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Drake's vs. Hostess

Jason Perlow

By Jason Perlow
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Jason Perlow

Jason Perlow

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More and more, I find that the only acceptable pairing to the coffee we get out of the machine at work is the Drakes Coffee Cake. Not Sunny Doodles, not Devil Dogs, but Coffee Cake.

And yet I feel compelled to try and find a superior, less artifically produced specimen, but I cant seem to find anything which approaches the Drake for sheer portability, and its perfect crumb-to-cake ratio. Sometimes you find coffee cakes that are way too crumb heavy, or the cake part is too dry. I find that the Drakes is very well designed in this way.

The Entenmann's one is not bad, but they dont sell them in self-enclosed wrapped packages, you have to buy a whole cake, which is inconvenient.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Fat Guy

Fat Guy

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It's not a bad product. If you look at the ingredients it's mostly what a home baker might use: Flour, sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, vegetable shortening, eggs. There are a couple of polysorbates and such in small quantities but it's hard to do packaged foods without those kinds of additives. You're not going to do much better unless you bake it yourself or move into the realm of actual bakery stuff.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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lamb

lamb

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The Entenmann's one is not bad, but they dont sell them in self-enclosed wrapped packages, you have to buy a whole cake, which is inconvenient.

Jason,

Entenmann's does sell individually wrapped mini-coffee cakes in their "Little Bites" line. My kids love them - that is if they get to them before my husband and I do. They taste incredibly like the Drake's line. My local Shop-Rite carries them, but not all the time. :raz:

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jhlurie

jhlurie

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I have to agree with Jason on the Drake's Coffee Cakes. There is no logical reason why they should be as totally satisying as they are. For years, even at times when I'd sworn off pretty much all junk food, I always held onto the Drake's Coffee Cakes.

Drake's Coffee Cakes rule.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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  • 8 months later...
Jason Perlow

Jason Perlow

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Yesterday at the supermarket, we saw "Hostess Crumb Cakes" along with the usual and favored Drakes Coffee Cakes. So we bought both and decided who's crumbs will reign supreme.

Hostess had a grainier texture, smelled sweeter than the Drakes.

Drakes was moister, spicier. More cinnamon.

Overall, we liked the Drakes better.

Anyone else try any other brands? Does Lil Debbie or Entenmann's have viable entries?

coffeecakes.jpg

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Jinmyo

Jinmyo

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Out of anthropolical interest I have to ask if these things are popular?

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Jason Perlow

Jason Perlow

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Gee, hasn't anyone seen Seinfeld? Episode 32?

THE SUICIDE

(Episode 32): Martin, Jerry's neighbor, tries to kill himself when he thinks his girlfriend, Gina, is coming on to Jerry. While Martin is hospitalized, Gina does make a pass at Jerry. George is warned by a fortuneteller of impending doom. Fearing the worst, George gives his ticket to the Cayman Islands to Kramer. Elaine needs to fast before a x-ray, so she tries stuffing herself three days before the test. Jerry becomes worried when Newman (a friend of Martins) sees him with Gina. Elaine starts hallucinating from hunger. Everything hinges on a Drake's coffee cake. Air Date: 1/29/92

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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docsconz

docsconz

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Drakes Cakes, especially Yankee Doodles are one of my few childhood favorites I still love. I can't stand Hostess Cakes. They are way too sweet.

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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awbrig

awbrig

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I have never heard of Drakes or seen them in any store around here...

Come to think of it I havent seen the Hostess Breakfast Cakes either...I thought they stopped making those...Do they still have the Stella Dora Breakfast Bars around?? :smile:

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Kim WB

Kim WB

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Out of anthropological interest I have to ask if these things are popular?

Rosie O'Donnel used to stump for Drake's Cakes on her T.V. show.

Now there's a discerning palate. :hmmm:

Hey, don't be dissing Rosie, PT Cruiser boy! :wink::laugh:

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johnjohn

johnjohn

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I have never heard of Drakes or seen them in any store around here...

Come to think of it I havent seen the Hostess Breakfast Cakes either...I thought they stopped making those...Do they still have the Stella Dora Breakfast Bars around?? :smile:

I don't think Drakes is available nationwide. I never heard of them until I moved to NYC. Are they an East Coast thing?

johnjohn

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jhlurie

jhlurie

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I don't think Drakes is available nationwide.  I never heard of them until I moved to NYC.  Are they an East Coast thing?

Yes. Well... maybe.

Know what I find odd? Their website.

The whole website is nothing but a year past notice about a recall of "Sunny Doodles". And they confirm that Drake's HQ is Kansas City. Apparently the parent corporation is Interstate Bakeries Corporation, and I was correct before--they ARE the same as Hostess. See? And I think that explains the regionality as well. Drake's WAS its own company at one point, and I guess some of those OTHER brands shown on that IBC profile are established in other regions to the extent that Drake's was deemed not necessary. But both Hostess and Drake's existed in the East coast market before they got bought, so I guess IBC decided to keep both brands here.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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lamb

lamb

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Drakes for the discerning palate! :raz:

Every now and then my big brother- transplanted from Brooklyn to Eugene, OR, calls me to send out a care package of Devil Dogs to him. My kids crack up at the thought of their 50+ year old uncle begging for Devil Dogs!

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bushey

bushey

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No contest, Drakes reigns supreme. I once heard, while driving, a Paula Poundstone routine in which she dismisses Hostess as an inferior, copycat brand of the superior Drakes cakes. I was laughing so heard my sides heard and tears were streaming down my face......on the Mass Pike.....

Fondest Drakes memory: frozen Devil Dogs for those times when you just needed to, uh, munch.

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bigbear

bigbear

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I don't think Drakes is available nationwide.  I never heard of them until I moved to NYC.  Are they an East Coast thing?
Never heard of Drakes, what about Entemans

Here's something you just need to know..... I have seen the familiar Entenmann's products for sale in supermarkets in Quito, Ecuador. Probably flown in from Miami. The first time I saw them, I did a double-take.

-- Jeff

"I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." -- Groucho Marx

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