Tag: Hostess

What are the Hostess Limited Edition Iced Lemon CupCakes?

A new limited-time citrus variation on the OG grocery store/gas station/convenience store cupcake that you know and love! It’s an iced lemon flavored cake with a creamy filling.

When you read the box, you may think that “iced lemon” is a flavor. But, I think it means it’s an iced cake that is lemon-flavored. Note that this “iced” designation is different from the “frosted” designation on the other flavors.

How are they?

These perfectly machine-formed cupcakes, with their cute lil’ Charlie Brown hair squiggle, are delicious. In my opinion, lemon-flavored foods are difficult to get right because it’s really easy to lean into cleaning product territory.

But, Hostess got it right! The flavor reminded me of the way lemonade is – not too tart with a fair amount of sweetness. The sugary filling also helped to temper the lemon flavor, so there was no puckering here!

The texture was as good as expected: nice and – trigger warning: I’m going to use the word because it’s fitting – moist. I enjoyed the textural bite of the iced topping with the soft cake and the luscious filling.

Is there anything else you need to know?

This is by far superior to Hostess’ Iced Lemon Cake, which tasted a bit bitter as if straight lemon zest was used. It also left a weird aftertaste. Plus, the more artificial yellow color wasn’t as pleasing to the eye, but to be fair – the cupcake itself looked interchangeable with a vanilla cupcake. Despite having the taste of lemon through and through, only the topping has a lovely pastel yellow hue.

Conclusion:

Lemon is the new spring LTO flavor du jour, and Hostess nailed it with its Iced Lemon CupCakes!

Purchased Price: $3.50
Size: 12.7 oz box (8 individual wrapped cakes)
Purchased at: Meijer
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 Cake [45g]) 170 calories, 6 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 140 milligrams of sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 23 grams of sugar, and 1 grams of protein.

When I first laid eyes on Wintermint Ding Dongs and Mint Chocolate Twinkies, in a nearly-untouched display at Walmart, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Maybe it was Thanksgiving looming around the corner or the sugar high I was pre-experiencing, but all I could think was how fortunate I am that someone somewhere started this snack food flavor arms race and I now have a legitimate excuse to eat Ding Dongs on a random Wednesday as a full grown adult. Thank you!

Right off the bat, I was drawn to the Ding Dongs. Firstly because that shade of blue in food is visually captivating, but also because I’d never tried a Ding Dong that wasn’t the standard chocolate/cream combo. Twinkies have been slinging the novelty flavors for ages now, so it’s less of a big deal.

The golden cake of the Wintermint Ding Dongs was exactly like the golden cake used in Hostess Cupcake variations – buttery, yellow, spongy with a finer texture than Twinkies’ cake. The white fudge exterior was familiar as well – a generic sugary white chocolate coating that gives the slightest snap when you bite into it. At first, I swore the wintermint creamy filling tasted like mint toothpaste. I wasn’t a fan.

I moved on to the Mint Chocolate Twinkies, which smelled and looked more like what I expected. It was made of the familiar cake you may have tasted in other chocolate Twinkie iterations – slightly greasy with a large crumb texture. Cocoa-heavy, but not dark chocolate. Here, the mint filling made more sense and felt more natural.

Then I started wondering if the color of the Ding Dongs was playing tricks on my mind. Was the freshly-squeezed-from-a-tube look making me imagine the corresponding flavor? I alternated nibbles of each cake’s filling and WHA’DYA KNOW, they actually tasted the same! I do think the cake flavors made a big difference, however – the chocolate cake rounded off the edges of the mint, giving it a less-synthetic feel. With the subtler golden cake, the mint was left to barge out in front, and its color didn’t help matters.

Overall, I thought they were both alright, but not Hostess’ best work.

You may have noticed the Try It Frozen!* on the front of the box. (I expected the * note found on the back to deny resemblance to a certain famous frosty film, but in fact, it helpfully clarifies that “Try It Frozen!” means place it in the freezer.) I did Try It Frozen, and I would not suggest you do the same. The cake fares well, but the wintermint creamy filling becomes and odd combination of too hard and too chewy.

Purchased Price: $2.79
Size: 10-cake box (Ding Dongs – 12.7 oz., Twinkies – 13.58 oz.)
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Wintermint Ding Dongs), 6 out of 10 (Mint Chocolate Twinkies)
Nutrition Facts: (2 cakes) Wintermint Ding Dongs – 320 calories, 15 grams of fat, 10 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 170milligrams of sodium, 44 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 36 grams of sugar, 35 grams of added sugars and 2 grams of protein. Mint Chocolate Twinkies – 240 calories, 9 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 300 milligrams of sodium, 41 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 26 grams of sugar, 26 grams of added sugars and 2 grams of protein.