A May West (originally called a "Mae West", after the eponymous movie star, but the spelling was changed in the 1980s) is a round dessert cake with creme 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 Canada Bread.
The cake was invented by René Brousseau, patissier at Vaillancourt Inc., a Quebec City bakery. As of 1932, May West cakes were made by Stuart Ltd, run by the wealthy Montreal-based Allard family; they were 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The original creme filling was custard; however, it has since then been replaced by a shortening-based vanilla creme close in taste and texture to the filling found in Twinkies.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
- ^ "History - Home". Vachon. Retrieved 2012-02-26.
- ^ "Inventor of May West snack cake dies", The Montreal Gazette, August 4, 2007