Ben & Jerry's - Strawberry Not So Shortcake

Strawberry Not So Shortcake - Strawberry Cake Ice Cream with Strawberries & Shortbread Pieces

Strawberry Not So Shortcake is already the third exclusive flavor that Walmart has had since I've been writing these reviews.  The fact that Walmart cycles their exclusive flavors much more quickly than other stores is the only reason I ever go to Walmart.  Every time I hear that there is a new flavor, I trek to the other side of town once or twice a week to the Walmart Supercenter to see if they've got it in stock.  Last week I hit paydirt and brought home this pint which means I won't have to go to Walmart for a few months.

Opening the pint, I see the bright pink flavor of the strawberry cake ice cream base with some darker pink strawberry specks also visible.  Digging into the pint, the base ice cream indeed has a strong strawberry flavor which is quite tasty.  Curiously, it is strawberry cake ice cream and not just strawberry ice cream.  As has been mentioned in previous reviews, strawberry is a very strong and sweet flavor which can be overpowering so it is often cut with something else such as sour cream, cream cheese or in this case cake batter.  I tried to figure out what was cakey about the base.  I guess I did get the sensation of eating angel food cake from time to time but other than that it was just a muted but still very yummy strawberry flavor.  The strawberry pieces were not as prevalent as I expected them to be, but one thing I did notice was that they weren't frozen.  I have complained with previous pints about the unpleasant sensation of biting into frozen strawberries but that was not a problem here.  The shortbread pieces were fairly well-dispersed in the pint but they themselves did not have much of a flavor at all.  Nothing bad about them but for me, they just provided an occasional change of texture as I ate the pint.

All in all, I enjoyed this pint quite a bit.  So many of Ben & Jerry's flavors feature chocolate or peanut butter (or both) and sometimes I'm in the mood for something fruity and a flavor such as this one can really hit the spot.  The only qualm I have is that this flavor is extremely close the previously reviewed Strawberry Cheesecake flavor.  There, the base is strawberry cheesecake instead of strawberry cake and the swirl is a contrasting graham cracker one instead of blending shortbread one.  I really enjoyed the Strawberry Cheesecake pint as well.  If you love strawberries you'll probably want to try this flavor before Walmart cycles to another flavor.  On the other hand, if you don't have a Walmart Supercenter nearby or if you can't stand going to Walmart then the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor is a delicious substitute.