The Untold Truth Of Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake
Dairy Queen ice cream cakes have been around for just about every celebration for decades, from birthdays to holidays to even weddings. For many, these treats are a delicious piece of nostalgia that has followed them through every year and on many different occasions. So, it's no wonder that this is the cake so many of us always go for to make every celebration sweeter. Who can deny the truth that each layer of ice cream and cookie crumbs is supremely delicious, or that the icing decorations on top were carefully placed there to create the perfect design for you?
Honestly, just talking about it is making us want to enjoy a piece of the fast food franchise's famous ice cream cake right now. But how much do we actually know about this tasty treat? How is it created? What about the mistakes employees have surely made every once in a while? And could enjoying a whole cake by yourself really hurt? Keep reading to discover the untold truth of Dairy Queen's ice cream cake.
The soft serve machine partially makes the cake
We've surely all enjoyed a Blizzard, sundae, or ice cream cone from Dairy Queen at some point in our lifetimes, so it's only fate that the company's soft serve ice cream would help to create its beloved ice cream cake, too. As shown on YouTube (via Delish), the ice cream is poured right from the soft serve machine into a standard cake pan. An employee then creates a well in the center of the ice cream, where, in this flavor, they deposit a layer of Oreo cookie and fudge.
The cake is then topped with more soft serve ice cream or a Blizzard, depending on what style of cake you've ordered. The creator then smoothes out all rough edges, creating a near-perfect lining all around. As if that weren't enough, it's all topped off with frosting and then either some further toppings or a design of choice.
Blizzard cakes come in six different varieties
Fans of Dairy Queen may have enjoyed watching a Blizzard or three famously get flipped over in front of them at the DQ counter. Now, they can enjoy the cake version of the sturdy Blizzard every chance they get, since the franchise has given us the option to pick from six different Blizzard cake choices. Namely, those are: Oreo, Choco Brownie Xtreme, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Girl Scout Thin Mints, and Drumstick with Peanuts.
Based on their respective Blizzard flavor, of course, each cake is catered to bring customers the taste they enjoy. It seems customers love the Blizzard take on the ice cream cake just as much as the classic variety. "I was surprised how enjoyable and tasty this Oreo Blizzard Cake was from Dairy Queen," said one. And, as one review on Thrillster claimed, "I would definitely eat it again! If you love Oreos, you will enjoy it too, I'm sure!"
If you're just looking to enjoy one without the celebration of it, don't fret. Dairy Queen also offers mini versions of the delicious cakes in Oreo, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Choco Brownie, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. The minis have a recommended serving size of two to four people, but we won't judge if you get one all for yourself to enjoy.
The ice cream isn't technically ice cream
Although it's often called an ice cream cake, the truth is that Dairy Queen's version of the treat isn't technically considered ice cream by U.S. Food & Drug Administration. That's due to the level of milk fat contained in the mix. To be considered ice cream, a product must have a minimum of 10 percent milkfat. Yet, according to Dairy Queen's FAQ, their soft serve only meets half of that requirement at 5 percent.
According to Dairy Queen's FAQ, the fast food company's product actually used to be considered "ice milk" until the FDA nipped the category. As of now, Dairy Queen's ice cream falls under the reduced-fat ice cream category, with the franchise making sure to note that its 5 percent butterfat soft serve doesn't mean that the resulting product is 95 percent fat-free. So, don't expect its ice cream to be a low-calorie option for days where you're watching your intake.
Holiday-themed Dairy Queen cakes appear each season
Keeping things joyful, Dairy Queen celebrates every season with the release of holiday-themed designs and flavors, especially during Christmas and Valentine's Day. When the most wonderful time of the year comes around, cakes featuring penguins, snowmen, candy canes, Christmas trees, and more make their way into the coolers. Move forward two months, and heart-shaped cakes topped with red and white frosting help couples celebrate Valentine's Day (via The Manila Times).
This past year, Dairy Queen celebrated Valentine's Day with an all-new Red Velvet Cupid Cake, according to Elite Daily. Beginning with a base layer of vanilla soft serve and moving on to a center of red velvet cake pieces and cream cheese frosting, the cake was topped with the limited time only Red Velvet Cake Blizzard.
And back in 2017, Dairy Queen opted to celebrate romance with a heart-shaped Ultimate Choco Brownie Blizzard Cupid Cake and a nationwide survey of American couples, per Business Wire. "Every Valentine's Day, we help fans break the cliché in some way," Executive Vice President of Marketing for American Dairy Queen Corporation Barry Westrum said. "This year, we're taking Valentine's Day from stressful to comfortable with a shareable cake."
Dairy Queen took the cake with a Guinness World Record
Few may know that Dairy Queen actually holds a Guinness World Record for the largest ice cream cake in the world. In 2011, a team of Dairy Queen Canada employees got together to build a 10.13-ton cake (or 22,333.6 pounds), measuring 14 feet and 7 inches long, 13 feet and 3 inches wide, and 3 feet and 3 inches tall. The cake was created using sponge cake, vanilla soft serve, buttercream frosting, and Oreo cookie crumble. The cake was created in celebration of the Dairy Queen ice cream cake concept's 30th birthday, according to Bake. Onlookers were able to enjoy a piece as patient ambassadors from The Hospital for Sick Children collected donations for the hospital.
"We've been working around the clock to get the cake finished and now to see so many people enjoying a Dairy Queen treat on a gorgeous spring day while supporting our favorite charity, the work has all been worth it," Executive Vice President of Operations at Dairy Queen Canada Peter White told Bake. Ten years later, the franchise still holds the record and it doesn't seem like anybody plans on beating the massive ice cream cake accomplishment anytime soon.
