Steve's BKLYN Blackout Ice Cream is milk chocolate ice cream with a dark chocolate pudding swirl and chocolate stout cake. In other words, an irresistible find on my latest trip to the nearest health food store, which ironically always seems to have the most sumptuous treats. What's up with that? Perhaps it is a statement about the inherent but rarely lauded goodness of treats in our health-obsessed culture? Hmm...
Anyway, the ice cream portion of this pint is outstanding. I was surprised to find out that it is in fact ice cream and not gelato. Gelato has less air than ice cream does, giving it a more concentrated, pure flavor. This ice cream had such a strong cocoa flavor, without any noticeable trace of its cream base or added sugar, that I was convinced it had to be gelato. Not to mention that it was pliable and held its shape, just like gelato does. Ever seen the great peaks and swirled created at a gelateria? Well, they are extremely assuming and fun to create, and this ice cream lends itself to the same effect!
The dark chocolate pudding swirl was also quite delicious. I suppose I thought that they were using the term "pudding" loosely. In my experience, pudding doesn't freeze particularly well, so I have a hard time imagining it potentially unfrozen, suspended in ice cream. But actual pudding it was, and a wonderful alternative to the typical chocolate fudge swirl at that. It did straddle the fence between frozen and unfrozen, but that actually added to the overall sensory experience.
The "chocolate stout cake pieces," were unfortunately a disappointment. It's not that they weren't tasty; it's that they were so few and far between. Maybe my expectations were unfair. After all, the label did state
"pieces," and that is quite a subjective descriptive term. Even so, I am a Ben & Jerry's kind of girl; when I expect something to be in my ice cream, I expect great, big chunks of whatever it is, and plenty of them. This ice cream had barely a trace of the cake. When I buy ice cream at the grocery store, (as opposed to going out for a single serving), I generally scrape my way through it. I rarely actually scoop out a portion. As I scraped my way through this one, I became discouraged that there was no chocolate stout cake in sight. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me and I started digging through the pint to see if there were any pieces of cake at all. I thought I had chosen some sort of defunct version of No. 32! I did find a couple of pieces, but they were so small and scattered throughout that they could have just have been easily mistaken for more pudding. How sad!
Steve's ice cream is made in Brooklyn, New York. It's a spendier pint, running about $7 a pop, but the quality is quite high, (they pride themselves on their small-batch approach), and it always feels good to support a local business. If you're looking for a basic chocolate ice cream, Steve's No. 32 BKLYN Blackout is a great choice. Just be prepared for the cake to be a sprinkling rather than a main component.
Anyway, the ice cream portion of this pint is outstanding. I was surprised to find out that it is in fact ice cream and not gelato. Gelato has less air than ice cream does, giving it a more concentrated, pure flavor. This ice cream had such a strong cocoa flavor, without any noticeable trace of its cream base or added sugar, that I was convinced it had to be gelato. Not to mention that it was pliable and held its shape, just like gelato does. Ever seen the great peaks and swirled created at a gelateria? Well, they are extremely assuming and fun to create, and this ice cream lends itself to the same effect!
The dark chocolate pudding swirl was also quite delicious. I suppose I thought that they were using the term "pudding" loosely. In my experience, pudding doesn't freeze particularly well, so I have a hard time imagining it potentially unfrozen, suspended in ice cream. But actual pudding it was, and a wonderful alternative to the typical chocolate fudge swirl at that. It did straddle the fence between frozen and unfrozen, but that actually added to the overall sensory experience.
The "chocolate stout cake pieces," were unfortunately a disappointment. It's not that they weren't tasty; it's that they were so few and far between. Maybe my expectations were unfair. After all, the label did state
"pieces," and that is quite a subjective descriptive term. Even so, I am a Ben & Jerry's kind of girl; when I expect something to be in my ice cream, I expect great, big chunks of whatever it is, and plenty of them. This ice cream had barely a trace of the cake. When I buy ice cream at the grocery store, (as opposed to going out for a single serving), I generally scrape my way through it. I rarely actually scoop out a portion. As I scraped my way through this one, I became discouraged that there was no chocolate stout cake in sight. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me and I started digging through the pint to see if there were any pieces of cake at all. I thought I had chosen some sort of defunct version of No. 32! I did find a couple of pieces, but they were so small and scattered throughout that they could have just have been easily mistaken for more pudding. How sad!
Steve's ice cream is made in Brooklyn, New York. It's a spendier pint, running about $7 a pop, but the quality is quite high, (they pride themselves on their small-batch approach), and it always feels good to support a local business. If you're looking for a basic chocolate ice cream, Steve's No. 32 BKLYN Blackout is a great choice. Just be prepared for the cake to be a sprinkling rather than a main component.