I cannot resist a good bit of over-the-top hyperbole – especially when it comes with a surprise filling. This ad takes the cake, as it were. It was written by a frustrated poetic genius. He was also suffering from a sugar high, not surprisingly.
These little cakes are paradoxical: on the one hand, they only cost a dime and you can scarf them down while you watch Howdy Doody or stuff them in your lunchbox with that tired bologna sandwich. And they come in a cellophane wrapper. Very pedestrian, really.
On the other hand, consider “The Famous Hostess Secret-Blend Flavor of Chocolate from the African Gold Coast and the Blue-Green Jungles of Brazil.” These Hostess people are serious gourmets, traveling the world to perfect their snack cakes. I guess you could almost believe this, as long as you hadn’t actually tasted them.
And the Twinkies? They taste like they were baked “in a heavenly oven.” You’d think they might want to put that sort of thing in a fancy box – not cellophane.
But then we come to the mystery of the filling, which Hostess likes to refer to as the “surprise inside.” Oh, what can that be, do tell? Why, it is something referred to as “creamed-filling.” Not cream. Creamed. Creamed something-or-other. Nobody is sure what it is. Aside from its being – surprising. Is it something the Hostess master chefs found in their culinary travels to the Blue-Green Jungles of Brazil? Whatever it is, they aren’t saying.
[From Life, June 11, 1956, big version right here.]
I find Twinkies "heavenly" and while I don't believe for a moment that there is exotic chocolate in the cupcakes, I love them with all my heart. I've heard that the "creamed filling" is nothing more than powdered sugar and shortening…yet I don't care. I've eaten enough of these to be preserved forever from their chemicals. Sno-balls make me retch. I love these ads, where do you find them??__Barbarahttp://ifididnthaveasenseofhumor.blogspot.com
Gosh I eat too many of those cupcakes. They are addictive!
I have a sudden craving for Sno-Balls….
Mysterious though the filling may be, I love me some Twinkies![Yes, there is such a thing as too much knowledge.]
Those look tempting, even if they're mysterious.
I hate that my mouth was watering the entire time I read this. Heavenly yellow fluff…
I can't hate on the Hostess. I adore Twinkies and the Cupcakes – yet I know they are so bad for me. What's a girl to do?
Hi Lidian! Just dropped by to let you know I "borrowed" a link today for National Grapefruit Month. It was a post you did that included Grape Fruit Lozenges.I too suddenly have an unquenchable craving for a Sno-Ball. Correct me if I'm wrong but, I think the first filling in a Twinkie was banana cream. I did a post a while back on my Tasteful Inventions blog about Twinkies. I'm going to go over and check it now. I think I'll grab this link also!!! Nice to "see" you Lidian. Hope all is well with you. Thanks again:)
Hostess cream-filled cupcakes were a staple growing up. I remember eating them from the bottom up to save the crispy frosting for last (they were best refrigerated). Remember "choco-diles"? A close second. Did I ever write poetry about either? Um, no, so I guess I didn't love them as much as I thought.I pass a Hostess factory on the way into downtown nearly every day. The bulbs are burnt out on the first two letters, so we've taken to calling it "'stess cakes".
I try not to think about what is in them. Otherwise it ruing the experience. And it's ok as long as it's not a daily experience.
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I love those as a child but, they just do not taste the same now. The heavenly ovens must have came to earth,lol.
Some say the creamed filling came out of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the mid-1940's. Whatever it is, it's not natural.
I just rediscovered Devil Dogs. It may become a problem.