This Grocery Brand Strawberry Ice Cream Is A Hidden Gem

Grocery store ice creams always look appealing when you compare their prices to premium brands, like Van Leeuwen, Jeni's, and the many Tillamook ice cream flavors. However, not every supermarket offering can compete with the rich and luxurious character of these frozen high-quality treats — that is, if you don't know where to look! We've found a hidden gem of a grocery-store brand ice cream at Target that's wallet-friendly and delicious: Favorite Day's Strawberry Angel Food Cake.

Target's Favorite Day brand includes ice cream flavors like peach cobbler, cotton candy, orange cream, and strawberry swirl, but it was the angel food cake version in particular that took the top spot in our ranking of 19 popular grocery-store brand ice creams. The reason? The cake pieces incorporated into the ice cream remained soft, lending it a scrumptious texture and mouthfeel. Plus, the cake itself tasted real, and was made with the all the classic ingredients found in a vanilla sponge cake, such as wheat flour, eggs, butter, milk, and cornstarch. 

Along with the moreish flavor of the cake was the light and refreshing strawberry swirl, which lifted all the creaminess and brightened up its character. The only downside? This ice cream flavor is billed as a seasonal offering, which means it isn't available year-round. Luckily, ice creams can last months in the freezer, or about six weeks if opened, so you might want to grab a few pints while you can.

Target's strawberry and angel food cake ice cream has some incredible five-star reviews on the Target website. For instance, one shopper said "This one is really yummy! I like that it has strawberry jam inside and it has bits of cake, it's so creamy and not too [vanilla-y]. It's the perfect mix. I love that it has plenty swirls of strawberry that [taste] authentic and not fake. Perfect for those who love ice cream and want a pint size. You won't go wrong with this flavor." Other reviewers described the texture as indulgent and multi-level while another said they were "absolutely obsessed" with it.

Meanwhile on Reddit, some shoppers liked the flavor of the ice cream, but weren't happy with the ratio of cake to sauce. One Redditor said, "The strawberry angel food cake was so good but definitely didn't have enough cake chunks," while another said, "I got the strawberry angel food but my pint had almost no strawberry ... so it was pretty disappointing." However, given that a pint of Target's ice cream will only set you back $2.99, you may as well try your luck and see if you're blessed with a tub that has the perfect ratio of cake to sauce. Why not serve it with a wedge of your favorite vanilla cake recipe to double down on its flavor?