Raspberry Cheesecake
Cheesecake flavored ice cream with a raspberry swirl and pie crust pieces
Date Tried - May 18, 2023
Location - Standing in front of the freezer (door maybe open?)
Format - Pint
Milkshake it? - Yes
Buy Again? - Yes
Athenaeus, a 2nd century CE Greek rhetorician and grammarian, claimed that Callimachus, a Greek poet, scholar and librarian from the 3rd century BCE, owned a book called plakountopoiikon sungramma. This book was written by Aegimus, a Greek physician from the 5th century BCE.
It is on the art of making cheesecake, nothing more.
Cato the Elder’s De agri cultura (160 BCE) includes recipes for three different kinds of cheesecake: libum, savillum and placenta. Placenta cake was most similar to our modern cheesecake in that it had a separately baked crust. And—because the two resembled each other— we now also call the temporary organ involved in mammalian pregnancies (at least the ones that take place in the extant subdivision Placentalia) a placenta.
It’s like a fun “chicken or egg” scenario—cake or organ?—but one that is solvable.
Lush, soft, sultry. A few words that could be used to describe cheesecake—mainly because it’s not really cake and would probably be better described as a custard pie or torte. Regardless, it is beloved and, knowing this, it’s surprising that Stewart’s only has one canonical flavor that includes cheesecake. (There is a Limited Edition Salted Caramel Cheesecake at the moment. Stay tuned; I could see this one getting a review down the line based on how much I enjoyed Salted Caramel Gelato.)
Stewart’s has four flavors that include raspberries and, now that I’ve tried Raspberry Cheesecake, I’ve checked off all four. So, let’s get specific. In the ingredient lists, Raspberry cheesecake has a “raspberry red sauce”, Raspberry Fudge Torte Frozen Yogurt has a “raspberry variegate”, Rainbow sherbet has a “raspberry puree”, and Black Raspberry has a “black raspberry puree.” They are all kind of similar, except for three key differences:
The variegate in Raspberry Fudge Torte Frozen Yogurt allegedly uses non-pureed fruit.
Rainbow sherbet is the only one that uses raspberry juice.
The “black raspberry puree” in Black Raspberry uses both black and red raspberries, but the highest ingredient on the puree list is actually blackberries.
Early on in ‘I Scream, You Scream’, I identified a trend of Stewart’s having no reluctancy toward experimenting with radical bases. It feels like we haven’t had one of these in awhile, but who can honestly say? This experience has all begun to run together for me. (The colors are bleeding, people. )
Well, we’re back, baby! Full applause for Raspberry Cheesecake’s cheesecake flavored ice cream base! This is no amateur situation where you’re dealing with vanilla ice cream that has cheesecake pieces swimming around in it. That experience is fine…good, even. But Stewart’s has changed the game by saturating the base with cheesecake flavor and then using simple pie crust pieces to replicate the frisson experienced when you encounter a perfectly placed mix-in. A balanced palette of textures and flavors.
…Is there something else we’re aiming toward?
And let me just say, if in the end, this challenge does nothing else for me, it has at least solidified my knowledge that the best way to consume ice cream is out of a pint container. The corporate pushers of frozen dairy know this to be true—it is a perfect design, tapered slightly. The widest portion at the top makes you think, “I’m not actually having that much, it’s just such a wide surface up here!” while the slimmest portion at the bottom makes you think, “It’s such a small amount that I MIGHT as well just finish it!”
It is diabolical and brilliant. The next time you eat a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting, remind yourself of this fact.
You never stood a chance.