PhillySwirl Ice Cream Cupcakes

A while back we got an email asking if a PR firm for PhillySwirl could send us samples of their new ice cream cupcakes. We wrote back and said "No, we don't like ice cream or cupcakes." Yeah, right. Of course we jumped at the occasion! After we went back and forth coordinating when the cupcakes could be delivered, the delivery finally arrived on the doorstep on Wednesday.

To start, I thought the best would be a photo essay of their arrival, because I have never before had ice cream mailed to me:

Box arrived at 10:30ish. (Good thing I saw the FexEx truck though.
The driver didn't even ring the bell.) Box was well labeled. I won't let this go bad!

Box contains a styrafoam cooler filled with dry ice.

Here is the twelve pack I receive. Put this in the freezer and wait patiently for husband.

Husband being husband is more interested in the dry ice. So before eating, we play.

And play.

And play. (But it does look pretty magical,
husband pulling it out of the smoke, doesn't it?)

Here are the cakes packaged as a six-pack
(probably how one would get them at a non-Costco type store).



And here is the cake. Yum! (My photo skills leave much to be desired --
I am going to borrow one of their images from their site)

The box that arrived held two six packs, each of which had three cakes with chocolate cake bases and three with vanilla cake bases. Other than that, they were the same. The cake base was dripping with chocolate sauce (that was now frozen, so not runny), then topped with a disc of vanilla ice cream, a swirl of chocolate and vanilla frosting and sprinkles. Heaven.

I didn't realize the cake base difference, so I had two chocolate based cupcakes for dinner (!) and it wasn't until my husband pointed out that his first cake had been chocolate and his second had been vanilla. Oh, I wish I had known, but as much as I like ice cream and cake, there was no way I was fitting that third cupcake in tonight! (I can give a vanilla base report at a later time...)

Did I like them? Yes. A lot. The cake was dense and rich and balanced by the creamy ice cream. The one thing I didn't like was the frosting, to no fault of PhillySwirl's. The frosting reminded me of a whipped cream frosting, which has never been something I have been a fan of. I am a buttercream girl all the way. Easy remedy for me though...I could just take it right off.

My husband enjoyed the little cakes too. He said "They were good!" He thought the frosting tasted of marshmallow -- marhsmallow or whipped cream tasting, he liked it. Taste is in the tongue of the beholder, I guess...!

When visiting our new puppy on Saturday, a couple of friends tried the vanilla-based ones as well and enjoyed them very much. One of the friends was surprised at how moist the cake was. I agree. It really was very moist.

I had never heard of PhillySwirl before the initial email, and when I went to their website, it became clear to me: their products aren't readily available in Massachusetts, which is really too bad, because I could see myself picking them up occasionally. I love the idea of ice cream cupcakes, but the actual making them wasn't my favorite thing, if you recall from our Cupcake Roundup. The site did say they have them seasonally at Costco, so I will have to keep my eyes peeled when I visit.

Final thought? Yum.

Oh, and as with the general feedback from our own homemade ice cream cupcake collection, these are messy to eat. But all the more fun to be covered in ice cream.

Tina's review will follow soon.