Ice cream used to be my absolute favourite thing (well, food…no, maybe still thing). Then I started to react strongly to dairy and our life long love affair was suddenly a thing of the past (sigh!). Luckily, I soon found out about delicious dairy-free alternatives – frozen banana soft serve (how does it taste so good?) and various vegan ice creams – which made things just a little easier.
However, it’s not always easy to find flavoured non-dairy ice creams in your local supermarket – for example, even though I love Swedish Glace ice cream (or to give it its proper name: Non Dairy Frozen Dessert!), I have only ever had the opportunity to try the vanilla flavour. So when I saw A Perfect World’s A Taste of Carrot Cake flavour in Tesco, I had to try it and share what I thought:
Who?
A Perfect World call themselves the first ‘world’s first healthy premium ice cream’. Their aims are to make a dessert that is not just ‘not bad’ for you, but actually good for you. Their ‘A Taste of Carrot Cake’ flavour (the one I am reviewing) has also won an award – the Children’s Food category in the Free From Awards 2016.
What?
A Perfect World’s ice cream range is dairy-free, wheat-free and free from refined sugars. The carrot cake flavour I tried is also gluten-free although I can’t vouch for other flavours. They are also made with ingredients high in fibre and various vitamins.
The Good
I really liked the cinnamon and nutmeg flavours and the pleasing chunks of sultana and walnut mixed in! It also looks like a premium dessert – packaged in a similar way to my once beloved Ben and Jerry’s – you wouldn’t feel like the ‘dietary requirements freak’ if you brought this to a movie night with friends. Although it’s fairly pricey (I got it for £3.99 for 500ml), I saw it as a treat at a comparable price to similar products.
The Bad
If your friends have a wider set of dietary requirements (and whose don’t nowadays?), this isn’t the best sharing option – it contains eggs and nuts – so everyone would be reaching for their epi-pens if you’re not careful! The texture of the dessert also lacked a bit of creaminess, giving it a slightly icy crunch rather than a melt-in-your-mouth feel.
The Ugly
I wanted to love this but (and I never thought I’d be able to say this) – it is way too sweet! Although it contains no refined sugars, I should perhaps have been tipped off by sweeteners being the second thing listed on the ingredients list. It had a pretty cloying aftertaste and I couldn’t eat more than a scoop (which might be a good thing I suppose…).
Conclusion
I admire what A Perfect World are trying to do and could be persuaded to give another flavour a try at some point, but this flavour wasn’t for me. I’d also be interested to learn more about the company’s ethical stance as I couldn’t find anything about their ethos on sustainability etc.
2/5
