in their manufacture). In the event of a nuclear holocaust, these are the foods that would survive to be discovered by aliens 300 years later.
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11-05-2005 @1:26PM alps said... i never liked them, even as a kid, but then again i have always had a rather discerning palate. My friends always liked them and some still do, I still don't get it.
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