{"id":20556,"date":"2016-09-05T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theimpulsivebuy.com\/wordpress\/?p=20556"},"modified":"2021-01-07T11:41:30","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T21:41:30","slug":"review-hostess-limited-edition-caramel-apple-cupcakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theimpulsivebuy.com\/wordpress\/2016\/09\/05\/review-hostess-limited-edition-caramel-apple-cupcakes\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Hostess Limited Edition Caramel Apple Cupcakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hostess<\/a><\/p>\n

I love festivals.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t help it.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t encountered a pig race, funhouse, or merry-go-round I don\u2019t enjoy. Bring on your strong man contests, your ring tosses, your wooden roller coasters of questionable integrity. Why, between the bells, balloon animals, and clinkity clank music, there\u2019s enough joy here to make a circus look like a film noir. <\/p>\n

So it should come of no surprise that I was drawn to these Hostess Caramel Apple Cupcakes. I always, always, always make a moment of having caramel apples at Fall Festivals. I once consumed five of them before going into the corn maze, where I proceeded to get lost for three hours…BUT I survived! All credit goes to caramel apples.<\/p>\n

\"Hostess<\/a><\/p>\n

Out of the gate, these cupcakes are lookin\u2019 fine. There are smells of cider, crackles of caramel frosting, and red squiggles, all squished in an authentic \u201cI got shipped in a truck and thrown on a shelf\u201d way. Everything is perfect. Resistance is futile.<\/p>\n

And, ladies and gentlemen, this is one peculiar cupcake. It\u2019s admirably different, in its own pudgy, small, charming way. There\u2019s the spongy, floury cake, which has bits of woodsy, warm cinnamon and some sort of tanginess that feels like a moderate hint-and-nudge toward the apple, although it speaks more toward a blend of the formerly mentioned cider and melted Jolly Ranchers. <\/p>\n

Next up to bat is the crackly top glaze, which tastes of honey and caramel and molasses and vanilla and the burnt top of cr\u00e8me brul\u00e9e all smooshed together. It\u2019s like an unpaid syrup-harvesting intern got lost in the woods and decided to mix all the sugars. It\u2019s confusing and brilliant, much like interns themselves.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the caramel filling. In a color that\u2019s not nearly as terrifyingly brown as the cover portrays, it seems Hostess has repurposed the light, extremely sugary caramel fluff from the Sea Salt Caramel Cupcakes and smashed it in here. Fluffy and sugar-forward, this stuff is less discreet than a mammoth in the knitting aisle. Its strong blast of Cool-Whip-like sugariness levels out the cinnamon of the cake quite nicely. Between these fluffy insides and the caramel-frosted top, caramel becomes the star of the show. <\/p>\n

Just one thing: what happened to the apple?? Sure, there was that Jolly Rancher cider thing, but it came without chunks. It came without dices. It came without nibbles, pieces, or slices. What a tragedy. The cake could\u2019ve benefited from a Hulk smash of tart apples. Even real applesauce or apple juice would do. This hint of flavoring? Would make an apple-loving Hulk cry. Don\u2019t make Hulk cry!<\/p>\n

\"Hostess<\/a><\/p>\n

But let us not dwell on the tears of giants. As it seems to go, the simplest pattern for my enjoying something usually goes 2 moments of curiosity + 1 dose lack of self-control x 8 tons of the positive or negative feedback on tastiness, and these? Are good. The cake is soft and cinnamony, the crackly frosted top stays true to its caramel name, and the inner frosting is a delicious, crazy sweet fluff, and, if you close your eyes and make a wish, it all has a slight echo of something apple-y (although you have to wish really, really hard). Can these be a little too sweet sometimes? Are they a little unbalanced? Would I like to see more apples? Sure, but, on the whole, these cupcakes are peculiar and delightful. <\/p>\n

Now, if you\u2019ll excuse me, I\u2019m going to eat five of them and go find a corn maze I can get lost in.<\/p>\n

(Nutrition Facts – 1 Cupcake \u2013 160 calories, 50 calories from fat, 6 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 210 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 18 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.)<\/small><\/p>\n

Purchased Price:<\/b> $2.99
\nSize:<\/b> 1 box\/8 cakes
\nPurchased at:<\/b> Target
\nRating:<\/b> 8 out of 10
\nPros:<\/b> Soft, cinnamony cake. Crackly caramel frosting top. Fluffy, sweet insides. Syrup-harvesting interns gone amok. Corn mazes. Roller coasters of questionable integrity.
\nCons:<\/b> Where be the apples, yo? Questionable presence of \u201cHydrogenated beef tallow.\u201d May make Hulk cry. Getting lost in a corn maze for three hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love festivals. I can\u2019t help it. I haven\u2019t encountered a pig race, funhouse, or merry-go-round I don\u2019t enjoy. Bring on your strong man contests, your ring tosses, your wooden roller coasters of questionable integrity. Why, between the bells, balloon animals, and clinkity clank music, there\u2019s enough joy here to make a circus look like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1440],"tags":[1504],"class_list":["post-20556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-hostess"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18460,"url":"https:\/\/www.theimpulsivebuy.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/11\/review-hostess-limited-time-only-sea-salt-caramel-cupcakes\/","url_meta":{"origin":20556,"position":0},"title":"REVIEW: Hostess Limited Time Only Sea Salt Caramel Cupcakes","author":"Dan","date":"May 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Is this what Captain Cupcake died for? 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