Ben & Jerry's - Cake My Day

Cake My Day - Vanilla Cake Batter Ice Cream with Vanilla Cake Pieces, Buttercream Frosting & Raspberry Swirls

A new Ben & Jerry's flavor!  Well, they've cycled their "limited batch" slot.  The Save Our Swirled flavor has been retired and is replaced with Cake My Day.  From the description, it looks like they've made based a pint of ice cream on a piece of cake:  cake batter, cake pieces, frosting.  Interestingly, it has also has a raspberry swirl.  The Save Our Swirled flavor also contained raspberry so maybe they had some leftover ingredients in the factory.  We'll see how that plays out.

The top of the pint right after removing the lid is primarily white from the vanilla cake batter base with a few pink splotches visible from the raspberry swirl.  Digging my spoon in uncovers the cake pieces.  They are yellow in color but they tasted like vanilla.  I guess I expected white cake, but its just full eggs versus egg whites which make the difference between yellow and white cake so it tasted like white cake.  The frosting swirls were interesting.  I don't know if you can tell from the pictures because the frosting is the same color as the base but probably about five percent of the pint is frosting instead of ice cream.  It was good.  Somehow it wasn't too sweet.   Then there was the raspberry swirls.  Raspberry can be a strong flavor but I think this was just the right amount of raspberry.  The dominant flavor in the top half of the pint was the cake and the frosting with raspberry being an accent.  The strength of the raspberry did build as I got to the bottom of the pint, though.  By the end, it was a significant amount of raspberry.

I enjoyed this pint.  I've been craving for new Ben & Jerry's releases since I finished the last of their regular flavors last October and this did not disappoint.  Judging from feedback from previous reviews, raspberry might not be for everyone though.  Of all the fruit syrup swirls they could have picked, I probably would have picked lemon or strawberry but this was still quite tasty.  It tasted like a good piece of wedding cake in ice cream format.  So, if you like a good piece of wedding cake and you don't mind raspberry, then go ahead....  cake your day.

Häagen-Dazs Artisan - Ginger Molasses Cookie

Ginger Molasses Cookie - Vanilla Cinnamon Ice Cream with Ginger Molasses Cookie Pieces

Next we review one of the flavors from Häagen-Dazs' Artisan line: Ginger Molasses Cookie.  For each flavor in the Artisan line, Häagen-Dazs commissioned a different independent specialty baker to design a flavor.  This Ginger Molasses Cookie flavor was designed by Anna Gordon of The Good Batch bakery in Brooklyn.

Opening the pint, I see a pale beige color of the vanilla cinnamon base with some of the cookie pieces evident even on the very top.  Digging in, the cinnamon flavor in the base was quite noticeable and the cookie pieces revealed themselves and were fairly numerous.  There was quite a bit of a kick to the ginger cookies.  As we saw with the Spiced Pecan Turtle flavor, the artisan line does not hold back with the spices.  It wasn't too much while I was eating it, but feeling of ginger lingered on my teeth for an hour afterwards (that's not a complaint, I kind of like that).  There was something a bit odd about the vanilla cinnamon base, though.  It tasted alright but the texture stayed tough and crumbly almost all the way down to the bottom of the pint.  I don't know if that was an issue with my particular pint (was it melted and refrozen) or a general characteristic of this flavor.  I'm not sure.

So, not quite a completely successful pint.  It was spicy enough but if the base had the softer texture of the Cinnamon Buns flavor then I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Steve's - Brooklyn Blackout Cake

Brooklyn Blackout Cake - Ovenly Dark Chocolate Stout Cake folded into rich dark chocolate ice cream made with grass-fed milk and cream with a swirl of dark chocolate pudding.

Back to Steve's for this week's ice cream review.  Steve's is the old Boston scoop shop which pioneered the use of the mix-in and its brand has recently been revived as a provider of premium pints.  I was in the mood for chocolate so I thought I'd try out the Brooklyn Blackout Cake flavor.  I was not familiar with the cake version of Brooklyn Blackout Cake so I looked it up.  It is a layered chocolate cake with chocolate pudding between the layers and chocolate frosting on the outside.  Sounds very chocolatey!  I can't wait to dig in.

