I decided that it was only fitting to celebrate my birthday early with Ben & Jerry’s Confetti Cake Ice Cream especially since one of my favorite things in the world is Yellow Confetti Cake a la Pillsbury – with all the confetti frosting and confetti fixin’s, of course!
When I peeled off the lid, there was something about the brightly-colored Fruity Pebble-colored confetti that made me real giddy. After taking only a couple of seconds to admire its beauty, I dug in immediately. I was very satisfied by the ice cream’s scoopability. There’s nothing more annoying than having to chip away at ice cream that has frozen over like an ice block, but Ben & Jerry’s usually never does wrong in this department.
Unfortunately and fortunately, the Confetti Cake Ice Cream tasted more like a crappy supermarket confetti cupcake. You know the ones that I’m talking about – the 12-pack of cupcakes in clear packaging located in the bakery section next to the equally crappy sugar cookies. I use the word “crappy” in an endearing way because there’s something I love about them; maybe it’s the nostalgia factor of eating one too many in elementary school.
The ice cream reminded me of supermarket cupcakes for two reasons. First, it tasted overwhelmingly like vanilla confetti frosting. Like your first bite into a supermarket cupcake, you usually just get a mouthful of frosting because the ratio of frosting to cupcake is way off. Second, because you’re basically eating straight frosting, there’s a greasy mouthfeel that accompanies your first bite. I was quite bewildered at how I was picking up that greasy, rich feel. Was it just in my head? How the heck does Ben & Jerry’s do that with ice cream?
As I continued to carve confetti caverns into the pint, I felt underwhelmed by the cake pieces. I could barely taste them through the vanilla confetti frosting taste. Also, it didn’t seem to add anything to the overall texture because the confetti bits themselves already added a slight crunch.
I will say that adult-me prefers eating Ben & Jerry’s Confetti Cake Ice Cream over supermarket cupcakes. Seems like a win – I get all the nostalgia without having to eat an actual crappy cupcake. But, I think a touch of yellow cake would help to break up the vanilla frosting monotony – think cake batter and confetti cake having an ice cream baby. I ended my early birthday celebration with a confetti-cake-frosting-flavored burp. Shout out to my fellow November babies!
(Nutrition Facts – 1/2 cup – 280 calories, 150 calories from fat, 17 grams of fat, 9 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 24 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein, 8% vitamin A, and 10% calcium.)
Purchased Price: $4.28
Size: 1 pint
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: Imitation is the finest form of flattery – all the crappy supermarket confetti cupcake taste without having to actually eat a crappy cupcake. Great scoopability.
Cons: Tastes exactly like crappy supermarket confetti cupcakes. Cake pieces were gratuitous. Yellow Cake > Vanilla Cake.
Don’t you call my cupcakes crappy! I love them! They’re sugary bombs of awesomeness!
I secretly love crappy grocery store cupcakes too. There’s something about them that’s instantly nostalgic and delicious, although it was a negative mark for this ice cream it makes me interested to try it!
LOL I think that the nostalgia factor is both a positive and a negative in this review and probably in most people’s experience eating it. Our taste-levels evolve, but our longing and memories for recapturing those feelings of the past remain…. many times when we revisit that which we recall so fondly in our heads, we are left disappointed. This isn’t news, but it’s so fascinating and on full display here. B&J wasn’t out to put a twist on an old classic, rather they wanted to literally ice-creamify that old, cheap grocery market staple. There is nothing sophisticated about confetti cake unless you go buy the Momafuku Milk Bar’s Birthday Layer Cake. 😛 But, if that had been the flavor B&J offered, it’d be misleading and disingenuous. I think we get our just desserts here. We get what we deserve. My fondest memories related to children’s parties was going to the Roller Rink and getting grocery store sheet cake served with little cups of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream cups. I live in Texas, so, y’know… Blue Bell. Mmmhmmmm. 🙂
Found this ice cream at the Grocery Outlet for $1.99 a pint (this is a near expiration/discontinued store for those that might want to buy this ice cream again).