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Welcome to today’s installment of Tastykake Face-Off, where Philadelphia’s hometown hero snack product goes up against the competition in a fight for top snack bragging rights. The winner will be carefully selected via analysis of several key criteria discussed below. Today, it’s the battle of the cream-filled chocolate cupcakes, with opposite-colored icing: Chocolate-iced Entenmann’s Enten-mini’s Chocolate Crème Cupcakes versus white-iced Tastykake Cream Filled Chocolate Cukcakes. Will Entenmann’s redeem itself after its previous defeat? Let’s see…

1) Packaging: The Tastykake follows its modus operanti by sticking with a tight plastic wrapper around three cupcakes, with a cardboard panel underneath for added stability. The Tastykake logo looms large on the left side of the package. A swath of blue takes up the top of the packaging, a lighter shade of blue is on the bottom, and in the middle, separated from the blue by cheerful yellow stripes, is the clear area where the cupcakes are visible. On the right side are the words “CREAM FILLED CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES” in white (outlined in dark blue), with “Buttercream Iced” in a smaller typeface below. The Entenmann’s packaging is larger, with an opaque plastic wrapper around the cupcakes, which are protected by cardboard on the bottom and sides. The wrapper features a picture of two cupcakes in the middle; one is cut open to display the cream filling chamber inside, which looks extremely appetizing. The background features waves of dark blue, light blue, and white, all of which have a metallic sheen to them. The Entenmann’s logo is small in the upper left corner, followed by a yellow banner with a red “New!” on it. The largest word is below those, but above the picture of the cupcakes: “Enten-mini’s.” At the very bottom are the words “CHOCOLATE CRÈME CUPCAKES.” A poorly placed bar code is at the far left. This round was a close one. The judges were eager to give the nod to the Tastykake because of the Entenmann’s’ over-packaging and overly-prominent bar code, but the silvery blues and whites sure are lovely to behold. And the Tastykake was slightly squished. Therefore, this round goes to Entenmann’s.

2) Price: The Tastykake can be yours for $1.39. The Entenmann’s will cost you an additional ten cents…and you’ll only get two cupcakes to the Tastykake’s three. This round has to go to Tastykake.

3) Appearance: The Tastykake cupcakes’ white icing is offset by a chocolate stripe running down the center of each one. The chocolate cake is crumbly-looking and medium brown; on the inside, the filling is a brighter white than the top icing. The Enten-mini’s are topped by a harder-looking chocolate icing, with a contrasting white stripe in a baroque loop pattern. The chocolate icing is shimmery, as if there has been glitter added to it, which looks nice but becomes less appetizing the longer you think about it. Hopefully it’s caused by granulated sugar and not real glitter. The cake itself is ever so slightly darker than the Tastykake, as well as moister-looking. The filling chamber appears as depicted on the packaging. Until we get a definitive answer on the glitter situation, Tastykake will reign victorious in this round.

4) Taste: The Tastykake’s icing has a good consistency and flavor: Not too sweet, but not too rich either. The cake is moist but not very dense, with just a hint of chocolate flavor. The cream filling is sufficiently thick, although slightly gummy. The Entenmann’s icing is hard (as its appearance suggested), and the cake has a similar taste to the Tastykake, but more dense. The filling is fluffier than the Tastykake’s. Both cupcakes could stand to have a more chocolaty flavor, but either would be a solid choice in the sugary snack department. We’re going to give this round to the Tastykake, which has an intangible factor that just makes it a bit more satisfying.

5) Nutrition: Fortunately, both brands consider the entire package to be one serving size, because we all know that no one stops after one cupcake. The Tastykake, which has an extra cupcake, is 20 grams larger, and its nutrition suffers proportionately. Otherwise, both are fairly similar, although the Entenmann’s has five times more cholesterol (50 milligrams versus 10 milligrams), handing this round to Tastykake.

Victory: Tastykake. This was a close one. The Entenmann’s are attractively packaged, look good, and taste good too; the Tastykake is all of the above, plus a better value. Also, WTF is up with marketing these under the “Enten-mini’s” moniker? They’re the same size as a regular cupcake. The judges love mini-sized things and hate to be disappointed when something labeled as “mini” turns out to be full-sized. Much like the last Tastykake-Entenmann’s face-off, this one was a nail-biter. The next time these rivals meet, will the tide turn in Entenmann’s favor? We’ll have to wait and see.