Twinkies

Twinkies, oblong sponge cakes with a cream filling, were created in 1930, during the Depression. James A. Dewar, manager of the Continental Baking Company, in Schiller Park, Illinois, was looking for a way to use the pans used to bake shortbread fingers, which were used only during the summer strawberry season. The original sponge cakes were sold without cream filling for use in strawberry shortcakes. Dewar injected the cakes with a banana filling, creating a year-round item that sold two for a nickel. A banana shortage during World War II prompted Continental to substitute vanilla cream for the original banana-cream filling. The vanilla filling continues to be used in Twinkies. According to Hostess, the division of Continental that produces Twinkies, the name for the cakes came from a billboard advertising “Twinkle Toe” shoes that Dewar saw on a business trip to St. Louis. Continental was purchased by Interstate Bakeries Corporation, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1995.