Baklava Ice Cream Inspires

 On a recent trip to the grocery store, I discovered an ice cream flavour that was totally new to me, baklava. Since I’m living in North Africa along the Mediterranean it’s not really a surprising flavour to find, but it is unique for sure. The ice cream itself is interesting, it combines pistachio ice cream with several ingredients found in baklava.

Most of the ingredients worked fairly well, in particular the syrup swirled throughout was great, as was the crunch base. The filo pieces mixed in and sprinkled on the top were okay, but also a little soggy. They also didn’t add much to the flavour. If I was to try and improve this ice cream I would say more filo dough, maybe a few layers of it between the ice cream. I’m also not a huge fan of pistachio ice cream, but in this context it was much improved.

This ice cream was a nice little treat, but it was also a source of inspiration. It inspired me to think about how many desserts one finds in the ice cream isle. I’m not talking about ice cream cakes, or any frozen cakes, I’m thinking specifically of ice cream flavour based on desserts. Off the top of my head I can’t think of too many of them. Honestly, I don’t know if I can think of one specifically, but I just feel like I’ve seen some before.

I’m very certain I’ve seen dessert themed ice cream at ice cream parlours. In particularly the fancy ice cream parlours that make their own ice cream. While I’m sure there have been a few, I’m surprised that dessert themed ice cream flavours are not more common. Probably the closest thing that comes to mind are ice creams that features bits of cookie in them. While it’s kind of dessert flavoured, I wouldn’t really call it themed. I’d like to be proven wrong on this, so if you know a good dessert themed ice cream that you can get at the grocery store, let me know.

Now it wouldn’t be fair for me to just complain about this without offering a few suggestions. So here are a few ideas I think might work really well:

Cheesecake – A creamy ice cream, creamier than most so it feels like cheesecake. I’m not sure if it’s possible, but if you could even get the tart flavour of cream cheese that would be great. Then, swirl in some strawberry syrup. Finally, a layer or two of graham cracker crumbs would give this a little texture and really keep it on theme.

Apple Pie – Now I feel like someone has made an ice cream with apple pie in it, but I’m thinking more about an apple pie ice cream. This would probably feel more like an ice cream cake, but I think the key would be to keep the crusts as layers instead of just pieces. You could have a nice cinnamon/vanilla ice cream with apple pie filling swirled throughout. Then you could have a layer of pie crust on the top and bottom. If the bottom is too complicated at least the top would be good. Frozen cooked pie crust is actually pretty good, so I think it would work really well.

Carrot Cake – This one might be a little divisive, but if done well I think it would work really well. Again, I’m not just talking about filling this ice cream with pieces of carrot cake either. I would say take a super creamy ice cream (maybe the same one you used for the cheesecake) and add some of the ingredients from carrot cake. The carrot cake spices would be key, cinnamon and cloves for sure. Also adding some walnuts, raisins and yes... shaved carrots. I don’t think you’d want to add carrot to the ice cream as that might be too much, but strings of shaved carrots might actually work.

I’m sure there are other desserts that might be tasty in ice cream form and I’m glad that I got to sample this fun baklava ice cream to get inspired. 

Most Underrated Dessert at Cheesecake Factory

I’m going to suggest something that might seem a little strange, but I believe it to be true. The most underrated cake at the Cheesecake Factory is not a cheesecake at all. The most underrated cake at Cheesecake factory is in fact their carrot cake. This is extremely high praise in my opinion because I’m a huge fan of their cheesecakes. I like their simple classic cheesecakes and I like their extreme cheesecakes. I think I’ve gone on record as saying that their most underrated cheesecake is the banana cream pie cheesecake (as suggested by a waitress in upstate New York, and I can’t thank her enough). 

However, if we talk underrated, I don’t think anyone goes to the “Cheesecake” Factory to get something other than cheesecake for dessert. I don’t blame you for not going outside the box on this, but one day I decided to do just that. I did it because seeing the completely uncut carrot cake at Cheesecake Factory during one of my visits started making me think a little about carrot cakes. More to the point, it made me think about how I’ve never had a bad carrot cake in my life. I’ve already written that blog, so I want to expand on the idea that the carrot cake at Cheesecake Factory is well worth trying.

To start off, how do I know that the carrot cake is unpopular? I’ve been to a few Cheesecake Factories in different parts of the world, and each and every one of them has had carrot cake. On all of those visits I’ve actually noticed that I’ve never seen a slice taken out of the display carrot cake at any Cheesecake Factory ever. While there may be a secret carrot cake in the back that they’re actually taking slices out, I’m betting that it’s more likely that they just don’t sell many slices.

That’s total common sense, as I said before, who goes to a place called Cheesecake Factory and not order the cheesecake?

So we’ve established that it’s likely not very popular, and due to an odd curiosity I once got a slice. Here’s the next level of this story, I’ve bought the carrot cake again since. I’ve probably had at least 3 or 4 slices of Cheesecake Factory carrot cake in the last few years. I don’t get it out of curiosity any more either, I really like it. While I’ve said that I’ve never had a bad carrot cake in my life, I’ve also said that it doesn’t always mean that carrot cake is the best choice at many restaurants and bakeries.

