REVIEW: Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake

For the past few years, I've followed Duff Goldman during his climb up the culinary ladder. His quirky antics, creative cakes and entertaining television show have always peaked my interest, so when Blue Bunny teamed up with Duff for their latest lineup of ice cream, I was pretty excited. They've rolled out a handful of flavors featuring some of America's favorite cakes. Joining flavors like 24 Karat Carrot Cake and Chocolate Lovers Triple Chocolate Cake, Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake is comprised of red velvet cake flavored ice cream swirled with cream cheese frosting flavored ice cream with red velvet cake pieces.

Nearly every major manufacturer, and even smaller local companies, have been churning out red velvet varieties as of late, and considering cake only loses to ice cream in the sweets category for me, I'm also overly critical about the expectations they should live up to. Being the first Ace of Cakes flavor I'll be trying, my expectations were higher than normal considering his noteworthy ranking in the world of sweet treams. With the top removed, it's hard to ignore the metallic copper coloring of the red velvet flavored ice cream beaming from both sides. At only 150 calories per serving, this shouldn't be able to live up to the high standards of premium versions like Ben & Jerry's Red Velvet Cake or that of Private Selections Southern Red Velvet Cake, but hopefully it can come close.

The consistency of both the red velvet and cream cheese frosting flavored bases are soft and pliable, lacking the density of some of Blue Bunny's competitors. Although the coloring is a but off-putting the flavoring of the two ice creams are more than acceptable, coming together to create an accurate representation of the classic cake in frozen form. Both of the bases boast a bold intensity of flavor, allowing the consumer to be sure of exactly which ice cream they're enjoying based solely on taste. Alone, the two ice creams wouldn't be enough, but with the addition of these soft pillows of red velvet cake, the full potential of this flavor comes forth.

Unfortunately for this flavor, these pieces lack the density of some of the cake chunks found in other red velvet variations. Their soft, chewy texture is enjoyable, but I was hoping for a stronger taste to counterbalance the strong flavors from the ice cream. It seems everything else takes a backseat to the red velvet base. Although this flavor wasn't a fantastic representation of what I thought Duff was capable of, I'll continue to explore this new cake-inspired lineup from Blue Bunny.

Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: D