I tried ice cream cakes from 3 popular chains, and the best one was also cheaper than the others.

• I’ve tried ready-made ice cream cakes from Dairy Queen, Cold Stone Creamery, and Baskin-Robbins.

• The Baskin-Robbins cake was the most expensive and I didn’t like its flavors or layered structure.

• Dairy Queen’s ice cream cake was delicious, affordable and beautiful.

I compared ice cream cakes from Baskin-Robbins, Cold Stone Creamery, and Dairy Queen.

As a professional baker, I have certainly made and eaten a lot of cakes, and accompanied many slices with a scoop of ice cream.

But it’s been at least 10 years since I’ve had an ice cream cake and I wanted to put three popular chains to the test – Dairy Queen, Cold Stone Creamery and Baskin-Robbins.

I chose some sort of vanilla and chocolate combination in each place.

To keep things fair, I went to each store without an order to see what was available for purchase in the freezers.

At each location, I picked up the smallest round ice cream cake incorporating both chocolate and vanilla flavors.

The Cold Stone Creamery ice cream cake had intricate decorations.

The Tall, Dark & ​​Delicious is one of the chain’s signature ice cream cakes, which means it can be pulled out of the freezer just about any time. The 8-inch round cake costs $39.95. (When I recently checked prices online, the cake cost $41).

This cake has four layers: devil’s food cake, chocolate ice cream with Oreos, more devil’s food cake, and sweet cream ice cream with brownie pieces. The entire cake is also topped with fluffy whipped frosting and fudge ganache.

After purchasing the cake and putting it in the freezer at home, the ganache developed a layer of moisture, making it less beautiful.

The Cold Stone Creamery cake flavor was good, but it was a little too much for me.

Cold Stone is known for its super creamy ice cream, and that is reflected in this cake.

The chocolate ice cream was incredibly tasty and creamy. The chocolate cake had a good flavor and wasn’t too dry.

The combination of cake and ice cream was perfectly balanced. I also loved the addition of the whipped topping and luscious chocolate ganache.

Although it was delicious, I found this cake a little overdone. I’m a chocolate lover through and through, but there seemed to be almost too much going on here.

The Baskin-Robbins cake was beautifully decorated.

At my local Baskin-Robbins, I pulled an Oreo cookie cake out of the freezer. The 9-inch round cake cost $45.99 at the time of writing. (When I recently checked prices online, the cake was $56).

I also appreciated that one of the employees asked if I wanted it packed with dry ice for $1 to keep it extra cold.

The exterior of the cake was lovely, with dollops of whipped topping, chocolate drizzle and a fudge border.

But the flavor of the Baskin-Robbins cake let me down.

Inside, the cake consisted of a very thick layer of chocolate cake combined with a thick layer of cookies and cream ice cream.

The cake layer was very dry and almost hard to eat. The cookies and cream ice cream was a nice pairing, but I was pretty disappointed with the dessert overall.

Due to the construction of this cake – two massive layers, one of which melts – it was quite difficult to cut. It also seemed to melt and fall apart very quickly after cutting just one slice.

As this cake was the most expensive, I was very disappointed.

The Dairy Queen cake was the prettiest.

At Dairy Queen, I chose an Oreo Blizzard cake that I took straight from the store’s freezer.

The exterior was absolutely beautiful, with edge detail, piped borders, crushed Oreo cookies, and chocolate drizzle.

I thought it was the most attractive of the three cakes, which surprised me even more because it was also the least expensive. The 8-inch round cake costs $28.99. (When I recently checked prices online, the cake cost about $32).

The flavors and textures of the Dairy Queen cake were incredible.

This ice cream cake had so much going on in the best possible way.

There was a layer of classic vanilla soft serve ice cream, a layer of fudge and crunchy chocolate crumbs, and a layer of Oreo Blizzard. A whipped topping and a chocolate drizzle finished it off.

It was super tasty. And the flavor combination was beautifully nostalgic.

No cake was included with this option, but I think it was better for that. The playfulness of the flavors and textures was so good.

Overall, each cake was certainly beautiful and practical to purchase.

Any of these channels could definitely be a hero to someone who forgot to order a cake for a birthday party.

It was impressive that all of these cakes were ready to be picked up and purchased at every ice cream chain. No advance ordering was necessary.

It’s also worth noting that the flavor selection at these three ice cream chains is incredible. If you order ahead, you can choose virtually any combination of cake and ice cream flavors. You can also personalize the decorations.

Still, when it came to the flavor, value, and presentation of these pre-made cakes, I had a winner in mind.

To my surprise, Dairy Queen’s ice cream cake was my favorite.

I would buy the Dairy Queen cake again, thanks to its many delicious textures and flavors.

I didn’t think this would be my favorite, especially since Dairy Queen isn’t usually one of my favorite places for dessert and this option didn’t have real cake in it.

Even better? This was the most affordable of the three ice cream cakes I tried.

I would definitely have another Ice Cream Cake from Cold Stone, but I would try different flavors that might be less intense and overpowering. I’d be willing to try another Baskin Robbins ice cream cake – especially if it was customized with my favorite flavors – but I wouldn’t buy the Oreo one again.

This story was originally published on August 6, 2022 and last updated on June 17, 2024.

Read the original article on Business Insider