Sundae Shoppe Frozen Layer Dessert Cake

As a child of the 1980s and 1990s, I remember seeing commercials for a fancy frozen dessert called Vienetta. This British ice cream cake, originally made by Unilever subsidiary Wall’s, features wavy layers of creamy ice cream and crunchy, crispy chocolate. The dessert is formed into a long, log-shaped cake that looks somewhat similar to a jelly roll. The ice cream is layered in a way that causes a ripple or ribbon effect, so that when the cake is sliced, the layers are shown off.

Vienetta launched in the United Kingdom in 1982 and was introduced to the United States in the late 1980s under the Breyers brand. It was discontinued in the mid-1990s but then returned in 2021 under the Good Humor brand.

Commercials back when I was a kid claimed “one slice is never enough.” Vienetta looked like a luxury dessert you’d serve at an elegant dinner party. In fact, that’s how the commercials often portrayed it. My middle class family never bought it, but I knew what it was, and it certainly looked appealing to me as a child.

Now, Aldi is selling its own version of Vienetta for a limited time.

Sundae Shoppe Frozen Layer Dessert Cake cost $6.99 for 33.81 ounces at the time of publication. This is a product of Spain. It’s available at Aldi in two flavors while supplies last: vanilla (with crunchy chocolate layers) or caramel (with crunchy caramel-flavored layers).

This is an Aldi Find, so it’s only in stores for a short time. Each store gets one shipment, and after that sells out, they’re gone until next time, whenever that might be. Aldi does not offer online ordering for products not in stock at your local store. If you miss out on buying it this time around, take heart because this is the second time I’ve spotted this at the discount grocery store in less than one year. If that is any indication, this will hopefully make it into at least an annual or bi-annual rotation at Aldi.

This frozen dessert is made with skim milk, water, sugar, coconut oil, and a fair amount of processed ingredients, but no one ever said dessert was healthy.

Nutrition information and ingredients. Vanilla on top, caramel on bottom. (Click to enlarge.)

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk and soy. It may contain egg, almond, coconut, hazelnut, pistachio, pecan nuts, macadamia nuts, and walnuts.

Each cake serves six. These have plenty of calories, fat, saturated fat, and added sugar.

One serving of the vanilla dessert has 290 calories, 14 grams of total fat (18% DV), 12 grams of saturated fat (60% DV), 25 grams of total carbohydrates (9% DV), 21 grams of total sugars, and 16 grams of added sugars (32% DV).

One serving of the caramel dessert has 280 calories, 13 grams of total fat (17% DV), 12 grams of saturated fat (60% DV), 23 grams of total carbohydrates (8% DV), 20 grams of total sugars, and 15 grams of added sugars (30% DV).

What the cakes look like out of the box.

As indicated above, this is an ice cream cake. It consists entirely of ice cream and crispy chocolate or caramel layers. There is no cake or whipped cream or anything else.

Vanilla layer cake.

There are no directions on the box, other than to keep the cake frozen. When you’re ready to serve it, simply remove it from the box, pull apart the plastic wrapper, and cut it into slices. I found this to be somewhat messy to take out of the packaging and to store if everyone does not eat the entire cake in one sitting. The plastic wrapper tears easily and it’s hard to put the cake back inside the wrapper, and the cake can smear on the inside of the box.

Caramel layer cake.

As for how these desserts taste, they are excellent. This frozen dessert “ice cream” is smooth and creamy, and the chocolate or caramel layers have a satisfying crunch. I saw someone observe that the vanilla cake, with its vanilla ice cream and crispy chocolate, reminded them of a Dairy Queen Dilly Bar, and I can see that. My family was divided over whether the vanilla or caramel version was the best, with my husband and I slightly preferring the vanilla, while our kids liked the caramel. They’re both very good and we happily enjoyed both.

The Verdict:

Sundae Shoppe Frozen Layer Dessert Cake is the Aldi take on name brand Vienetta. It comes in vanilla or caramel flavors and features creamy, wavy layers of ice cream and crunchy chocolate or crunchy caramel. When you slice this log-shaped ice cream cake, it shows off all the different layers and ripples, making it a very fancy-looking dessert. Whether you enjoyed Vienetta as a child, or whether your family never bought it because it looked like an expensive dessert, you have a chance to get this iconic dessert from Aldi while supplies last.