Sweet baked goods are looking to improve their image to gain back share of the snacking dollar. Hostess Brands LLC has been busy reinventing itself in order to keep single-serve, individually wrapped cakes on snacking menus. There’s a new line of brownies featuring Milky Way and M&M’s candy brands, which was developed in partnership with Mars Inc. The company also is reformulating products in response to consumer demand for simple ingredients. For example, Hostess Mini Muffins now contain 8g of whole grains per serving. In some products, in particular snack cakes sold at schools, the company has removed questionable ingredients such as high-fructose corn syrup.
Some brands remain indulgences. For example, the company is bringing back Suzy Q’s, the fun-eating, messy cream-center-filled chocolate layer cake. The Twinkie brand is growing with the Deep Fried Chocolate Twinkie, which is chocolate-breaded sponge cake with chocolate filling. They are great right out of the box, as well as warmed in the microwave or oven. And to commemorate the new Ghostbusters movie, there’s a limited-edition Key Lime Slime Twinkie, which is the classic Twinkie filled with key lime-flavored creamy filling.