Hostess Devil's Food Zingers are very similar to a Twinkie in that they're long bar-shaped cakes filled with creme. For the Devil's Food Zinger, the cake is devil's food cake (i.e. a rich chocolate cake) and it's iced on top with a chocolaty coating.
A
15.24-ounce box of 12 individually-wrapped cakes retails for $4.29 and you might guess that this particular box cost two for $5, but you would be wrong! They were actually buy one, get one free, so $4.29 for two boxes.
I haven't eaten one of these in years, but they're smaller than I remember; just the right size to for a snack.
The cake is airier and moister than Hostess Cupcakes and more like a Twinkie (but with chocolate, of course). Like a Twinkle, it's also a little sticky on the outside; I think it's a layer meant to help keep moisture in(?). The cake has a nice bit of chocolate flavor coupled with the sweet creme filling. It could be richer, but I'm sure that would ratchet the price up more than I'd want to pay.
The icing is very similar to fondant and also very sweet with some chocolate notes at the tail end. It has a stylized lengthwise striping that gives the dessert it's name (I think...).
Overall,
you can probably consider the Devil's Food Cake Zinger a chocolate, frosted Twinkle. It's a reasonable shelf-stable substitute for a real devil's food cake that's convenient to buy and store. It's mostly sweet, somewhat chocolaty, and not bad at all. I'd pick them over Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes, but I'm not sure which one I'd go for between a chocolate Zinger and a
Ding Dong.
Nutritional Info - Hostess Devil's Food Cake Zingers (per cake)
Calories - 130 (from Fat - 40)
Fat - 4.5g (Saturated Fat - 2.5g)
Sodium - 125mg
Carbs - 22g (Sugar - 17g)
Protein - 1g
