:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Simply-Recipes-Aldis-Vanilla-Cupcakes-LEAD-01-298d42e2e20f4653acb211338ad064f4.jpg "My Family’s Favorite ALDI Summer Treat Is Finally Back (But Not for Long)")
On a hot summer night, there’s no better dessert than ice cream, and given that my husband and son can each eat their own weight in dairy deliciousness, I usually stock up from the freezer section at ALDI.
This week I found a delightful surprise: Sundae Shoppe Ice Cream Cupcakes!
What’s So Great About Sundae Shoppe Ice Cream Cupcakes
These summer favorites are back, baby, and boy, are we stoked. These beautiful little cupcakes look like a special something you’d find at a local ice cream shop. Four swirled vanilla ice cream filled cupcakes, topped with rainbow sprinkles, sell for only $4.95 a package, which means, less than $1.25 per cupcake.
From the outside of the package, they look a bit dainty, but when you take them out, the ice cream towers above the cupcake liner a good two or three inches. The ice cream swirls upward, with a hefty helping of rainbow sprinkles on top.
When you unwrap a cupcake, it reveals a white vanilla cake, but frankly, there’s a lot more ice cream than cake. If you slice a cupcake, you’d see that most of the cupcake has been hollowed out to accommodate the ice cream.
The ice cream boasts a really rich vanilla flavor—if you’re familiar with other Sundae Shoppe vanilla ice cream products, you’ll recognize it immediately. The vanilla flavor is also pronounced in the cake, which has a soft yet dense crumb. The sprinkles add not only color but extra sweetness. Together, my teenage son says it reminded him of birthday cake ice cream from our favorite burger joint.
Simply Recipes / Photo Illustration by Wanda Abraham / Retailers below
How We Enjoy These Ice Cream Cupcakes
I think these ice cream treats are perfect for an afternoon snack or a fun after-dinner dessert. If you wanted to get extra fancy, maybe you could drizzle some chocolate syrup on them, but I think that would be unnecessary and messy.
One is more than plenty rich for my taste, but when I offered to share half of mine with our rescue dog Lyra, my son snatched it before I could offer it to her (he told me she has her own special ALDI dog ice cream treats).
“I wouldn’t want to waste this ice cream on her,” he told me (and he adores her). So, for most people, there are four servings per box, but if you have a teenager, it’s probably two servings per container.
One thing to note, however, is that they melt quickly. Someone—I’m not naming names—left the package on the counter a bit too long, and the towers of swirling ice cream dribbled onto the sides of the cupcake. After a short time back in the freezer, they were not messy to eat and still as delicious.