Hostess Cake, mostly known simply as Hostess, is a brand under which snack cakes are sold by

Hostess Brands Hostess Brands is an American-based bakery company formed in 2013. It owns several bakeries in the United States that produce snack cakes under the Hostess and Dolly Madison brand names and its Canadian subsidiary, Voortman Cookies Limited, pr ...

. The brand originated in 1919 when the first

Hostess CupCake Hostess CupCake is an American brand of snack cake produced and distributed by Hostess Brands and currently owned by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulos & Company. Its most common form is a chocolate cupcake wit ...

was sold. However, it is better-known as the brand under which Twinkies are sold, after that product appeared in 1930. The brand was owned by the

Continental Baking Company The Continental Baking Company was one of the first bakeries to introduce fortified bread. It was the maker of the Twinkie and Wonder Bread. Through a series of acquisitions and mergers it became part of the former Hostess Brands company. His ...

until 1995, when Continental was acquired by

Interstate Bakeries Corporation Old HB, Inc., known as Hostess Brands from 2009 to 2013 and established in 1930 as Interstate Bakeries Corporation, was a wholesale baker and distributor of bakery products in the United States. Before its 2012 closure and liquidation, it owned ...

. IBC became "Hostess Brands" in 2009 and began liquidating its assets in 2012 following a strike by the BCTGM union. The defunct business is now known as Old HB. In 2013, the cake business of Hostess Brands was sold to a "new" Hostess Brands owned by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulos and Company, and Hostess-branded products officially returned on July 15 of that year.

Products and advertisements

In the 1970s and 1980s, Hostess frequently promoted its snack foods in whole page

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

advertisements in major publishers such as

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by A ...

, Archie Comics and

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

. The format featured a complete one page comic strip story, drawn by one of the relevant publisher's artists such as

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Sup ...

for DC and

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'' and subsequen ...

for Marvel, where major characters from the publisher of the periodical solve a problem with Hostess Brands products. In the DC and Marvel ads, a superhero typically defeats a villain by distracting and/or bribing them with those products, although there is also a series of advertisements individually featuring the supervillains,

The Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, and first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book '' Batman'' on April 25, 1 ...

and the Penguin, failing to do the same with their enemies. In the other publishers, their humor focus allowed more varied plots along the same theme. (This was parodied in '' Dexter's Laboratory'', with the Captain America parody Major Glory from the "Justice Friends" sketch using "Justice Fruit Pies" to thwart his enemy.)

Mascots

The brand's most recognized mascot is

Twinkie the Kid Twinkie the Kid is the mascot for Twinkies, Hostess's golden cream-filled snack cakes. He is a registered trademark of Hostess Brands. He made his debut in 1971. He has appeared on product packaging, in commercials and as related collectible mer ...

, a Twinkie dressed like a wrangler who acts like a person. Other mascots include: * Big Wheels *

Captain Cupcake Captain Cupcake was the second mascot for Hostess Brands, Hostess brand baking, baked goods along with Twinkie the Kid. He was portrayed as an anthropomorphic cupcake which wore a navy blue hat and gave the appearance of being the captain of a sh ...

Fruit Pie the Magician Fruit Pie the Magician was the official mascot for Hostess fruit pies from 1973 until early 2006 when the character was removed from the fruit pie labels. Over the years Fruit Pie the Magician was featured in print ads in comic books as well as ...

* Happy HoHo * King Ding Dong * Chauncey Chocodile * Suzy Q * Chipper Brownie

Products

* Big Wheels * Brownie Bites *

CupCakes A cupcake (also British English: fairy cake; Hiberno-English: bun) is a small cake designed to serve one person, which may be baked in a small thin paper or aluminum cup. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations such as frui ...

- chocolate with cream filling * Chocodile Twinkies - chocolate coated sponge cake with creamy filling *

Ding Dongs A Ding Dong is a chocolate cake produced and distributed in the United States by Hostess Brands and in Canada from Vachon Inc. under the name King Dons; in some U.S. markets, it was previously known as Big Wheels. The Ding Dong has been produced ...

- hockey puck-shaped chocolate cake with cream filling and chocolate glazing * Donettes - doughnuts * Fruit Pies - flaky pastry with flavored custard filling *

Ho Hos Ho Hos are small, cylindrical, frosted, cream-filled chocolate snack cakes with a pinwheel design based on the Swiss roll. Made by Hostess Brands, they are similar to Yodels by Drake's and Swiss Cake Rolls by Little Debbie. Sold two or three ...

- chocolate cake with cream swirl dipped in chocolate, based on the Swiss roll * Mini Muffins *

Sno Balls Sno Balls are cream-filled chocolate cakes covered with marshmallow frosting and coconut flakes formerly produced and distributed by Hostess and currently owned by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co. Sno Ball ...

- covered with marshmallow frosting and coconut flakes * Suzy Q's - oblong sandwich of

devil's food cake Devil's food cake is a moist, rich chocolate layer cake. It is considered a counterpart to the white or yellow angel food cake. Because of differing recipes and changing ingredient availability over the 20th century, it is difficult to precisely ...

with white crème or banana-flavored filling *

Twinkies A Twinkie is an American snack cake, described as "golden sponge cake with a creamy filling". It was formerly made and distributed by Hostess Brands. The brand is currently owned by Hostess Brands, Inc. (), having been formerly owned by privat ...

- flagship product is a golden sponge cake with creamy filling * Tiger Tails *

Zingers Zingers is a snack cake produced and sold by Dolly Madison and Hostess, snack food brands owned by Hostess Brands. Product line Zingers come in chocolate, vanilla, and raspberry flavors. Chocolate and vanilla Zingers have a thick layer o ...

(originally sold under the

Dolly Madison Dolly Madison is an American bakery brand owned by Hostess Brands, selling packaged baked snack foods. It is best known for its long marketing association with the ''Peanuts'' animated TV specials. History In 1937, Ralph Leroy Nafziger start ...

brand) - similar to a Twinkie with creamy filling with icing on top

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://hostesscakes.com Hostess Brands brands American desserts Re-established companies Snack food manufacturers of the United States Brand name snack foods Products introduced in 1919

Products and advertisements

Mascots

Products

See also

References

External links