After first purchasing County Fair Fried Apple Pie and Happily Pineapply Upside Down Cake, I headed back to pick up the remaining new flavors from Front Porch. When I first saw the four most recent releases, Wildly Wildberry Cheesecake had originally been the one I was least interested in. Unfortunately, after finding an empty row where My-O-My Peanut Butter Pie had once been (a good sign for Front Porch), I could only pick up one. Perhaps Ben & Jerry’s worst performance on this blog came from a similar sounding creation called Berry Voluntary, so hopefully we won’t have a repeat experience here. Considering none of their other flavors feature a cheesecake base, the combination of cheesecake ice cream with a wildberry swirl and pie crust pieces would be my first taste of this particular base from Front Porch.
The 180 calories per serving is right in line with many of their other cake-based flavors, but as I would soon find out, packed a more powerful punch. With little effort the light, fluffy cheesecake ice cream scooped out of the carton; revealing stripes of pie crust and wildberry underneath. My initial reaction came as a result of the rich, full-bodied feel; something I’ve never experienced from a flavor coming in under 200 calories per serving. By adding the ideal amount of sweetness and cheesecake flavoring this instantly became my new favorite base from Front Porch.
In an attempt to counteract the rich flavor of the ice cream, they’ve included the wildberry swirl in such a small, yet frequent amount that it makes its way into nearly every bite. This provides a contrast that effectively toned down the sweetness found in the base. Although the bright, magenta sauce doesn’t do much for texture, that’s been assigned to the soft, crumbly pie crust pieces. Like the swirl, these are also smaller than I had hoped for, but were still enough to ensure an authentic cheesecake experience. Although the mix-ins could have been bigger, the rich, bold flavors found in Wildly Wildberry Cheesecake is impressive enough to set it apart from the others.
Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
Grade: A
