The iconic white squiggle on Hostess CupCakes was invented in 1947 to hide the hole left by the filling needle.

The Hostess CupCake was first introduced in 1919 by the Taggart Baking Company, but it did not originally include its famous filling or squiggle. It was not until 1947 that bakery manager D.R. 'Doc' Rice updated the recipe and production method. Rice realized that injecting the vanilla creme center left a visible blemish on the chocolate frosting that looked unappealing to consumers.To solve this, Rice engineered a specialized machine that applied a royal icing garnish in a continuous looping pattern. This mechanical process was timed so precisely that it consistently produced exactly seven loops on every single cupcake. This specific number became a standardized trademark for the brand that continues to this day despite modern manufacturing updates.The introduction of the squiggle and the creme center was a massive success, leading to a production increase from 12 million to 40 million cupcakes per year by the early 1950s. Hostess eventually trademarked the 'S-shaped' squiggle design to protect its brand identity from competitors. Today, the company produces over 600 million cupcakes annually, each still bearing the signature seven-loop design that started as a simple industrial fix.