Karen: Doug's post the other day about riding your bike to the store and getting comics and a treat made me think about this age old question: Hostess Cupcakes or Dolly Madison Zingers?
Karen: Two great snacks, essentially identical in composition, but differing primarily in shape. Both delicious chocolate cake with a creme filling and frosting on top, but cupcakes were round and Zingers were sort of rectangular. Mind you, we're only talking about the chocolate Zingers; if you want to discuss the raspberry or those awful yellow ones, we'll need another post.
Karen: Both suffered if left out on the rack too long. The frosting would become hard and brittle. Cupcakes had the stylish curlicue, while Zingers had these very orderly little rows sort of engraved in the top. Zingers had the extra cachet of having the Peanuts characters as spokesmen, although this obviously had nothing to do wit
Karen: Although you could buy both in boxes or 8 or more, the individual sizes you could buy were two cupcakes in a plastic package, or three Zingers in shrink wrap. Actually, I think this is still true. So it felt like you got more with Zingers, but I don't know how they added up when you compared the weight. But as a kid, three seemed better than two. But most of the time I didn't care which I got -I loved 'em both!
Karen: OK, which did you -or do you still -prefer? Or was there another snack cake that you felt topped both of these?
You can keep your Zingers and your Cupcakes! I put forth the might Sno Balls! One Sno Ball for now, and one for later! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteThey rule!
Rip Off
hostess fruit pies beat all comers. you can fight crime with them!
ReplyDelete--matt alias anonymous
If you're near the Philly-area like me, You'll know TASTYKAKES are the superior snack cake company. I just picked up a coup-le blueberry pies from my WAWA this morning. If you've never experienced a butterscotch Krimpet, that's a real shame.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for me, the local drug store where I got my comics (until I discovered the comic shop) was within walking distance, and I did overindulge in the sweets. I'll take the cupcakes over the zingers, because I loved the forsting on top. Sometimes, I'd even peel it off and eat it by itself. Ho-hos were probably my favorite at the time, though, and I also preferred Suzy Q's and Ding Dongs over the cupcakes and zingers.
ReplyDeleteAs far as other companies, we have Tasty Kakes here in upstate NY, but I don't remember them being around when I was young. I also don't recall buying Little Debbie back then. It was all about Hostess!
Also a Philly-area guy, but I didn't care for Hostess's stuff. No, I was a Drake's Ring Ding fan. Every day after school. With a tall glass of whole milk.
ReplyDeleteLoved those foil wrappers.
And the best accompaniment: Whatever Marvel comics I'd bought at the shop on the way home.
Although I liked many of the (admittedly rather atrocious) products of both Hostess and Dolly Madison, I always preferred Hostess, and for a while I went through a phase in which I simply could not get enough of those Cupcakes (downed with many glasses of milk).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have to say I agree with Anonymous Matt about Fruit Pies - I liked those consistently throughout my childhood and well into my high school years (in fact, occasionally I would even get them when I was in college).
And Rip, Sno Balls? Really? Sorry man, even when I was a little kid I thought those were pretty nasty...
Oh yeah, the Drake's Ring Dings were really good, too. I was never a fan of the fruit pies. In fact, I dno't like any sort of fruit pie.
ReplyDeleteI was always a Hostess Cupcakes man, but definitely preferred the Dolly Madison advertising (still think of them when I see a Peanuts special).
ReplyDeleteAlso had a fondness for Ding Dongs. Speaking of which, when I worked in the Cincinnati area some years ago, I discovered their boxes of Ding Dongs were labeled as "King Dons". Anyone have an explanation for this?
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ReplyDeleteRip: for about two years I was totally hooked on Sno Balls! But just the pink ones, not the orange ones.
ReplyDeleteI only liked the apple fruit pies. I tend to dislike any fruit with seeds -and I don't even have dentures! ;)
Being a west coast gal, I don't know nothing about no Tasty Kakes. But one thing I've always enjoyed is getting some Mexican sweet bread (pan dulce). Sort of like sugary croissants.
twinkies
ReplyDeleteHi, all -- late to this party. However, I've been waiting to ask this question since Karen put this in the queue over a week ago... Whether it was a Cupcake or Zinger, how many of you peeled that chocolate rubbery goodness that was the frosting and ate it first? Me, too!
ReplyDeleteI'm a sucker for any of the treats mentioned -- they all have their merits. I think I would like Sno-balls now; was not a huge coconut fan as a kid. Love the fruit pies -- did you get those in your metal character lunchbox and end up with some on your shirt in the 3rd grade? Me, too!
Loved all of the Hostess ads. I believe there is a website dedicated to those, with details on the writers and artists, and even the issues in which each ad appeared.
I like the regional bent of the comments here. My wife and I always enjoy watching Unwrapped on the Food Network and seeing products we know about but called something different elsewhere in the country.
