14 Hostess Snacks And Treats, Ranked Worst To Best
Some things simply stand the test of time. And if the Pixar film "Wall-E" is to be believed, Twinkies may just be one of those things. In the film, when Wall-E is preparing for a coming dust storm, he unwraps one of these sweet spongy treats and offers it as shelter to his cockroach friend, who happily climbs inside. Since the story takes place in a dystopian world, the moment is a nod to the idea that cockroaches can withstand an apocalypse, and twinkies last a remarkably long time, both in our memory and on the pantry shelf. "Wall-E" is far from alone. Twinkies have cameoed in other famous movies as well, including "Ghostbusters" and even "Die Hard."
While popular, Twinkies aren't the only famous treat Hostess makes. Amongst its impressive offerings, you'll find chocolate cakes, vanilla cakes, and even lemon Bundt cakes. There's something for everyone to love, and there's a variety of ways to joy this seminally important snacking company. While our old favorites always bring back childhood memories, we were absolutely delighted with some of the snacks we'd never had before. So, naturally, we ranked them.
14. Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
We love a great coffee cake. It's crumbly and delicious, and, of course, it's the perfect buddy to one of our favorite beverages: coffee. However, when a coffee cake isn't fresh and comes in packaging, we've come to realize that it's probably going to be pretty severely lacking. Unfortunately, that is the case with Hostess' Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake.
When you unwrap your cake, the first thing you'll probably notice is just how squishy it is. Biting into the little square, you'll see that it tastes like biting into a cake that just hasn't finished cooking. The top, according to the package, should have a streusel texture that looks a little crumbly. Ours, however, was relatively flat and very moist, creating that overly mushy feel. Even still, that top manages to have the slightest grit to it, thanks to the attempt to create a crumble. The inside of the cake was slightly crumbly but still too moist.
In terms of taste, we hoped for more of a cinnamon flavor running throughout, like cinnamon flop cake. Instead, we got a very sugary bite with some cinnamon, but not nearly enough to satiate our hopes for that warm spice. The box image makes it look like there will be strong lines of cinnamon in the cake, but that simply isn't the case. Overall, we don't think the crumble of this cake is going to hold up to what a coffee cake should have when paired with coffee.
13. Powdered Donettes
Recently, the donettes snack line experienced a massive overhaul when Hostess made a packaging change that could make a big impact. In short, the company decided to remove the metal tie-backs from the bags, and they were able to do this without sacrificing the effectiveness of the bag. As a result, these donuts come out as moist and tasty as they are supposed to be.
With powdered donettes, you get exactly what you're hoping for: donuts covered in powdered sugar. The donut itself is moist and soft, and the powdered sugar thoroughly coats it. In fact, our complaint is that there's even too much powdered sugar here and that it is even a little stale tasting. Our donettes batch had no reason to taste stale, but the dullness of the sugar certainly stood out here. That said, if you're really longing for a powdered sugar donut, this will certainly scratch that itch; just be sure to keep an extra napkin nearby to clean up any flyaway sugar.
12. Frosted Donettes
Hostess also offers frosted donuts in addition to the powdered sugar kind. While the previous donuts suffer from too much powdered sugar, frosted donuts suffer from having a chocolate coating that is just a little on the thin side — meaning the chocolate itself tastes thin, not that there isn't enough on the donut itself. In fact, we found these donuts to be well coated in what simply tastes like thin chocolate. The inside is the same as the powdered sugar donuts with a different topping. Because of this difference in the coating, the frosted donuts are perfect for dunking in coffee or milk.
They are also very easy to eat one right after another in a sort of mindless snacking fashion, so be sure to portion out your donettes to avoid accidentally eating a whole bag. Trust us, we're speaking from experience here. Oh, and don't forget to grab something to drink; while the donut is moist, the chocolate is a little dry.
11. Twinkies
If a company is so bold as to make mini versions of its products, you know those treats are popular. In the case of the Twinkie, Hostess now has full-size Twinkies as well as mini versions of its snacks called Bouncers. While we like the mini snack's convenience, we prefer the standard Twinkie size.
Upon biting into a Twinkie, you'll immediately see how moist this cake is. Like sponge cake should be, it's light and very easy to bite. The filling on the inside is also light. If you're looking to switch it up throughout the year, Hostess offers Twinkies in various other limited-edition flavors. From September 1 to November 30 you can find pumpkin spice, December 16 to February 14 is mixed berry season, you can get your hands on mint chocolate between November first and Christmas, and cotton candy has the spring between February 22 and April 6.
