A snack cake taste-off

BOSTON GLOBE

By Debra Samuels |  GLOBE CORRESPONDENT OCTOBER 01, 2013

WATERTOWN — Let’s get this part out of the way: Those familiar single-serving snack cakes like Twinkies and Devil Dogs aren’t going to win any nutrition awards. They typically contain dozens of ingredients, with things like partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, palm oil, artificial flavorings, and multiple kinds of sugar. In an era of health appeals and educated consumers, snack food marketers have a single mission. They stress fun, togetherness, smiles, and nostalgia.

Individual snack cakes got a lot of attention when Hostess Brands Inc. (which also owned Drake’s) filed for bankruptcy in 2012. The company was divvied up, sold off, and when the popular snacks went off shelves, there was an Internet groundswell to save the Twinkie. In the year since, who-owns-what in the snack industry has changed and consolidated. Twinkies and the iconic chocolate cupcakes with white squiggles came back in July and the latest news is that McKee Foods Corp. of Collegedale, Tenn., which owns Little Debbie, now also owns Drake’s. This week, McKee put an array of confections that had not been produced in recent months, back on shelves. That includes Yodels, Coffee Cakes, Devil Dogs, and Ring Dings.

It was time to have some fun. We gathered six adults and eight children at Arsenal Park for a casual tasting of snack cakes. They nibbled on slices of Hostess CupCakes and Twinkies, Drake’s Coffee Cakes and Devil Dogs, and Little Debbie Swiss Rolls and Oatmeal Pies. We threw in a ringer: a Whoopie pie from the local baker, Concord Teacakes in Concord. While the adults howled with nostalgic laughter, their kids were surprisingly quiet and approached the cakes with some skepticism.

Don’t these kids love sugar? Parent Michelle Munroe explained, “The kids are not used to eating such sweet things.” They were not clamoring for them. Most kids found them too sugary and too creamy. The moms, on the other hand, grew up on these snacks. But on this day, they tasted different. One typical comment, this about Drake’s Devil Dogs, was, “This can’t be the same thing I used to have.”

Tastes do change, but snack cakes, many made since the early part of the last century, are big business. Some companies started as small family bakeries and, over the years, were absorbed by larger companies.

Most famous for its Twinkies, the tube-shaped golden sponge cake with cream filling, Hostess Brands also owned a number of other commercial bakery firms, including Drake’s, famous for Devil Dogs and Ring Dings, devil’s food-like cakes made with cocoa. When Hostess Brands went bankrupt, Apollo Global Management of New York and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. of Greenwich, Conn., purchased some of the Hostess snacks and their bakeries, and Drake’s was bought by McKee Foods, who already made Little Debbie snack cakes.

The new owners understand that for many, these snacks evoke strong memories of childhood school lunches and teen munchies. According to McKee Foods spokesman Mike Gloekler, “We will be making the cakes exactly the same as people remember. Nostalgia plays a role with Drake’s brands. Half the consumers have no children.” Their target, he explains, is “the household grocery decision maker, usually a 30- to 45-year-old woman. We don’t market to children.” Little Debbie brand has a series of TV commercials called the “Little Debbie Kid in You,” showing adults with their younger selves urging their adult personae to indulge because, “your love for Little Debbie is something you never outgrow.”

In our tasting, the hands-down winner among the adults was Drake’s Coffee Cakes, miniature round vanilla cakes with a cinnamon-streusel topping. “I’m so surprised my favorite wasn’t chocolate,” said Julie Russo. Drake’s Coffee Cakes and Hostess CupCakes won stars from the kids, who gave frowny faces to the Twinkies. Taylar Chase, 14, grimaced and wrinkled her nose after a bite. Other Twinkie comments from the teen set: “Tastes like lemon and a cardboard box,” “way too sweet,” and “tastes gross.”

At area supermarkets, displays are full of products from a variety of companies that are mimicking one another, with different names but few customers. “This is me-too branding,” says Lauren Hartman of Snack Foods & Wholesale Bakery, an industry publication. “Kids are not the intended market for these nostalgic products as much as the adults. It’s about fun and indulgence.”

At the Shaw’s on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, however, Jon Marsh, 34, tossed a few twin packs of Hostess Twinkies into his shopping cart recently. “I was heartbroken when they went off the shelves. And when I heard they were coming back, I was counting the days,” he says. With him was Erica Fricke, 35, and children Kayla, 12, and Dominic, 6. “I like those cupcakes,” chimes in Kayla pointing to the box of Hostess. “People say they are full of sugar, but my kids are so active and play all kinds of sports. It’s not making them fat,” says Fricke.

“I want them to taste a little bit of history,” says Marsh, laughing.

“He’s still a kid at heart,” counters Fricke.

Snack cake taste results

CONCORD TEACAKES WHOOPIE PIE

$5.49 for 4

Two round layers of dark chocolate cake with a thick layer of frosting between. “Too much cream” and “too sweet” were recurring comments for both adults and kids, but they liked the cake. To that end, one of the children said, “Chocolate and a lot of cream in the middle.” Adults praised the cake as “good” and “moist.” One adult chose this as her favorite and said, “I didn’t enjoy any of the other cakes.”