Lastly, my aunt, who is 11 years older than me and was in high school when I was little, turned me onto Zingers. She was a huge Woodstock fan (Snoopy's pal, don't know about the farm in upstate NY), so I think that's why she gravitated to those instead of the Hostess stuff. Did any of you who liked Sno-balls like the raspberry coconut Zingers?
Doug
Drake's Coffee Cakes. The full size or as Jerry Seinfeld calls it : your big boy !
ReplyDeleteI used to like "Swiss Cake Rolls", which I think were made by Little Debbie. They were chocolate cake with chocolate icing in a cylinder shape and they had a swirled cream filling inside, so that when you bit into them it looked like a spiral. I loved those things.
ReplyDeleteWilliam, yes those cake rolls were outstanding, and typically a whole box for only a buck..!?!
ReplyDeleteI cannot tell a lie, my lifelong love affair is with Hostess Apple Fruit Pies.. The story is, I VERY rarely had 'em as a kid, so to this day, they're my fav. When my wife sent a monthly 'care package' to me in the middle east, it would always include a dozen apple fruit pies. Only Apple, no other flavor.
I love 'em even better than McDonalds pies.
Man, all the love for Sno Balls! Just like Karen's dislike of fruit with seeds (although apples have seeds...), I could not stand any confection with marshmallow in it. Which is why - after I first learned about them in college - I never even wanted to try a Moonpie. Still love RC, though...
ReplyDeleteI preferred the cupcakes over the chocolate zingers.
ReplyDeleteYou can stage a similar battle of the vanilla Zinger vs the venerable Twinkie. I think I'd go for Twinkies in that race.
However, I agree with others who vote for the Sno-Ball as the ultimate preserved sugary treat.
I'm stunned by the great response to this post, but then, doesn't everyone love treats?
ReplyDeleteAs Edo brought up moonpies, any love for these out there? We used to get Scooter Pies when I was a kid, and I still love these marshmallow and chocolate treats.
How about Suzy Q's? Another chocolate cake and creme combination, but this time in a sandwich form.
And does anyone recall Banana Boats?
Believe it or not, there are a bunch of websites dedicated to the Hostess ads.
ReplyDeleteApparently only ICEMASTER has mad the transition from Hostess-ad villain to actual Marvel-616 villain (in the Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil from THUNDERBOLTS).
I'd love to see Cristos Gage, or Abnett/Lanning, (or any GOOD writer from the old days) write a story featuring the Hostess villains. Maybe versus the Avengers. Hey, sounds much more entertaining than the crappy, over-hyped Avengers vs. X-men we're being beaten over the head with these days.
Regarding the King Don/Ding Dong dustup:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding_Dong
Thanks for the link, William! Glad to know the story behind King Don, after all these years.
ReplyDeleteKaren, dbutler mentioned SuzyQs as well, and since you brought it up, I have to say I used to love those for quite some time - what's not to like? They're like room temperature ice cream sandwiches.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other stuff you mentioned, man, I was a west coast kid like you, but I've never heard of either Banana Boats or Scooter Pies...
I was always more a Hostess fruit pie man myself.
ReplyDeleteDuring the tragic period of time that was the Hostess Absence Interminable Interregnum, I found Mrs. Freshley-brand cupcakes equal to, if not superior to my long-time favorite Hostess cupcakes. I haven't tried Neo-Hostess since their return but aim to do so soon.
ReplyDeleteI think I loved Ring Dings! Were those the ones shaped like a hockey puck in the aforementioned foil wrapper?
Twinkies imo always tasted better when purchased in twin-packs and in 1979...they don't taste the same nowadays.
Drake cakes that I *still* adore--though I can never find them--is their coffee cakes. The ones with the brown sugar streusel on top.
I tried a Sn-Ball once--the white one--and the creme/cake/marshmallow/coconut was even too much for an admitted sweet toother like me to take! Karen, your stomach must be mighty! ;)
Little Debbie brand is always dead-last in this discussion; though they'll do in a pinch--those oatmeal creme pies are actually a fond school lunch memory for me.
I hope BAB will do a follow-up post on these "comic book foods", as I wish to nominate Mr. Pibb as the "official" Bronze Age Comic lover's soft drink. Mr. Pibb didn't need a degree to be delicious, it just was. ;)
C. K., I actually had a sno - ball a few months ago - well, I almost did. I took a couple of bites but it was too dang sweet and just icky! Couldn't eat it.
ReplyDeleteYour Sn-Ball reaction was exactly as mine was when I tried mine! And that was the era in which "breakfast" consisted of a Coca-Cola and a Milky Way candy bar! :0
ReplyDeleteThanks to this post, I was compelled to visit my local candy specialty shop. Among other things, I picked up a box of Hostess Banana Twinkies; I've never tried them before and I don't think they were around during my childhood, but then I'm probably among the younger BABers (I'll be 44 in August). I've heard the tales of those a bit older than me who say banana-flavored Twinkies were commonplace once upon a time.