When Hostess Revived These Iconic Discontinued Snack Cakes, They Weren't The Same

Here at Tasting Table, we're card-carrying fans of Little Debbie oatmeal creme pies and Entenmann's mini crumb cakes. Admittedly, there are some retired Hostess snacks that we'll probably never eat again (so long, Shrek Twinkies). But, by our count, other discontinued snack cakes deserve a comeback. Sweet-toothed foodies: We invite you to join us on a trip down memory lane and into the jungle. Hostess' Tiger Tails are a flavor of Twinkies that have seen more than a few metamorphoses over the decades. 60 years later, faithful fans still remember the originals.

Tiger Tails first hit shelves in 1966. Befitting the jungle cat moniker, that signature golden sponge cake exterior was striped in raspberry jelly and covered in shredded coconut. On the inside, Tiger Tails sported the same white creme filling of regular Twinkies, and in 1966 they cost just $0.29. Then, the playful snack cake was pulled from shelves and faded away unceremoniously; exactly when or why is unclear. Tiger Tails saw brief comebacks in 1986, 2013, and yet another in 2020 as a Walmart-exclusive product. But, 21st-century Tiger Tails were not the same snack cake that longtime fans had come to know and expect.

When "Tiger King" mania swept Netflix viewers like a tidal wave in 2020, Hostess brought back Tiger Tails as a limited-edition product. This time, however, the interior white creme filling was replaced with a neon orange creme filling, and the exterior raspberry jelly stripes and coconut shavings were nowhere to be found. The two versions of the treat were completely different, alike in name alone. 

A YouTube video gives the 2020 iteration of Hostess' Tiger Tails a ravingly positive review. "It's got a great smell to it, and it's a very strong orange creme flavor. Just like a creamsicle," says the poster. The foodie also notes that the refreshing, airy orange creme taste complements the flavor of the classic golden Twinkie snack cake surrounding it. Other customers, however, were less pleased. A comment on the video waxes nostalgic, "I loved the old Tiger Tail. Raspberry. Didn't they have coconut on them. To die for." 

Considering the product was revived three times, consumer demand for Tiger Tails has apparently remained throughout the years in some significant capacity. When the snack made its 2013 comeback, it arrived with a coconut creme filling (no flakes) and a raspberry topping. These cakes were also packaged in a new tiger-print wrapper. Ultimately, though, the cake's most recent revamp seems less about actual customer demand for the raspberry-coconut Tiger Tails they knew than a window for Hostess to capitalize on a popular docuseries. The back of the 2020 box was even printed with the tagline, "For all the coolest cats and kittens, try Tiger Tails" – a nod to "Tiger King" star Carole Baskin's iconic catchphrase.

Orange-creme-filled snacks were an opportunistic revamp of a tiger-adjacent product that was already in the company's existing oeuvre. Maybe the original raspberry-coconut Tiger Tails of yore took an eventual backseat to Snoballs – another packaged snack cake in the Hostess lineup that's coated in pink-hued coconut flakes. Although, despite their pink color, Snoballs don't have any raspberry flavor in the mix.