The thing is, after tasting that carrot cake at the Cheesecake Factory the first time, I’m kind of hooked. I have ordered cheesecakes since as well, but I’ve probably had more carrot cake than any one flavour of cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory over the last few years. In my opinion, the great thing about Cheesecake Factory is the variety of cheesecakes. No matter what your mood when dessert comes around (except when you’re so full you’re going to throw up), they have a cheesecake for you.

I love a good variety, and I often love the various flavours of cheesecake available. However, sometimes I can’t pick and it’s not because I’m stuck between two different cheesecakes, it’s because I’m not sure I even want cheesecake.

Now let’s look at what makes this a very good carrot cake. Cake wise it’s very moist and fairly fluffy. I’ve had fluffier carrot cakes in my life, but they tend to be very dry. This one seems to balance fluffiness and moisture out perfectly. The fruits and vegetables in this carrot cake (carrots and raisins) are fine too. There doesn’t seem to be any other fruits hidden in this cake (which I generally don’t like). Both of these elements are well distributed and work well in the cake. 

Now here’s the part where this cake shines, the icing. If you think about it for a minute, it totally makes sense that Cheesecake Factory might have one of the best carrot cake icings in the world. The reason is that traditionally carrot cake uses a cream cheese frosting. Cheesecakes are also traditionally made with cream cheese. So put that together and you get probably the best cream cheese icing I’ve ever eaten. Better still, they don’t skimp on this icing, it’s almost another layer of the cake. One might argue that there’s too much cream cheese icing on this carrot cake, but I don’t agree. I have no real argument about this other than to say that I really love a good cream cheese icing.

I’m never going to tell you not to get the cheesecake at Cheesecake factory, because it’s literally in the name. However, if you ever find yourself undecided, and you can’t figure out what you want, give the carrot cake a thought. Sure if you don’t like carrot cake, you’re not going to like this one, but if you love carrot cake and in particular the cream cheese icing, I feel like you might discover the most underrated cake at Cheesecake Factory. I’ll keep an eye open for you, after all I’ll know if you’ve been around if there’s one slice missing from the carrot cake in the display case.

My Cake Confession

 

I have a confession to make, I think my favourite cake is actually carrot cake. This isn't really as simple as it sounds, and it's something I've just realized, but I need to get it off of my chest. I made this discovery about myself while eating lunch at a Cheesecake Factory. We were on vacation and we had eaten several times at the Cheesecake Factory and each time I had tried out a new cheesecake. The thing is, I kept seeing that they offered other cakes as well, Including a carrot cake. I kept telling Allison that some time I should try one of their non-cheesecake choices, and she just became more and more impatient as each time we visited I would just get cheesecake. On our last day I told her that barring any amazing cheesecake choice, I was going to get the carrot cake. 

There were no other cheesecakes that really appealed to me, and I wanted something a little lighter than a brick of cheesecake, so I finally decided to get it. I should explain why I chose the carrot cake over their chocolate cake or one of their other desserts. Carrot cake often comes with a cream cheese icing, I figured that a place that sold cheesecakes would probably have a killer cream cheese frosting. I was also fond of many carrot cakes at other restaurants we've gone to in the past. At one place it actually became my go to cake so much that I once requested one for my birthday. So it only made sense that for this non-cheesecake experiment I would go for the carrot cake.

As I was eating it, and enjoying it a lot, I made the realization that carrot cake might be my favourite cake. There are a few stipulations to this claim however. Most importantly, I'm not saying that the best cake I've ever eaten in my life was a carrot cake. While I can't really place the best cake I've ever eaten, I'm assuming it's likely a chocolate cake. I'm also not saying that I will from now on only order carrot cakes when available. Seeing as I review sweet things, you would imagine that variety when it comes to desserts is important to me, so I'm most likely to try something new. I'm also more likely to try something if the restaurant or bakery has a specialty.

What I'm saying is this, in my opinion the carrot cake is the safest cake to order at any restaurant or bakery. I've tasted carrot cakes that are cheap and I've tasted fancy and wonderful hand made carrot cakes, and they're always good. The cheap ones are different than the more expensive ones, but they're always good. So if I'm in a situation where the selection is really nothing that exciting, if I'm bored with what's on offer, or if the cakes are known to be rather low quality, I think carrot cake will be the cake I go for. It's consistently good all the time, maybe not the best, but never the worst. Every other kind of cake I've tried has fallen into the worst category at least once, but never carrot cake.

If you happen to not like carrot cake, I completely understand. The idea of a cake made of carrots is a little weird. Carrot cake often has dried fruit and even raisins which I understand many people don't like. I even understand that some people don't like the kinds of spices found in a carrot cake. I actually like all of the above, and I really love a good cream cheese icing. Carrot cake is just the taste and texture combination that works perfectly with my palette.