I feel like getting a Hostess Cupcake is kind of a gamble. Of all the cake products out there, this is the one that appeals to me most. On paper I feel like there is just no better baked good on the market. When I was a kid, these were the package cake I would almost always go for. There is however a really big caveat that I must add to this, and it’s all about the condition of the cupcakes. By condition of the cupcake I’m talking about both freshness and actual condition of the cupcake.

While I feel like a fresh Hostess Cupcake is one of the best baked treats you can buy, if they’re not in perfect condition I find the quality goes down hill very quickly. This particular package of Cupcakes that I got for this review was very much in the lower end of quality. While it certainly didn’t ruin my experience, it wasn’t the magical experience I wanted and remembered. Some of the problems one gets with either an older or slightly squished Hostess Cupcake are the density of the cake and the quality of the icing on the top.

The cake density problem is probably the thing that ruins these cakes the most. A fresh Hostess Cupcake will be light and fluffy, and squished or slightly older cupcake will be dense and squishy. The icing problem is actually several problems. The first thing you’ll notice with a damaged or old cupcake is the fact that the white swirls are embedded into the chocolate icing. While this doesn’t really ruin anything, it’s often the sign for me that I might not enjoy this cake as much as I should. I also find that the icing goes stale very quickly and that affects both the flavour and texture of the icing.

I guess what I’m saying is that for this review I happened to have purchased a package of Hostess Cupcakes that were in pretty horrible condition. They were fine enough that I didn’t notice anything that strange on the package, but once I opened them I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to love these cupcakes. I have in the past eaten Hostess Cupcakes that I really enjoyed, so I know it’s possible. I think the biggest problem however is that these cupcakes are just so fragile, and require care in how they’re stored. Many of the places where one might buy these cupcakes probably don’t worry about that, so buying Hostess Cupcakes is always going to be a game of chance.