A Ding Dong is a chocolate cake

Chocolate cake

Chocolate cake is a cake flavored with melted chocolate or cocoa powder.-History:Chocolate cake is made with chocolate; it can be made with other ingredients, as well. These ingredients include fudge, vanilla creme, and other sweeteners. The history of chocolate cake goes back to 1764, when Dr...

 that is sold by Hostess Brands. It is round with a flat top and bottom, about three inches in diameter and a little more than an inch high, similar in shape to a hockey puck

Hockey puck

A puck is a disk used in various games serving the same functions as a ball does in ball games. The best-known use of pucks is in ice hockey, a major international sport.- Etymology :The origin of the word "puck" is obscure...

. A white creamy filling is injected into the center, and a thin coating of chocolate glaze covers the entire cake. The cake was originally wrapped in a square of thick aluminium foil

Aluminium foil

Aluminium foil is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves, with a thickness less than , thinner gauges down to are also commonly used. In the USA, foils are commonly gauged in mils. Standard household foil is typically thick and heavy duty household foil is typically .The foil is pliable, and...

, enabling it to be carried in lunches without melting the chocolate glaze.

History and naming

The Ding Dong is similar to other cream-filled cakes, such as Arcade Vachon's

Vachon Inc.

Vachon, Inc. is a Canadian maker of popular snack pastries, owned by Saputo, Inc.Vachon was founded by Joseph-Arcade and Rose-Anna Vachon Giroux in 1923 when the couple left his home village of Saint-Patrice-de-Beaurivage to develop a bakery in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce in Quebec.Brands include:*May...

 Jos. Louis

Jos. Louis

Jos. Louis is a plastic-wrapped confection consisting of two red velvet cake rounds with a cream filling within a milk chocolate shell. It resembles a chocolate version of the May West dessert....

 introduced before 1934 and still in production. Hostess began marketing its Ding Dong in 1967. The name was given to coincide with a television ad campaign featuring a ringing bell

Bell (instrument)

A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...

.

Ring Ding / Ding Dong conflict

The company marketed the snacks on the East Coast as Big Wheels, to avoid confusion with the Ring Ding, a similar (and pre-existing) treat by Drake's Cakes. The names were consolidated in 1987, when a short-lived merger of Drake's with Hostess' parent company (then Continental Baking Company) briefly resolved the Ring Ding/Ding Dong conflict. When the merged company broke up, however, Hostess was forced to cease, once again, using the Ding Dongs name in areas where Ring Dings were available. The compromise sound-alike name King Dons lasted until Interstate Bakeries Corporation

Interstate Bakeries Corporation

Hostess Brands, Inc. is the largest wholesale baker and distributor of fresh bakery products in the United States, and is the owner of the Hostess, Wonder Bread, Nature's Pride, Dolly Madison, Butternut Breads, and Drake's brands. For many years it was based at 12 East Armour Boulevard, Kansas...

, which had recently merged with Hostess' parent company, bought Drake's

Drake's

Drake's is a baking company in Wayne, New Jersey, United States, owned by Hostess Brands, which makes snack cakes such as Ring Dings, Yodels, Devil Dogs, Yankee Doodles, Sunny Doodles, Funny Bones, and coffee cake. Their mascot is a smiling duck wearing a chef's hat and neckerchief holding a...

 in 1998. The Hostess product is now sold under the name Ding Dongs throughout the United States. However, the snack is still sold as the King Don in Canada.

Cartoon characters

Hostess created the King Ding Dong cartoon character to advertise the Ding Dong: an anthropomorphized Ding Dong sporting a crown and sceptre. He was similar to other Hostess characters Twinkie the Kid

Twinkie the Kid

Twinkie the Kid is the mascot for Twinkies, Hostess's golden, cream-filled snack cakes. He is a registered trademark of Hostess Brands. He has appeared on product packaging, in commercials, and as collectible related merchandise.-Description:...

 and Fruit Pie the Magician

Fruit Pie the Magician

Fruit Pie the Magician was the official mascot for Hostess fruit pies from 1973 till early 2006 when the character was removed from the fruit pie labels....

. Where King Dons were marketed, the character, like the product, was known as King Don. In areas that used the Big Wheel name, the character was an Indian chief

Tribal chief

A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...

 named "Chief Big Wheel."

See also

• Choco Pie
  Choco Pie
  Choco Pie is a South Korean snack food manufactured by Orion Confectionery which consists of two small round layers of cake with marshmallow filling, with chocolate covering, similar to a Moon Pie...
  
  , a popular Korean marshmallow
  Marshmallow
  The marshmallow is a confection that, in its modern form, typically consists of sugar, corn syrup, water, gelatin that has been softened in hot water, dextrose, vanilla flavourings, and sometimes colouring, whipped to a spongy consistency. Some marshmallow recipes call for egg whites...
  
   cake in similar style
• Hostess (brand)
• Twinkie
  Twinkie
  The Twinkie is an American snack cake made and distributed by Hostess Brands. They are marketed as a "Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling".-History:...