Which baker invented the cream-filled Twinkie snack cake in 1930?

James “Jimmy” Dewar invented the cream-filled Twinkie snack cake in 1930. He was a Canadian-born baker and plant manager working for the Continental Baking Company in Schiller Park, Illinois.

Dewar noticed that machines used to make strawberry shortcakes stood idle when fresh strawberries were out of season. He proposed replacing the fruit with a creamy filling, creating a shelf-stable snack cake that could be sold year-round. The first Twinkies were filled with banana cream rather than the vanilla-style filling most consumers know today.

Dewar reportedly named the cake after seeing a billboard for Twinkle Toe Shoes. During World War II, banana shortages led Continental Baking to switch to vanilla cream, and that version became the enduring standard.

The cake’s inventor is sometimes confused with Hostess as a company, but Hostess was the brand and distributor. Dewar was the individual credited with conceiving the product and its original filling.