Junk Food Nation, legendary author Ray Bradbury passed away this past Tuesday at age 91. Growing up, I loved Ray Bradbury. While most know him for the novel Fahrenheit 451, which I feel like we all read in high school, I actually came to know him best through two novels: The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man(1951). While The Phantom Tollbooth helped shape my brain when I was in 4th grade, and Ender’s Game helped revive my love of reading toward the end of my high school career, Ray Bradbury’s books fit in somewhere around 7th-8th grade.

I remember my sister reading The Illustrated Man for her junior year English class, and I’d sneak the book away to read the stories when she was busy. The Martian Chronicles she purchased at a used book sale. When my sister went to college, these books were left behind, and I poured over them repeatedly when I was bored.  The brutal reflections of human nature and smart writing helped provide unique perspective.

Anyways, when I heard he passed, I was sad. Just one month ago, I went to a used book sale and purchased every single book available with his name on it. I showed the Junk Food Gal my two copies of the Martian Chronicles. “Why do you have two of the same book?” she asked. Because I can never get enough Bradbury in my life. RIP.

Today’s junk food: Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream!

Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream: The Money Shot

Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream was purchased at my local Harris Teeter.  This is my first Blue Bunny product I’ve ever tried, which is strange, considering they’ve been around since 1913. While grocery shopping, I’d always noticed Blue Bunny had some cool flavors – Praline Crunch, White Chocolate Raspberry, etc. But I stopped in my tracks when I saw this flavor…and when I saw the face on the carton. Who was that? …..

DUFF!

…holy cow, it’s Duff!!!  From Food Network’s Ace of Cakes!  Ace of Cakes is a show about Charm City Cakes, a specialty cake shop in Baltimore, MD that I’ve driven past many times.  While I don’t really watch the show anymore, I’d know that mug anywhere!  Cool.  And now the powers of Duff have combined with Blue Bunny to create this Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream.  Sccchhhhhweeeeet.

An amazing description, no?

Swirly swirled

Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream is made of red velvet cake ice cream, cream cheese frosting ice cream, and red velvet cake pieces.  Red Velvet cake, by the way, is really just a normal cake mix with some cocoa, buttermilk, and beet root added to it to give it is unique cocoa tart flavor, moistness, and red color.  It is also the Junk Food Gal’s favorite flavor, so I knew I needed to get this.

By the way, Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference championships is tonight, and the Miami Heat are on the brink of elimination.  After the Heat failed to close out Game 5 at home, the camera men showed the Heat players streaming towards the locker room with a little kid yelling “GOOD JOB GOOD EFFORT GOOD JOB GOOD EFFORT.” All the talking head shows have mentioned this and I’ve seen it retweeted a hundred times, so in case you missed it:

Honestly, this clip cracks me up. It’s nice to hear the kid so positive, no? I’m gonna wait and see how many ways this is lampooned over the next few months.

So this tiny container is 600 calories?? I can deal with that

Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream isn’t low fat, but are we surprised? It’s cake and ice cream in a tub!

Charm City in da house!

I do appreciate that this Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream has the Charm City name on it.  Baltimore needs to get credit for Duff’s ice cream creation!  I also like that the fourth ingredient is the cake pieces.

Holy moly, it comes apart like cake!

I opened the tub of Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream, and WOW! Such color and texture, right off the bat!  OK, some of the ice cream just stuck to the lid and ripped off when I opened it.  STILL.  The immediate look of the ice cream elicited an OH MY GOD from my mouth.

Soft and velvety

Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream smelled like…well, it smelled like red velvet cake! It had the cream cheese frosting smell, as well as that cocoa-ey cakey smell too.  REALLY excited to try this.

Something I’m NOT excited about: Way to go, my-employer, DC Government.  DC Council Chairperson Kwame Brown recently resigned over allegations of oh just BANK FRAUD. According to the article:

“The charge ensures further shakeup on the council, which lost another councilmember to a corruption conviction earlier this year, and comes as federal authorities continue investigating the 2010 campaign of Mayor Vincent Gray.”

Ugh. And these are the same people preventing me from getting a raise for the past four years.  Thanks.

LOTS of big cake pieces

Simply put, this Blue Bunny Red Carpet Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream was perfect.  If you can imagine a slice of red velvet cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a plate, and then getting the perfect fork/spoonful of both in your mouth – THIS is what it would taste like. The folks at Blue Bunny knocked this out of the park.

Perfect mix of two ice creams

The cream cheese frosting ice cream tasted like cake icing!  Cold cake icing, with just the right amount of cream cheese creaminess.  And then, as soon as my tongue hit a darker color red velvet ice cream patch, the flavor IMMEDIATELY changed into red velvet cake taste.  Slightly tart, very cocoa-ey, and full of cake flavor.  This wasn’t a case where all the ice cream is the same flavor with some food coloring creating the swirl – these were two distinct ice creams.

Incredible taste

Then finally, amongst the great smooth flavors, you hit big chunks of red velvet cake – deep in taste and not soggy and not too hard either.  It was like little pieces of perfectly soft red velvet brownie were all throughout the ice cream, creating just the right texture and flavor balance.

I would eat this ice cream a million times over, and I don’t even LIKE red velvet cake that much.  Maybe this ice cream has reshaped that view,  Great work, Duff, great work, Blue Bunny.  A+.

Check out The Ice Cream Informant’s take on this same flavor 🙂

Thoughts? Let me know if the comments below!  Or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy