Snowballs? Sno Balls? All delicious.

Picture this: You swagger on into your local Wawa and go over to browse the fine collection of Tastykake baked goods. As you’re looking for the chocolate cupcakes with the cream-filled centers, you notice something is off. Did the Tastykakes always take up all these shelves? You look closer and you realize it: New Tastykakes have arrived.

At first, the new cakes don’t seem too exciting. Tastykake Danish. Tastykake Cinnamon Roll. The Tastykake Dreamie looks like it holds some potential, but one of the new recruits stands out above the rest. One new kandy kake you can’t help but instantly desire the moment your eyes catch sight of it. It’s so exotic! It’s so intricate! Carefully, you pick the first package out of the box and behold it in your hands for a second. Slowly, soaking in all the bliss of the moment, you read the words again: “Tastykake Snowballs.”

The Tastykake Snowball consists of three, separately delicious and collectively harmonious parts. The first part is your standard chocolate cake with a cream center. Over the cake, there is a thick layer of marshmallow. Finally, on top of the marshmallow lies a thin coat of pink coconut shavings. The result is a pink semi-sphere that greatly resembles a snowball in Candyland.

You snack food connoisseurs may be noticing some similarities between the Tastykake Snowball and Hostess’s Sno Ball. For the casual snacker, I will explain. Back in the pre-2013 world, when the company still existed, Hostess Brands Inc. was a wholesale baker and distributor of bakery products that owned the Hostess Cake brand, the brand of Sno Balls and the better known Twinkie. Lots of financial and legal stuff happened, Hostess Brands Inc. went bankrupt, and for a while it seemed as if the Hostess Cake brand was going to go with it.

I can do no more than speculate, but what may have happened is that Tastykake seized the opportunity to take up the production of coconut-covered treats at a time when it seemed like Sno Balls would soon meet their demise. Then the Fates drew a wildcard and the Hostess Cake brand was saved and continued to manufacture both Twinkies and Sno Balls, while Tastykake continued its development of Hostess replacements. Thus, we have the Tastykake Dreamie as the equivalent of Hostess’s Twinkie and the Tastykake Snowball as the equivalent of Hostess’s Sno Ball.

I, for one, fully support Tastykake’s adaption over the Hostess original. Not only does the Snowball support proper spelling, but it’s also a product of Philadelphia’s own Tasty Baking Company. I’d highly suggest to everyone reading this and everyone not reading this to go out and try some of Tastykake’s tasty cakes today.