While we love the variety, we're not in love with the Twinkie. This classic snack is, quite simply, too moist of a bite. We find that the filling is a little too substantial and makes it feel like you're biting into a whole lot more cream than cake. Straight from the pantry it just feels strange, but if you were to freeze this snack, it becomes infinitely better. It's also a great way to send a Twinkie to school in a lunch box with your little one.
10. Chocolate Cupcakes
Cupcakes are a great treat. They're highly portable, require no cutting to enjoy, and are perfect for small hands to hold. The Hostess chocolate cupcake is, of course, no different. This sweet treat is primarily chocolate cake with a little cream filling on the inside. It's topped with some smooth frosting and an adorable white swirl across the top.
While we love a good cupcake, this treat is basically the same idea as a Zinger, but with a different type of frosting. And, unfortunately for the cupcake, the Zinger's frosting is much better. This smoothed-out version of chocolate frosting has a similar taste, but the texture feels odd when topping a cupcake. As for the cream in the middle, we know this is a commonality among many of Hostess' treats, but it seems a little out of place with a chocolate cupcake. Certainly, some fabulous varieties of cupcakes get filling, but we think Hostess could so do with switching up the type of filling, especially for these.
9. Blueberry Mega Muffin
In addition to offering delicious dessert options, Hostess also brings more breakfast-friendly choices. One such option is the Mega Muffin. These large muffins come in three flavors: banana, double chocolate, and blueberry.
We found the blueberry muffin to be pretty basic with only a slight blueberry taste. If you're looking for a departure from Hostess' other chocolate options, the blueberry muffin would be perfect, but the berries throughout are mostly chopped, with only a few of them actually showing up as the plump blueberries as you might hope for with homemade muffins. We also noticed a stickiness to the muffin, similar to what you might see from a muffin that is a few days old. Of course, this is to be expected of baked goods that aren't fresh, but we found this to be a little off-putting. Even still, the flavor is pretty good and would still be a tasty treat if you're looking for a fruity muffin.
8. Ding Dongs
With an onomatopoeia for a name, this sweet treat is a circle of chocolate cake with vanilla inside and then dipped in chocolate. Upon the first bite, you may or may not reach that vanilla cream, depending on how much you go for it. Unfortunately, the bite will feel a little dry if you don't quite reach the cream. This is because the chocolate on top of chocolate layering has the effect of being (you guessed it) super chocolatey but also a little dry. Once you get there, the cream adds a bit of separation between that rather dry chocolate taste.
We were happy to see that this chocolate coating is quite a bit thicker than the chocolate on the donuts, and this was great because the cake needs a little support around the outside, perhaps more than the donut needed. And we also found this chocolate coating to have a more pronounced, robust chocolate flavor. We wish the cake in this one was as moist as the Twinkie because that chocolate coating would be excellent when paired with that sponge cake.
7. Sweet Coconut Crunch Donettes
The Sweet Coconut Crunch Donettes were definitely our favorite of the donette flavors we tried. The inside feels the same as the others, but we loved the crunch and texture on the outside. The coconut flavor provided a little something different and even helped keep the donut exterior moist. As a result, these were quite enjoyable to snack on.
If you're a big fan of coconut-flavored things, you'll really enjoy these. It would make an excellent pairing with a coconut milk coffee or even an afternoon treat of piña coladas as part of a tropical party spread. On the flip side, if you just don't see the appeal of this tropical food, then you may wish to avoid this one because the coconut taste is quite prominent. On the package's ingredients list, you'll see toasted coconut listed, so that crunch does, indeed, come from actual coconuts.
6. HoHos
According to Busy Beaver Button Museum, HoHos got their start in 1967, and were advertised with a jingle that described them as "candy and cake, all in one." We don't quite buy into the candy part, but this certainly is an easy cake to eat.
After all, if your family wasn't a Twinkie family, there's a good chance you were a HoHo family. This sweet treat is chocolate cake rolled up with cream like a Swiss roll. Then, it's covered in a chocolate frosting. The thickness of the frosting is where between the frosted doughnuts and the Ding Dong.
We liked the rich chocolate of this one and thought it was well-balanced with the cream. Plus, the frosted exterior seems to be the perfect thickness to balance everything else out. Our primary complaint with this one has everything to do with the temperature. Like other Hostess snacks, HoHos do not need to go in the fridge, but these taste so much better when they've seen time in the freezer or the refrigerator. Therefore, we highly recommend taking this extra step and letting it get a little chilled before enjoying it. You'll find that they taste great on their own or as an accompaniment to ice cream. With strawberry custard as your base, you could even chop one of these up to create a chocolate-covered strawberry treat.
