Are cupcakes one of the macros I’m supposed to be tracking? Because Hostess has been throwing limited edition cupcakes at me without remorse. The Hostess Pumpkin Spice cupcakes were so good that I bought three more boxes before I finished the first one. Eventually, I donated them to my office snack fund when trying to reduce my massive sugar intake as of late. This was a boneheaded move. I’ve now been buying cupcakes from my office snack fund at a premium because I can’t get enough of them. Most of them have expired. I’ve been eating spoiled cupcakes for weeks. And you know what? 9 out of 10.
Hostess’s latest creation are the new Merry Minty Holiday Cakes. The box touts them as “LiMINTed Edition.” Ok… I’ve made a living on Instagram using puns (not sure any of this qualifies as “living”,) and even this pun makes me cringe. Regardless, the chocolate mint pairing is a classic combination that works well when the proper balance is struck. For example, mint chocolate chip is my favorite ice cream in general, and I ranked the Mint Chocolate Chunk Quest Bar as my #1 flavor when I reviewed 19 Quest Bars for no reason. But there is a very fine line before a product uses too much mint and it ruins everything. You know how orange juice is disgusting after brushing your teeth? Mint can do that to anything. To avoid that repulsive experience, I stopped brushing my teeth years ago.
Hostess Merry Minty Holiday Cakes are frosted chocolate cupcakes with a creamy mint filling. We FINALLY get a chocolate mint product that is green. This leads me to believe they aren’t going for peppermint, but something smoother. Whereas the Hostess Peppermint Ho Hos used actual peppermint extract, the Hostess Merry Minty Holiday Cakes don’t even contain the word “mint” in the ingredient list. So just so we’re clear on this: these Hostess Merry Minty Holiday Cakes are NOT organic. This gives me hope that they might actually taste good.
The base cake on these Merry Minty Holiday Cakes is pretty standard, but I totally dig it. It’s a pleasant chocolate flavor that contains enough sweetness while still retaining some bitter cocoa nodes. It’s soft at times and oddly rubbery at others, but hey… you’re eating a cupcake out of a plastic wrapper. The icing on top adds an additional layer of welcomed sweetness without overdoing it. I’m flirting around the cream like a weirdo.
Sampling some of the cream alone… dammit. It’s awesome. It’s a smooth winter mint; not as harsh as peppermint. Hats off to Hostess for creating an authentic mint flavor with nothing but artificial garbage. Eaten together, the Merry Mint Holiday Cake is a great balance of… whatever I just said. I don’t know… I’m enjoying the cupcake too much to make sentences. You figure it out.
Available For a LiMINTed Time Rating: 10 out of 10
Room for ImproveMINT Rating: 2.5 out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Sounds like a solid cake! For me I always seem to associate mint with something cold. I’m not sure if that makes sense…but I think I would always prefer mint chocolate chip ice cream to a mint chocolate cake. Unless it was a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake then that’d be divine. But I don’t know it’s harder for me to get excited about mint anything that isn’t cold. Great review!
In a weird way, I can understand wanting mint cold. And it probably has a lot to do with mint chocolate chip ice cream, which I’m ALL FOR. I was always a big fan of McDonald’s Shamrock Shakes as well, especially before they changed the recipe. The vanilla/mint combo seems to work pretty well too.