Dr. Bombay Birthday Party Review: Cake And Ice Cream Go Together Like Gin And Juice
Did you know Snoop Dogg and his wife, Shante Broadus, were born just 10 days apart at the end of October 1971? The couple has been together for over 25 years. We imagine that when your husband is Snoop Dogg, the expectations for celebration are high. This year, to celebrate their two birthdays, Snoop is dropping a new limited-release Birthday Party ice cream in his Dr. Bombay ice cream line.
Dr. Bombay was first released in July of 2023 and has already gifted the world with seven unique flavors. On first look, the flavors appear to be your typical grocery store ice cream. But upon further inspection, you find that Snoop Dog has given each a unique taste remix, with each flavor like nothing we have seen before. Of course, this is not Snoop Dogg's first kitchen adventure. He has a cookbook and even co-hosted a cooking show with Martha Stewart. With so much precedent set, we wanted to see if Dr. Bombay's Birthday Party ice cream could live up to the high expectations set by the other flavors that preceded it.
What is in it?
With a name like Birthday Party, you may assume this is just a birthday cake ice cream, perhaps with some sprinkles thrown in for extra pizzazz. But Snoop Dogg would never give us something so basic. Snoop also isn't simply throwing chunks of cake into ice cream and calling it a birthday party flavor like some ice cream brands we could mention. As expected, Dr. Bombay gives us something a little unexpected.
Dr. Bombay's Birthday Party starts with yellow-cake-flavored ice cream. Next, there are, of course, sprinkles. But Snoop Dogg does not stop there. The crushed pretzel chocolate frosting swirl comes along and really takes the cake, metaphorically and literally. These are not two separate ingredients, but a single fudgy element mixed into the ice cream. The combination feels like something new; the individual components have shown up in other brands and other flavors, but not put together in quite this way where the sweet flavors of the frosting play out alongside the salty and crunchy aspects of the pretzels.
Price and availability
While Dr. Bombay ice cream can be purchased at Walmart, Winn Dixie, Gopuff, as well as Albertsons in the near future, the Birthday Party flavor will only be available at select Walmart stores in the United States. If you are having trouble locating a pint of Birthday Party, the Dr. Bombay website has a convenient locator to help you out. You can also search for specific flavors to discover where they may be sold near you.
Each pint of Birthday Party ice cream costs $4.95, which is right in line with other gourmet ice cream brands such as Van Leeuwen and Ben & Jerry's.
There is one final consideration, though. As we mentioned, Birthday Party is a special release to celebrate Snoop Dogg and his wife's birthdays. As such, it's only available for a limited time during October. The party has to end sometime, so if you want to try it, find it while you can.
How it compares to other Dr. Bombay flavors
The great thing about Dr. Bombay ice cream flavors is that no two are alike, and that holds true for Birthday Party. Other Dr. Bombay varieties start with marshmallow ice cream, chocolate milk ice cream, waffle ice cream, and even orange sherbet. Birthday Party is the only one so far to begin with a yellow cake ice cream.
That's not to say Birthday Party has nothing in common with any other Bombay flavors; the brand has a track record for using baked goods as a foundation. There are two cookie-based ice creams: one's a sophisticated cookie dough, and the other is a chocolaty cookie crumble. There's also Bonus Track Brownie, featuring brownie pieces, dough, and fudge. But again, none of these directly resemble Birthday Party. And yet, the limited-time flavor feels cohesive with the rest of the Dr. Bombay lineup — they all include a one-of-a-kind flavor with a mix-in and an unusual swirl. We see this pattern continue with Birthday Party but in a completely new and interesting way.
Nutrition
The good news is one serving of Birthday Cake ice cream gives you 10% of the daily recommended value of calcium. The bad news is the health benefits pretty much stop there. One serving of Dr. Bombay's Birthday Party ice cream contains 320 calories, which is on par with other ice cream brands. There are 27 grams of sugar in each serving which, while high, is equal to a 12-ounce Blonde Vanilla Latte at Starbucks, so let's keep things in perspective.
The ingredient list is also long for this ice cream. There are added colors, flavors, and various thickeners, so if that is something you wish to avoid, you have been warned. But at the end of the day, this is a pint of fun ice cream. It is meant to celebrate two famous people's birthdays and bring some novelty- and cake-related joy, not hit a daily vitamin intake. Sometimes, you just have to eat the ice cream.
Final verdict
There are three main components to the ice cream, each of which deserves mention. The ice cream itself is a pale yellow and does indeed taste distinctly like yellow cake. What was more surprising to us, though, were the sprinkles. Often, sprinkles in ice cream offer a hard and sometimes unpleasant crunchy texture. However, on the first bite, we noticed that while these sprinkles had a little bit of a snap to them, they didn't clash with the rest of the ice cream the way sprinkles sometimes do. This is because instead of standard sprinkles, they are crisped rice sprinkles. For us, this made it a noticeably more enjoyable experience — the ice cream felt full of texture without becoming grainy or awkward to chew.
Then we have the crushed pretzel frosting swirl. The consistency of this is almost like cookie butter; it is creamy yet sandy. We definitely taste the salty pretzel, which plays surprisingly well with the chocolate frosting.
The combination of all of these factors makes for a truly unique and surprisingly thoughtful Birthday Party ice cream. While not everyone will take to this off-the-wall flavor, we are happy to grab a pint and enjoy every bite.