Like plenty of other people who grew up on the East Coast, I have profoundly nostalgic memories of having an ice cream cake from Carvel at almost every childhood birthday party. And though Cinnabon is just about everywhere now, I fondly remember my dad planning road trip rest stops on I-95 based on whether he could grab a cinnamon bun and coffee amid the chain’s burgeoning ’90s expansion.
So I’m admittedly a bit of a mark for a Cinnabon and Carvel team-up, but I think just about anyone with a sweet tooth will find the new Cinnabon Swirl storefronts tempting. The two dessert franchises (both under the umbrella of GoTo Foods) have come together under one roof with a selection of menu highlights from each respective brand, plus a trio of cinnamon-bun–meets–soft-serve collabs. So far, there are only four locations in the entire country, and I recently visited the newest one in Pasadena, California (in a region that’s notably absent from any Carvels).
Let’s dive right into those team-up items, starting with the Bonini: a cinnamon bun that gets sliced in half, filled with a frozen puck of vanilla soft-serve and then pressed into a waffle iron ($8). The sealed sammich that comes out may look like something you’d pick up with your hands to eat, but the warm, gooey, sticky outside makes this more of a knife-and-fork affair. It tastes as indulgent as it looks, and you almost certainly need a helping hand or two to conquer it.
My favorite by far is the Cinnabon Swirl sundae, and I think it’s because this is the most natural pairing: a cup of center-of-the-roll cinnamon bun pieces topped with a swirl of Carvel soft-serve ($8.50). You can get caramel drizzled on it or a choice of toppings (for an extra charge), but I had forgotten just how rich Carvel’s soft-serve is on its own; a naked dollop of ice cream is the way to go, and though you could opt for chocolate or a seasonal flavor, vanilla provides the perfect flavor balance. This too is a daunting solo endeavor, but I think it makes for a delightfully decadent dessert for two.
The final Cinnabon Swirl signature item is a riff on Carvel’s Flying Saucers, except instead of those ice cream sandwiches’ flat chocolate wafer cookies, the soft-serve is smooshed between a pair of chocolate chip cookies—specifically, a cookie recipe that you won’t find at either standalone chain ($6.50). So where does the Cinnabon part come in? Among the available-all-the-time flavors, you’ll find one lined with a layer of Cinnabon caramel shmear and dusted with cinnamon crunchies.
These franchise combination concoctions are the main selling point here (and so close to fitting the syllable count in “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”), but you’ll also find four variations of cinnamon buns, plus shakes, sundaes, and cups and cones of ice cream. (Chocolate and vanilla are always on offer alongside two rotating flavors; these were cheesecake and pumpkin during my end-of-summer visit.)
You’ll also find a rack full of Cinnabon boxes to-go and a freezer full of Carvel cakes and pints of ice cream, plus packs of the ice cream sandwiches. For you Carvel purists, note that Fudgie the Whale is absent, and though Cookie Puss features on the cups, you won’t find any of those cone-topped cakes.
You’ve probably caught on that it’s the Carvel half here that most appeals to the former New Yorker in me; though there had been a few standalone locations in the Los Angeles area, they’ve all since closed down. I’ve admittedly been able to adjust: The Flying Saucer-like sandwiches from Fosselman’s Ice Cream in Alhambra are excellent, Magpies serves some stellar slices of soft-serve pie nearby in Northeast L.A., and Afters’ Coachella-famous ice-cream–stuffed doughnuts are available all over town (including in Pasadena).
Those local go-tos are, of course, inaccessible to the rest of the country—but that certainly won’t be the case for Cinnabon Swirl. Outside of this suburban L.A. shop (right on the famous Rose Parade route along Colorado Boulevard, across from Pasadena City College), you’ll currently find locations in Peoria, Arizona (just outside of Phoenix); Kennesaw, Georgia (northwest of Atlanta); and Hillsboro, Oregon (west of Portland). But the company says it has more than 30 other locations in the pipeline.
