Ben & Jerry's - Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake - Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream with Red Velvet Cake Pieces & a Cream Cheese Frosting Swirl

Red Velvet Cake has been around since at least World War II but it has received a resurgenge in popularity in recent years due to the cupcake craze of the mid-2000s.  This 2012 flavor from Ben & Jerry's is intended to capitalize on that craze.  Here we have red velvet in the base as well as red velvet cake pieces.

Opening the lid, I see a pink color of the base.  Its a lighter color than red velvet cake would normally be, but that makes sense because its mixed with the milk and cream and the cream cheese swirl.  Digging into the pint, its a sweet and cool flavor.  The coolness I think is the effect of the frosting swirl.  The cake pieces reveal themselves deeper into the pint and they are a darker pink and are relatively numerous.  They were soft and cakey, not frozen.  Something was missing though.  I don't taste any cocoa!  I checked the ingredient list and I see buttermilk, but no cocoa.  I see some fruit juice down below but I think that's Ben & Jerry's not wanting to use artificial coloring.  They're a bit of a hippie company and avoid artificial ingredients.  Normally that's good, but here I think the red fruit coloring created an odd aftertaste in my mouth.  Not at first, but definitely as I got to the bottom of the pint.  It wasn't terrible, but it was a bit odd.

So, I think the idea of Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream may be a good concept but there were some missteps in this execution.  I think cocoa is a key ingredient and good old fashioned artifical red food coloring is the most efficient way to turn it red.  So perhaps a non-hippie ice cream company could give it a try?