The origin of ice cream is uncertain: Some historians credit the Chinese, while others nod to the Persians. Details of its arrival in the U.S. are similarly cloudy, though multiple sources note that the Founding Fathers regularly indulged. In fact, merchant records show that George Washington spent $200 on ice cream at a New York shop in the summer of 1790.

This auspicious start reflects its enduring appeal and endless potential to surprise and delight, with ice cream trends of the moment deftly demonstrating both.

Baked to Perfection

Why settle for just one sweet treat when you can enjoy a mash-up of two or more in the same bowl or cone? This is the guiding principle behind an emerging trend that plays on the nuances of flavor and texture by combining ice cream with cake, pie or other baked goods.

Bruster’s Real Ice Cream dishes up a colorful Birthday Cake flavor that’s made from yellow cake batter ice cream and blue icing with rainbow sprinkles. And the brand’s new Gooey Butter Cake promises “bakeshop bliss” with a mixture of vanilla ice cream and buttery cake pieces rippled with butterscotch and caramel. In a similar vein, Baskin-Robbins’ May 2025 Flavor of the Month was Strawberry Tres Leches, which combined fluffy white cake pieces, strawberry chunks and ribbons of strawberry swirled into a scoop of tres leches-flavored ice cream.

Other brands take their inspiration from the pie tin, like Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream’s Banana Cream Pie and French Silk Pie options and Cold Stone Creamery’s Apple Pie à la Cold Stone. The second claims it’s “just like mama used to make” with a graham cracker pie crust, apple pie filling, cinnamon and caramel.

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, which began as an ice cream truck on the streets of New York City before expanding to more than 50 scoop shops around the country, borrows from the bakery, too, with flavors like Buttermilk Berry Cornbread and Lemon Poppyseed Muffin. The former mixes honey cornbread with buttermilk ice cream and raspberries, while the latter swirls the title ingredients with lemon ice cream and lemon curd.

Savory Scoops

Credit: Baskin-Robbins

Baskin-Robbins incorporates key elements of a savory-sweet cheese board into its Brie My Guest LTO, featuring brie- and burrata-flavored ice creams.

While ice cream has long served as a platform for experimenting with savory inclusions, several notable and surprising flavor combinations have gained attention in recent months. Baskin-Robbins stepped out of the flavor box with Brie My Guest, the November Flavor of the Month, which combined brie- and burrata-flavored ice creams with almonds, pistachio pieces and apricot swirls.

At the same time, Salt & Straw, headquartered in Portland, Ore., and known for its use of ice cream as a blank slate, launched a head-turning, limited-time Thanksgiving trio. The options included a Turkey Stuffing & Cranberry Sauce Ice Cream that folded baked brioche bread pudding, turkey sausage, herbs and cranberry sauce into an ice cream base. Patrons looking for a suitably frosty side dish could also opt for Parker House Rolls with Salted Buttercream or Sweet Potato Casserole flavors.

Graeter’s Ice Cream and Skyline Chili, two iconic Ohio-based brands, collaborated on Graeter’s Skyline Spice Ice Cream. Blending Graeter’s signature French Pot Ice Cream with Skyline’s classic chili spice mix, the LTO was first pitched to Super Bowl viewers in February. And while Kansas City Chiefs player (and Taylor Swift’s beau) Travis Kelce disparaged the special, a legion of fans defended the “wacky-yet-wonderful creation,” and to-go pints quickly sold out.

In Chicago, where Pretty Cool Ice Cream dishes up pretty cool ice cream bars, a Potato Skins rendition, featuring sour cream and mashed-potato flakes in an ice cream base, grabbed attention last autumn. The outer shell combined orange cheese powder, white chocolate and bacon bits with a sprinkle of freeze-dried chives. The result: a tasty, limited-time confection that was akin to a “very cold twice-baked potato,” according to the brand.

Global Delights

Credit: Baskin-Robbins

Inventive combinations like Salt & Straw’s Chocolate Chili Crisp Peanut Butter Cup (left) and Jeni’s Citrus Glazed Pound Cake (right) showcase global flavors.

It’s hardly surprising that operators are turning to the global pantry for ice cream inspo; after all, they’ve employed it across virtually all food and beverage categories. It’s also no surprise that Asian influences are on the rise.

This May, the Monthly Menu Series at Salt & Straw featured Chocolate Chili Crisp Peanut Butter Cup, an unexpected mélange of milk chocolate ice cream and homemade chile crisp peanut butter cups swirled with peanut butter-marshmallow fluff. The month also saw a Matcha Matcha Man flavor that paired ceremonial-grade matcha green tea with tangerine juice for a bright, vibrant flavor experience. Meanwhile, Handel’s taps Filipino cuisine for its Taro Ice Cream that combines taro root and bright purple ube.

In leveraging flavors a little closer to home, Häagen-Dazs goes south of the border to capitalize on the churro craze with the Dulce de Leche Churro option. Similarly, Handel’s serves up a horchata flavor that replaces the typical rice milk base with sweet cream, milk and cinnamon.

Pulling from various cuisines around the equator, tropical fruit flavors are trending, too. Jeni’s Scoop Shops’ Citrus Glazed Pound Cake Ice Cream touches on multiple trends, featuring both cake and a base of yuzu ice cream, highlighting the Japanese citrus that’s having a menu moment, while Häagen-Dazs’ Creamy Mango goes maximum mango with slices of the fruit in creamy mango ice cream. In Nashville, Tenn., Oaxaca-inspired Bee Ice Cream Shop showcases its roots in a vast array of sorbet, including the Mango With Chamoy, harkening to the classic mangonada, as well as Tamarind, Dragon Fruit and Soursop.

Outlook and Opportunity

According to the International Dairy Foods Association, the top three ice cream flavors in the U.S. remain vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. But few ingredients are off the table as we move into the primetime months for ice cream, with this summer poised to accelerate the trends already in place.

Textural enhancements will remain the order of the day, as with Pretty Cool’s Peanut Butter Potato Chip Bar and its fun combo of salty-sweet-crunchy elements. The global envelope will be pushed to all corners, as demonstrated by the selection of pizzella-studded scoops at Italian neighborhood eatery Mattina in San Francisco. Greek-influenced Walnut Baklava Gelato shares menu space with a Bufala Olive Oil and Sea Salt Gelato, an authentic Italianate taste made with buffalo milk. We can expect more mash-ups aimed at enticing Gen Z and driving digital interest, as at Treats Cereal Bar & Boba in St. Paul, Minn., where boba pearls pull double duty in both tea beverages and specials like Brown Sugar Boba Ice Cream.

In 2023, Americans consumed a mere 11.7 pounds of ice cream per person. It was the worst performance since recordkeeping began, according to the USDA. But it was also an open invitation to step up unfettered innovation, luring consumers to rediscover their favorite sweet treat.