Hostess CupCake facts for kids
Hostess CupCakes are famous American snack cakes. They are made by Hostess Brands. The most popular one is a chocolate cupcake. It has chocolate icing and a creamy vanilla filling. You can spot it by the seven white squiggles on top! People say it was the very first cupcake made for sale. It's a well-known American treat.
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The Story of Hostess CupCakes
The first Hostess CupCakes were sold on May 10, 1919. They were originally called "Chocolate Cup Cakes." Many believe they were the first cupcakes ever made for people to buy in stores. Hostess even said they were the first snack cake introduced!
Back then, you could buy two cupcakes for just five cents. In the early years, they had different flavors of icing. These included vanilla or even malted milk. In the 1940s, an orange cupcake was made. It had orange cake and orange icing.
But until 1950, Hostess CupCakes did not have any filling. They also did not have the famous white squiggly line on top.
How the CupCakes Changed
In 1947, a person named D.R. "Doc" Rice worked on improving the cupcake. He had started at Hostess in 1938. His ideas led to a new and improved cupcake in 1950.
The white squiggly line was added to the top. This helped people tell Hostess CupCakes apart from other brands. The yummy vanilla cream filling was also added. Doc Rice got this idea from a new machine. This machine could inject filling into Hostess Twinkies. The cake mix and chocolate icing were also made better in 1950.
CupCakes Through the Years
Other flavors have been made over time. These include golden (vanilla cake with chocolate icing) and strawberry.
In 1988, people bought 400 million Hostess CupCakes. By 2011, Hostess was selling over 600 million CupCakes every year!
Hostess Brands faced some money problems in 2012. They stopped making products for a short time. But a new company bought Hostess. They started selling Hostess products again in July 2013. This meant CupCakes were back!
How Hostess CupCakes Are Made
The cakes start with a mix of flour, sugar, cocoa, and water. This mix is called batter. The batter is baked in trays for 17 minutes. They use a very long oven that can make 11,000 cupcakes in an hour!
After baking, the cakes cool down. Then, a machine injects the vanilla cream filling into the top. Next, the cakes move on a conveyor belt. They get covered with chocolate icing on top. A special machine then adds the famous white squiggly line. Finally, the cakes cool again and are wrapped up.
Hostess CupCakes in Pop Culture
Hostess CupCakes have a special place in American culture. Many people know about them. In fact, one survey showed that 97% of people had heard of them!
Hostess CupCakes were once advertised by a cartoon character. His name was Captain Cupcake. He appeared in commercials with Twinkie the Kid. One popular saying was "You get a big delight in every bite." Another famous line was "Hey! Where's the cream filling?"
In Mexico and other Latin American countries, Hostess CupCakes are sold as "Pingüinos." This means "Penguins" in Spanish. They are made by a company called Marinela.
Many food bloggers enjoy making their own versions of Hostess CupCakes at home. They share recipes using both classic and healthier ingredients.
Other Delicious Flavors
Besides the classic chocolate, Hostess offers other flavors.
Standard Flavors
These flavors are available all year round in boxes of eight:
- Orange CupCakes
- Red Velvet CupCakes
- Iced Lemon CupCakes
Limited Edition Flavors
These special flavors are available for a short time. They are often seasonal. All these flavors came out after Hostess was bought in 2013:
- Sea Salt Caramel CupCakes (caramel iced yellow cake with sea salt topping & caramel filling)
- Golden CupCakes (yellow cake with chocolate icing)
- Baseball CupCakes (yellow cake with vanilla icing)
- Baseball CupCakes (chocolate cake with vanilla icing)
- Sundae CupCakes (chocolate cake with vanilla icing)
- Birthday CupCakes (vanilla cake with white icing and birthday sprinkles)
- Star Spangled CupCakes (yellow cake with blue-colored icing)
- Candy Corn CupCakes (yellow cake with vanilla icing & sprinkles)
- Caramel Apple CupCakes (caramel apple cake with filling)
- Pumpkin Spice CupCakes (pumpkin spice cake with filling)
- Dark Chocolate Raspberry CupCakes (dark chocolate cake with chocolate icing and raspberry filling)
- Strawberry CupCakes (strawberry cake with strawberry icing)
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry CupCakes (strawberry cake with chocolate icing)
- I Love You Cakes (chocolate cake with chocolate icing) - shaped like a heart
- ScaryCakes (chocolate cake with orange colored icing) - available during the Halloween time period
- HolidayCakes (yellow cake with vanilla icing & sprinkles)
- Shamrock CupCakes (chocolate cake with mint filling)
- Spring CupCakes (yellow cake with pink-colored, vanilla icing)
- Unicorn CupCakes (yellow cake with blue-colored, sprinkled icing and vanilla filling)
