The Hunt for Powdered Raspberry Filled Donuts (an expedition of the sugary kind)

I have not bought snack cakes for almost a year now. In fact.. abstaining from them completely, helped me to lose 55 pounds since then. However, now that I have a healthier relationship with food, I occasionally allow myself to indulge in a treat from time to time. I asked myself today what is the one snack cake I would allow myself to enjoy once a month. The answer was quite simple, my favorite snack cake of all time. Hostess Raspberry filled Donuts.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending how you look at it) treating myself to this delicacy may never happen, as they are no longer made by Hostess. They were discontinued around 2012, and while there were some reasonable simile's to be found here and there, even these now seem to be non existent. Web searches seem to be of no help, but I desperately want to believe there are Raspberry Filled Donuts manufactured by a snack cake company, somewhere in this country.

Therefore, I've now made it my mission to find a suitable replacement to take the place of my long lost snack cake. I started by hitting up the grocery store closest to my home, and will then broaden my search in an outward radius. As I love road trips, I will also be steadily searching stores across the state of Florida, the Southern U.S., as well as westward across the country. Here are the results of my first foray in this snack cake hunting expedition I've embarked upon..


The Hunt for Raspberry Filled Donuts
Expedition #001 - Wal Mart
(Four Corners, Clermont Florida)

It was really strange perusing snack aisles for the first time in over a year, after going cold turkey on snack cakes in any form. I forgot just how many varieties are offered in some major supermarket chains, and was surprised by a couple new additions to the snack cake world. Below are my findings..


The Main Snack Aisle


Nothing remotely similar to Powdered Raspberry Filled Donuts to see here. In fact, I was kind of shocked at just how small this snack cake section was.


The Stand Alone Displays

Little Debbie
Had no hope of finding them here, but checked anyway



Entenmann's
A decent variety, but again, nothing close to what I'm looking for. I had to squeeze my way around this display because of the boxes and pallet jacks surrounding it. CRIPES! Have I ever mentioned how much I detest day stocking in supermarkets? Oh yes.. I believe I have!




Spanish Snack Cakes
The Spanish brands of snack cakes always intrigue me. The 'Pinguinos' filled cookies caught my attention for sure. They look like a cross between an OREO Cakester and a Hostess Cupcake! The old me would have walked out with a box, but I was able to shake off that old impulse, and refocused on the task at hand.



Tastykake Donuts

Getting closer, but not close enough.



End Cap Displays..


TASTYKAKE
Tastykake has really surpassed Hostess in recent years all the way across the board. Quality, shelf space, distribution, they seem to be hitting on all cylinders. I will keep a close eye on this brand as they often release new items while still embracing the classics.



Little Debbie
On this trip, I noticed that Little Debbie snacks were peppered widely throughout the store. While I initially almost passed by the sections stocked with Little Debbie treats, I quickly started rethinking that line of thought. 

When Hostess went through bankruptcy and the company ceased production on all snacks, supermarkets quickly backfilled the empty shelves with Little Debbie snacks. It must have done wonders for Little Debbie earnings during that year. Since then, I've noticed a steady string of new snack cakes being released all year long. I made sure to give them a look, but unfortunately came up short.


Minion Cakebites
I swear Minions have a wider reach & presence than Mickey Mouse these days.



The Store Bakery


Not Raspberry filled Donuts. Rather.. Strawberry Sweet Rolls. I almost grabbed these as they looked similar to my second all time favorite Hostess snack.. Cherry Sweet Rolls. I stayed strong however, and continued my mission.


A sea of pastries and donuts..
but none that were filled.


So my inaugural expedition was unfortunately a bust. As for now, I am holding strong in regards to my snack cake celibacy. If I find any snack cake products that are similar in any shape way or form to the old Hostess Raspberry filled donuts however, I will snatch them up and review them with haste! 

How about you? Were you a Raspberry Filled Donut fan as well? Have you seen anything remotely resembling this great snack on the shelves anywhere? If so.. drop us a comment below. In the meantime, I will continue the hunt, and will share my findings here.