Contemplating The Role Of The Hostess

I love to thoughtfully consider the icons of food, and why they remain so popular. Enter the well known Hostess Cupcake.

At one time I occupied a studio space directly across from the Hostess plant in Seattle. I faced a wall with a protruding pipe labeled “sugar in”. At various times during the week, a tanker style truck would arrive, hook up a giant hose to that pipe, and the rest is Cupcake, Twinkie and Ding Dong history.  At the time all sorts of crazy ideas about this entered my creative process, but I never imagined a blog post.

On the Hostess site I found the history of this cellophane wrapped chocolate enigma. In 1950 a baking executive added the vanilla creme filling, and the signature squiggles on top. That must be it! That circular white line work on a satiny dark brown coating, coupled with a white creamy circle that is set into a soft dark brown fluffy texture must be the secret to the success of this well known phenomenon.

Like the ipod, mid century modern furniture, and your favorite chef knife, the Hostess cupcake is well designed!