Opening the lid of Steve's DIY-style packaging, I see a light-brown color of the chocolate base with some of the pudding swirl evident on top.  Digging into the pint, the pudding swirl seemed to disappear but I think what happened is that it got blended into the chocolate base because that base was very delicious.  The cake pieces revealed themselves below as well and they were quite tasty.  They were very soft and had a kick of dark chocolate bitterness to them.  All of the chocolate ingredients were billed on the carton as being 'dark' but really only the cake was a true dark chocolate.  A few of the cake pieces near the bottom of the pint were a bit frozen but that's a minor quibble.

I really enjoyed this pint and would have it again.  It's kind of a fancier version of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie but cake pieces instead of brownies and a more flavorful chocolate base.  I would go so far as to say that I like this better than Chocolate Fudge Brownie.  So, if you are a chocolate fan and you like your chocolate mix-in's in soft and chewy form then give this one a whirl.

McConnell's - Salted Caramel Chip

Salted Caramel Chip - A uniquely deep and complex salted caramel. Almost toffee-like in flavor, brought together with our stunningly rich mix of cage-free organic eggs, pure cane sugar and fresh, Central Coast, grass-fed milk and cream, then topped-off by our signature, Guittard bittersweet, melted chocolate.

Happy New Year!  Welcome to the second year of ice cream reviews.  All of the extant Ben & Jerry's flavors have been reviewed so we are currently exploring other premium brands.  Today, it is back to McConnells for their Salted Caramel Chip.  As always, the McConnell's carton contains a colorful extended blurb on reverse side.  In the past, I've referred to this as their "Peterman Catalogue-style description" but recently I've learned the official term for this is "romance copy".

Opening the pint, I was surprised to see a solid beige color for the base.  I was expecting to see swirls of salted caramel, but here they've actually created a base ice cream salted caramel.  Some of the chips are visible on the top as well.  Digging into the pint, the caramel flavor was quite distinct.  It actually felt like tasting a "sugar daddy" candy bar.  The chips were the same as those in Mint Chip.  They are soft and half melted and had a bit of randomness to its concentration -- some spoonfuls had more chips than others.  I am not sure how one achieves this chip distribution but I actually approve.

Overall, I was not entirely satisfied with the pint.  The "sugar daddy" flavor was a hoot for a few spoonfuls but there were diminishing returns as I finished the pint.  Most importantly, it was not what I was expecting.  I expected little salted caramel mini-swirls of caramel blended with chips.  Sort of like their chocolate covered strawberries flavor but with small caramel bits instead of strawberry pieces.  So I'm kind of left craving that idea in my head.  Still, if you really like "sugar daddy" candy bars, then you could give this a try.

Häagen-Dazs - Peppermint Bark

Peppermint Bark - White Chocolate Ice Cream with Peppermint Bark Pieces and Peppermint Twists Candy Pieces

Christmas is upon us and Häagen-Dazs has a seasonal flavor available to help us celebrate.  It's based on two common snack candies available this time of year: peppermint bark and candy canes.  Interestingly, they've chosen a white chocolate base for these mix-ins which I have not seen before.  So, in the spirit of the holidays, let's dig in.

Opening the pint, I mostly see the white color of the white chocolate base.  A few dark and pinks are also visible indicative of the mix-ins that undoubtedly lie below.   Sure enough, I found the relatively large peppermint bark pieces right away as I dug in.  They were big hunks of crumbly chunky chocolate with a strong mint flavor blended in.  The occasional candy cane piece was also found.  These pieces where fairly small but I did notice that characteristic candy-cane crunch for one bite each time.  The white chocolate base was fairly subtle but I did notice the mild flavor of cocoa butter.  In previous pints, I've commented that the white chocolate pieces do not taste like much at all, but when its in the base I was allowed to focus in on the flavor and I did notice it.

This flavor was not bad, but I didn't think it was as good as a well-done mint-chocolate chip.  If you like peppermint and you're up for something holiday-specific then you can pick it up while it is still in season, but otherwise I'll stick to my favorite mint-chip flavors.

Steve's - Southern Banana Pudding

Southern Banana Pudding - Honey-coated vanilla wafers in fresh banana ice cream with a swirl of banana cream pudding

Trying a new brand for this week's review.  Steve's!  From the bare-bones simple packaging, this appears at first glance to be a newcomer do-it-yourself brand but it is actually a premium brand ($7.99/pint) with a long corporate history.  Steve's is named after Steve Harrell who opened an ice cream shop in Somerville, Massachusetts (just north of Boston) back in 1973.  Steve pioneered the use of mix-ins in ice cream shops.  The the famous Amy's ice cream shop in Austin, Texas was started by one of his former employees.  So successful was his ice cream shop that Steve was able to sell out to a local restaurant chain in 1977.  The restaurant chain experimented with franchising and pre-packaged pints with some success at first but it discontinued the Steve's brand in the early 1990s.  In 2009, the Steve's brand was reacquired in David Stein -- one Steve's original employees in Somerville from the 1970s -- who opened up shops in Brooklyn & Manhattan and also made pints available in grocery stores.  Some of the flavors and flavor combinations look pretty interesting so I thought I'd give it a try.

