The Cool Dog—manufactured by Cool Dog, Inc., of Shirley, Mass.—is creamy, yummy, strange and fun.

The first impression is of a blinding white bratwurst wrapped in one of those dish-scrubbing pads, like some weird albino frankfurter that evolved in a cave, or was extruded from a sadly colorless Play-Doh Fun Factory. Bite into it, though, and you get vanilla ice cream wrapped in soft vanilla cake, drizzled with chocolate shell. The ice cream is smooth, like good soft-serve, and the cake is sweet and delicious despite its cheap-looking texture. A glance at the label reveals real ingredients like milk, cream, sugar and whole eggs.

Let it thaw for a couple minutes to soften it up and it makes for an affordable, novel ice cream treat.