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 the May West was made by Stuart Ltd, run by the wealthy Montreal-based Allard family and subsequently bought out in 1979 by their longtime competitor, Vachon Inc. Vachon continued to market them under the Stuart brand, before retiring the Stuart brand and rebranding the line to reflect a consolidated Vachon lineup.
The original creme filling was custard, however it has since then been replaced by a shortening-based vanilla creme close in taste and texture to the filling found in Twinkies.