This particular flavor is called Southern Banana Pudding.  I picked it to start because I've always been a fan of banana cream pie.  After opening the pint and removing the foil wrapper between the lid and the ice cream, I see the off-white color of the banana base with a hint of the banana cream swirl evident.  Also, it has sort of a unique look to the top of the pint as the ice cream appears to have pushed up a bit and also separated from the side of the plastic pail. (see photo).  Digging into the pint, the banana flavor is very strong.  Quite good, but very strong.  The base ice cream has a thick and pasty texture.  I'm not sure if that's the work of the banana cream swirl or if Steve's mixing their base ice creams this way.  The vanilla wafer bits become common as I dug further down.  They were quite good -- its often good for a flavor based on a pie filling to be offset by a bready mix-in to simulate the presence of a pie crust.  I did not taste any honey-coating on the wafers but the wafers still tasted quite good.  A couple of quibbles as I got to the bottom of the pint.  First, the ice cream got a bit runny as it melted.  Instead of a soft melted cream at the bottom, it was more like ice cream floating in milk.  Second, the very strong banana flavor got overwhelming at the end of the pint.  This might not be one to eat all in one sitting.  It is probably a flavor best split in half and shared with a friend.

Quibbles aside, I still enjoyed the pint.  Steve's a few other interesting flavors which I'll probably give a try in the coming months.

Ben & Jerry's - New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale

New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale - New Belgium Brown Ale Ice Cream with Fudge Brownies & Salted Caramel Swirls

A new Ben & Jerry Flavor!  This is a limited batch flavor done in coordination with the New Belgium brewing company.  Ben & Jerry's is doing a beer-flavored ice cream and New Belgium is doing a chocolatey salted caramel beer. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3On2ekTi3YI

Similar to this summer's "Save Our Swirled" flavor, the proceeds go to a climate-change related charity.  There is more information at the Ben & Jerry's site:

http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/salted-caramel-brownie-ale-ice-cream

It is funny that they make you enter your date of birth before entering the page.  I double-checked with other alcohol-selling websites such as Budweiser and Coors.  Annoyingly, you have to repeat this process every time go back to the webpage.  You'd think that Ben & Jerry's would know about browser cookies since they have so many cookie-related mix-ins in their ice cream.  (*groan*)   I am not familiar with New Belgium Ale -- though I must admit I'm not much of a beer aficionado.  I am more of a margarita guy.

Opening the pint, you see that the brown ale ice cream base has a very light beige color and some of caramel swirls and brownie bites are visible on the top.  You'll notice that I was so excited to dig in that I forgot to take a picture right after opening but I think enough of the very top is visible in the picture that I did take.  Digging into the pint, you do really taste the beer in the ice cream.  Checking the ingredients, sure enough it reads "Beer (Water, Malted Barley, Hops, Yeast)".  I don't know if its the barley or the hops that I tasted (or perhaps both) but it has the same kind of back-of-the-throat bite that a beer gives you.  I couldn't tell if it had any alcohol in it.  The carton did not explicitly mention that it did, but I imagine that even if it did it was not very much. 

As always, the chocolate brownies are excellent.  Its been mentioned so many times, but it is a marvel how they keep them soft, chewy and flavorful while being frozen in a pint of ice cream.  The salted caramel was also quite good.  I liked it better here than in the 'salted caramel core' flavor.  There is was a bigger core of salted caramel and blondies were used instead of brownies.  Unlike the brownies, there is a freezing issue with the blondies.

I did enjoy this pint more than I expected.  I'm not really a beer guy, but the bitterness of the ale actually complements the sweetness of the ice cream and its mix-ins.  Plus, chocolate & caramel is always a good combination.  I imagine there may be a wide range of reactions to a beer-flavored ice cream.  Beer lovers might go 'yes!' while others might go 'yech!'.  If your curious and not averse to the idea, then I'd give it a try.  Its worth it just for the caramel and brownies in my opinion.