5. Cinnamon Swirl Baby Bundts
In the world of sweet cakes that are perfect for any time of day, a great Bundt cake may just be our favorite. But if there's one thing we hate about preparing these sweet treats, it's attempting to get the Bundt cake out of the pan. Thankfully, the Hostess Bundt cakes are so great, you won't feel guilty about not making your own and completely removing that stressor from the equation.
For a cake with a little bit of sweetened cinnamon, check out the Cinnamon Swirl Baby Bundts. The consistency on these cakes is outstanding with a little glaze added to the top for some extra sweetness. The texture is the real winner here because the actual flavor of the cake leaves a little to be desired — we'd like to have a little more of that cinnamon taste. Hostess did a great job balancing that flavor in its lemon Bundt cakes (soon to come), and we wish there were a more balanced flavor here too.
4. Golden Cupcakes
In addition to a chocolate cupcake, Hostess also makes a golden cupcake with chocolate frosting. In taste, this cupcake is very similar to the kind of cake in a Twinkie. It is the same color and has a taste that closely mirrors this other golden treat. The chocolate frosting top and the cream are both the same that you'll find in the chocolate cupcake. While we were admittedly not the biggest fan of the Hostess cupcake in the chocolate variety, we liked the golden one much more. In fact, while the cream seemed like a strange choice in the chocolate cupcake, it made perfect sense here.
In addition to the flavors of cupcakes we tried, there are also orange, birthday, lemon, iced pumpkin during the fall, and holiday flavors during the winter. And while new Hostess products will continue to roll out in coming years, one thing we hope to see is the company offering different flavors, especially on classics like these. That way, we can look forward to seeing what other cupcake flavors emerge to join these tasty options.
3. Double Chocolate Mega Muffin
While we weren't as big of fans of the Blueberry Megan Muffins, we really enjoyed the Double Chocolate variety. We found it moist like the other, but a lot less sticky. As a result, it feels much more like a homemade muffin.
The muffin itself is moist and plenty chocolatey, and the chocolate chips on top even take it to the next level. That said, this muffin is a little on the dense side, so we do not recommend committing to it unless you also have something to drink. We paired it with a glass of milk, which worked perfectly. To be honest, it feels a little odd to have something so chock full of chocolate for breakfast, but for a special breakfast every now and again, it would be perfect. For us, it brought back memories of choosing the chocolate muffin at Perkins for breakfast as though we were eating something other than a glorified giant cupcake.
2. IcednDevil's Food Zingers
Similar to the Ding Dong, a Devil's Food Zinger is a chocolate cake filled with vanilla cream and then topped with chocolate icing. Basically, it's a chocolate cake Twinkie, and we really enjoyed this one. The chocolate cake is perfectly moist, and unlike the Twinkie, the filling does not overwhelm the chocolate. On top, you also get a generous layer of chocolate frosting that is still soft but sturdy enough to hold its shape.
Zingers come in three flavors: devil's food, vanilla, and raspberry. The vanilla option is similar to the Twinkie, but it also has vanilla frosting on top. We think this one has much better proportions than the Twinkie, so if you want a vanilla cake, the vanilla Zinger may be perfect. The raspberry option is like the vanilla one, but it gets a whole raspberry coating that is then rolled in coconut. This one is much different from the Zinger flavors, and we feel it should probably be classified entirely differently.
1. Lemon Baby Bundt Cakes
For lemon lovers, the combination of soft cake mixed with that little bit of zesty bite is a delicious and mouthwatering supposition. So we're thrilled to see that Hostess offers this cute little treat among its options. We like this flavor even more than the cinnamon one.
The Lemon Baby Bundt Cake is a lemon-flavored cake drizzled with a sweet glaze that pools a little in the middle. This cake is wonderfully moist and perfectly tart, just as you hope a lemon cake should be. In fact, it reminds us of one of our favorite pastries from Starbucks: the Iced Lemon Loaf. It's even spongier than the Twinkie, which is an already ultra-spongy cake. We imagine this lemon baby bundt cake would be a delightful treat to enjoy with evening tea or really any time of day. We will say that this snack is a little on the sticky side, so be prepared to either lick your fingers or have a napkin handy.