"snack cake" news and stories

Think you know your Ho Hos from your Swiss Rolls? Take this snack cake quiz to test your knowledge.

Think you can tell a Yodel from a Ho Ho from a Swiss Roll by sight alone? If so, you're a savvier snacker than we are. Take the quiz, then come back to brag (or sulk) in the comments.

Snack Cake Photo ID Quiz

Originally launched on March 18th, 1967, Hostess Ding Dongs are celebrating 40 years this week as one of America's favorite treats. According to their website, Ding Dongs, (also known as King Dons and Big Wheels depending where you are from) were named for the chiming bells used in vintage Hostess commercials. They have been a staple in children's lunch boxes for decades, and more recently have been the focus of wedding and other celebratory cakes.

I'll be honest, since I've never really been much of a chocolate fan I'm probably one of the very few people on this continent that has never actually ever tasted one. I know, you're going to tell me they are rich, creamy, and delicious - I'll have to take your word on it. Though adding additional sugary-sweet products to already-prepared desserts sounds a little excessive to me, in the spirit of their anniversary I'll leave you with a recipe that features this chocolaty snack cake.

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Nutritionist Bonnie Minsky carries around a prop with her when she has speaking engagements: a cupcake. You wouldn't think that a dietitian would want to have a treat like this around her, especially since it is the processed, packed-in-plastic type of snack cake, but she uses it to make a point about the dangers of trans fats. You see, the Hostess cupcake that she carries is 25 years old. The plastic packaging didn't hold up too well, nor did the frosting, but the cake itself appears to be relatively undamaged.

The cake was intended to be an experiment from the beginning. She purchased the cake in 1981 and "let it site for a few months" to see what would happen. She also purchased an apple at the same time. Of course, the apple began to decompose in fairly short order, but nothing happened to the cupcake. She attributed the lack of change to the presence of partially hydrogenated oil - a.k.a. trans fats - because "the [other] ingredients in the cupcake are all real."

Minsky thinks that the recent moves in Chicago and New York, as well as other cities and countries around the world, to ban trans fats are a good idea. And after seeing what they can do to a cupcake, even if there is no definitive answer about what they do to your body, it doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

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I am a big fan of Tastykakes, but they are in limited supply here in California, so I tend to pick up an extra box or two when I travel back to the Philadelphia area and tuck them into my freezer for safekeeping when I get home. One of the newest products available to Tastykakes fans is Tastykake ice cream. Made with Turkey Hill Ice Cream, there are three decadent flavors to choose from. The Peanut Butter Kandy Kake flavor has vanilla ice cream with cake pieces, chocolate chips and swirls of peanut putter and fudge. The Oatmeal Raisin Bar is cinnamon ice cream with pieces of Tastykake Oatmeal Raisin Bars and plump, juicy raisins. The newest flavor offered, a limited edition, is Chocolate Cupcake, which has milk chocolate ice cream with chocolate cupcake pieces and a chocolate icing swirl. Frosting in ice cream? Now that sounds like the recipe for a sugar rush!  

Unfortunately, I don't think that the ice cream is doing to hold up as well as the snack cakes do in my suitcase. I guess I'll have to wait to try these for myself, but if anyone has had them, let us know what they taste like in the comments - they all sound delicious!