May West

For the actress, see Mae West.

A May West is a round dessert cake with cream filling. It was created in Canada, and continues to be particularly popular in the Province of Quebec. It is currently made by Vachon Inc., a division of Saputo Inc.

The cake was invented by René Brousseau, patissier at Vaillancourt Inc., a Quebec City bakery. As of 1932 the May West was then made by Stuart Ltd, run by the wealthy Montreal-based Allard family and subsequently bought out in 1979 by their longtime competitor, Vachon Inc.^[1] Vachon continued to market them under the Stuart brand, before retiring the Stuart brand and rebranding the line to reflect a consolidated Vachon lineup.^[2]

The cake's name was originally identical to that of the movie star that inspired it, but got changed in the 1980s to its current spelling. The original creme filling was custard, however it has since then been replaced by a shortening-based vanilla creme close in taste and texture to the filling found in Twinkies.

References

1. ^ http://www.vachon.com/en/history/#1970
2. ^ "Inventor of May West snack cake dies", The Montreal Gazette, August 4, 2007, http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=ea6569c5-3ce3-473e-a2c1-932589ae545a&k=61041 .

External links

• Vachon Cake Products