DRAKE’S DEVIL DOGS

$2.99 for 8

Two oblong slices of chocolate cake with a layer of cream. This confection got mixed reviews. Kids were a bit kinder and adults didn’t think it was the real deal. A kid comment: “It was amazing.” Others: “chocolate-y, creamy and delicious.” Some found it “way too chocolate-y” and “sugary.” An adult: “This is not the original Devil Dog.” Another said: “good but not as good as I had them,” “tasted like it was made with a bad sugar substitute. Has a strong aftertaste,” “cake was moist but it didn’t last like the Devil Dogs I’m used to.”

DRAKE’S COFFEE CAKES

$2.99 for 10

Round mini yellow cake with thick cinnamon crumb topping. This got kudos from both groups and was chosen favorite by adults and a few kids. Everyone detected the cinnamon. “We all have smiles on our faces, crumb cakes bring our childhood back,” said one of the moms. One of the kids: “Muffin. I liked it.” Another: “Soft and has a lot of cinnamon.” Adults said, “Yum, nice cinnamon taste, soft, sweet.”

“I remember enjoying these in high school. Not so much now. Too sweet and artificial tasting.” “Crumbs delicious, cake dry.”

HOSTESS TWINKIES

$3.99 for 10

Tube-shaped cream-filled golden sponge cake. Memory often trumps reality. Our group wasn’t kind. Kids: “Soft bread with lemon outside. Cream inside. Too much lemon,” “soft and sweet with a little bit of lemon flavor.” Adults: “Tastes like a kitchen sponge would taste if sprinkled with sugar.” “Kind of spongy and cloying.” “Not as sweet as I thought, made me thirsty,” “too sweet and spongy, I see why they stopped the company, no offense.”

HOSTESS CUPCAKES

$3.99 for 8

Chocolate cupcake with a cream center and a thick layer of smooth chocolate icing. Kids: “Cupcake tastes good, but should have more cream,” “soft chocolate-y creamy inside, harder outside.” Adults: “My favorite of the chocolate [items]. Not sicky sweet. Good.” “Favorite of the cakes; still turned off by artificial flavor and bad aftertaste,” “cream inside tastes great, can eat more than one (not rich),” “cream was very artificially flavored.”

LITTLE DEBBIE OATMEAL CREME PIES

$1.70 for 12

Soft oatmeal cookie sandwich filled with cream. Several thought it tasted healthy. Kids: “Creamy with a soft cookie top,” “tastes like gingerbread.” Adults: “Too sweet, gritty with artificial oatmeal ginger taste,” “cake tastes like raisins,” “this dessert is delicious, feels healthy, texture is perfect.”

LITTLE DEBBIE SWISS ROLLS

 $1.67 for 12 cakes

Chocolate cylinder jelly-roll style filled with cream with a full chocolate coating. Both groups found this to be overly sweet. Kids: “Really sweet,” “soft and chocolate-y filled with cream.” Adults: “Too sweet to eat more than a bite,” “squishy and a bit powdery,” “chocolate and cream — yum.”

Will the real Twinkie please stand up?

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Twinkie should feel adored. A group tasted seven cream-filled sponge cakes to determine if they could identify the real thing. “Trying to knock off a Twinkie is like trying to copy the Mona Lisa,” Hannah Arnold of Hostess Brands wrote in an e-mail. Two in the group could identify the real thing. “It’s funny how they all seemed too sweet to me,” said taster Gail Munroe. “I always loved Twinkies, but maybe my taste is maturing.”

HOSTESS TWINKIES

$3.99 for 10

“Love the extra cream. Possible Twinkie,” “good but not the real one,” “sweet,” “bad aftertaste.”

LITTLE DEBBIE CLOUD CAKES

$2.99 for 10

These came onto the market in 2011. “Lemon moist and creamy,” “the real one,” “a little chewy but soft,” “strong taste — don’t like.”

MARKET BASKET GOLDEN CREME CAKES

$2 for 6

“Nice and creamy, soft, a little lemony,” “not too sweet — good,” “dry,” “old.”

MRS. FRESHLEY’S DREAMIES CREME-FILLED CAKES

$1 for 2

“Eew,” “yuck-awful taste,” “dry,” “old.”

SARA LEE GOLDEN CREME CAKES

$3.99 for 8

Out since August. “Lemon flavor, good,” “not too sweet, soft, and not a lot of cream; the real one,” “creamy cake is OK but not a real Twinkie.”

TASTYKAKE DREAMIES CREME KAKES

$4.49 for 10

“Too dry, weird texture, not too sweet, and hard to swallow,” “harsh flavor,” “bad tasting cake, not good.”

WEIGHT WATCHERS GOLDEN SPONGE CAKE

$2.99 for 6

Small rectangles are 90 calories (2 points). “Tasted coconut, didn’t like,” “vanilla flavor,” “bad taste and stale,” “yuck; tastes imitation.”