A Dairy Queen manager refused an LGBTQ+ request
One Dairy Queen manager received backlash when they refused a decoration request. Summer Gibbon and her sister Gracie had requested "Happy Birthday, Lesbian" to be written on a DQ cake. At first, the employee at the front counter said it was fine — at least, until her supervisor hit the brakes. They told her that the location was a "family establishment," and the word was apparently inappropriate for young eyes, per Global News. When Gibbon's family followed up with the said supervisor, they were told that it was "sexual in nature" to put the word on the cake.
Obviously, it was a letdown for Summer in particular, though her family came to her support. "It was upsetting watching her feel that especially on her birthday and I was worried about her," Gracie said of the incident. "She felt embarrassed and ashamed and she should never have to feel that for who she is."
The franchise owner, Tim Morrison, released an apology, stating there's no place for discrimination in his restaurant. He further noted that his intent is to create custom cakes that are inclusive and nondiscriminatory. "[W]e have a policy that custom cake orders only can include inclusive and nondiscriminatory language. After talking with fans and employees, I acknowledge we did not properly follow our policy," Morrison admitted. Gibbon acknowledged and accepted this apology and was able to get the cake she wanted from a different Dairy Queen location without any issues.
An employee misheard an order and was fired
As a Dairy Queen employee, when a customer asks to order a marijuana-themed cake for her daughter's birthday (via People), you might very well do as she wants and starts researching images to create perfection. You might then take the time to delicately bring your design to life, box it up, and wait for the customer to pick up the cake. But, when she does, you come to find out she actually wanted a Moana cake and offer to recreate it, but she reassures you it's fine. Once she pays and leaves, you think your task is finished and move on. That is, until the cake goes viral.
A simple mistake led to one Georgia Dairy Queen employee, Cassandra Walker, getting fired, according to USA Today. The birthday girl found the situation to be hilarious and shared it to Facebook, her post quickly racked up thousands of likes and shares. Unfortunately, the fame she gained for her birthday led to Walker's firing.
"It's not funny to me," Walker told USA Today. "I have two little girls here. I have a car that needs fixing. It's not funny to me. The manager stood behind me while I pulled the images off the internet. She walked by as I decorated the cake. As I boxed the cake up, she was the one who walked it up to the front." But when she was offered her job back, she nevertheless turned her former employer down.
An order messed up on purpose went viral
One TikTok user wanted a Dairy Queen cake for her birthday, but with a fun twist — asking for a purposely messed up birthday cake (via Newsweek). Lila asked a Dairy Queen employee for an ice cream cake with all of the spelling out of wack.
"All I care about, I want you to spell everything as wrong as you can," she told the employee, according to her TikTok. "I want you to put 'Happy Birthday Lila' but, like, ruin it. I just want you to really have fun with it and, you know, like, have a great time." The decorator then had an idea and asked Lila if she could swap out the name, to which she agreed. The hilarious result was "Hpappy Birday, Bob!"
"She was so proud of herself. It was the cutest thing in the entire world. Queen, I love you," Lila said, writing in the video caption that she would like to do a duet with the employee for her birthday. The video has garnered millions of views and thousands of comments for the fun ice cream cake antics contained therein.
A teen DQ decorator is TikTok famous
One teen's Dairy Queen cake decorating skills have made her TikTok famous. Inspired by a TikToker who worked at a Cold Stone Creamery in Missouri, Morgann Book's work at her family-owned Ancaster, Ontario franchise has garnered her millions of views, according to the CBC. The 17-year-old's videos show her cake decorating processes as she shares stories, thoughts, and answers questions from fans. Now, the hard-working teen gets multiple requests from customers that their orders be shared on her TikTok. Book says she starts her day at 5:30 am, all so she can fulfill some of those orders before she heads to school.
But she doesn't seem all that bothered by the early wake-up time and work involved. "It allows me to connect with the community," Book told the CBC. "Especially during COVID right now, because it's so hard to do that." It seems as though all the hard work has been paying off for her family's Dairy Queen too, as her father told the CBC that their store's ice cream sales are up thanks to his daughter's well-earned fame. He even admitted that it had actually been "overwhelming" with the number of customers coming in and asking for the work of the "TikTok girl."
Dairy Queen ice cream cakes are delicious, but not healthy
In some rather unfortunate news, the real untold truth of the Dairy Queen ice cream is that, although it is absolutely delicious, decadent, and divine in all its form, it's not exactly healthy. We understand if you're upset, but we must speak about the reality.
In pure numbers, a 10-inch DQ Signature All Occasion Cake comes loaded up with 5,840 calories. Of that, about 2,120 calories come from fat, along with 885 grams of carbohydrates and 2,410 milligrams of sodium, according to Dairy Queen. Even worse for you is a 10-inch Oreo Blizzard Cake. The tasty dessert comes in at 6,910 calories with 2,690 calories in fat, 958 grams of carbohydrates, and 3,130 milligrams of sodium. Of course, that's assuming you're downing the whole cake, rather than a more reasonable single serving size, so it's not all bad news.
And remember that this doesn't mean you can't occasionally enjoy a slice of Dairy Queen ice cream cake as part of your celebrations. And, of course, Dairy Queen is always ready and willing to make the ice cream cake of your dreams and there's a variety of different desserts and treats for you to pick from. Just maybe don't eat an ice cream cake for every meal.