Product Review: Limited Edition Strawberry & Creme Hostess HoHos

A few days after sampling the strawberry crème filled Twinkies from Hostess, I stumbled upon the Chocolate Ho-Hos also filled with strawberry crème. The little snack cakes were part of a Hostess display at a gas station in my area, but apparently they also come in boxes of 10 though I have yet to see these in person. I gladly grabbed a package of the little Ho-Hos for myself and my boyfriend to sample that night.

The strawberry and crème Hostess Ho-Hos are very similar to the regular chocolate version. Each package contains two cakes, both of which have a coating of chocolate on the outside. Inside each cake is a rolled chocolate cake with a strawberry crème filling instead of the traditional filling.

When we tried the strawberry crème Twinkies, the smell of strawberry was clearly evident, but these weren't as bad. I could still smell quite a bit of the artificial strawberry, but I could also smell the chocolate from the Ho-Hos. We each grabbed a cake and that's when I noticed a big difference, even between two cakes in the same package.

My boyfriend's cake looked exactly like a Hostess Ho-Ho, snuggly wrapped into a little cylinder and completely coated in chocolate. Mine looked like that cake's cousin, with a weird shape and filling leaking out of the sides. The chocolate coating didn't cover all of the cake, leaving parts of the bright pink strawberry filling to poke out the sides.

The roll wasn't as tight either, looking flatter and more like a square than a cylinder. After seeing a few people try them, I've noticed that this happens in about half the cases, which makes me wonder if there's a problem with the filling machine or what happened.

As for the taste, I have to say that I prefer the Ho-Hos strawberry version over the Twinkies version. I really like chocolate and strawberry together and these work pretty well, even for artificial strawberry. With each bite I noticed both flavors and the strawberry played nicely off the chocolate. My boyfriend wasn't too crazy about them, but he's not a big fan of strawberry flavorings.

The sad thing is that these are a limited edition offering and probably won't be around after the end of the summer. I could easily see myself buying these every now and then when I was in the mood for chocolate, but something more than a candy bar. Hopefully the strawberry and crème Hostess Ho-Hos will last a little longer.