After trying some of Turkey Hill's limited edition Pumpkin Pie, as well as being tipped off by a fellow blogger, I decided to give their Party Cake a taste. Birthday cake flavors seem to be pretty standard these days and many companies churn up some impressive creations. Blue Bunny used blue icing and bright sprinkles. Blue Bell utilized chocolate cake and chocolate icing. Ben & Jerry's kept it simple with a yellow cake batter base and a swirl of chocolate frosting. Turkey hill has decided to create their version by swirling buttercream frosting and multicolored cake pieces with their vanilla flavored ice cream.
I feel any birthday-inspired offering should incorporate cake, preferably large chunks of the stuff. Judging from the description and pictures on the carton, Turkey Hill shares those same beliefs. They've decided to steer towards the more traditional by trying to capture the taste of white sheet cake and colorful icing. They do so by adding tons of these multicolored cake pieces that look strikingly similar to the sugar cookies chunks used in Blue Bell's Krazy Kookie Dough. With the top removed, the blue frosting swirl and abundant hunks of cake easily show through the bright white ice cream.
Party Cake comes in at only 160 calories per serving and this is evident when my spoon comes in contact with the ice cream. The vanilla base gives way easily to my spoon and scooping multiple servings into a bowl is done with little effort. Ice cream this soft usually indicates a company catering to health-conscious consumers, but the overall taste is anything but. Much like Blue Bell, Turkey Hill is able to produce lower calorie ice cream without the dreaded gummy texture.
The soft, pliable base moves about with ease, but still takes a while to break down on your tongue, releasing a burst of sugar along the way. I'm not sure if this is just Turkey Hill's standard vanilla, but it seems sweeter than most. The baby blue buttercream frosting has so fully infiltrated the albino base that it's nearly impossible to get a bite without any. This adds even more sweetness, along with a soft, gooey texture. But the highlight of this flavor are certainly the chunks of multi-colored cake.
Turkey Hill has crammed copious amounts of these yellow, pink and green bites of sheet cake in the places where the frosting seems to miss. No matter the color, these airy pillows of cake break down with little effort. Enjoyable as they were, I still prefer Blue Bell's chocolate version, although any bite containing all three components provided a pretty impressive birthday cake ice cream experience. I never thought I'd say this, but the addition of sprinkles for a texture could have easily enhanced Party Cake. I'm still waiting on a birthday offering that manages to fill in the spaces others have seemed to overlook.
Where I Found It: Kroger
Grade: C
