Dessert has, traditionally, been many a fast food company's weak point — while favorites like the McDonald's (MCD) McFlurry and Wendy's (WEN)'s Frosty do exist, most fast food menus are small in scope and rarely move beyond milkshakes or the occasional pie or donut hole.
That's why it comes as that much more of a surprise that the Yum! Brands (YUM) company is partnering with Milk Bar — a New York dessert chain that popularized the Cereal Milk (milk-flavored ice cream with bits of cereal-style crunch as topping) as well as fancy desserts like the confetti birthday cake and cake truffles.
Since founder Christina Tosi launched it in 2008 with seed funding from restaurateur and Momofuku founder David Chang, Milk Bar expanded to 12 locations across the U.S. and Canada.
Taco Bell
What Does A Taco Bell Truffle Look Like?
With its cakes selling for upwards of $60, Milk Bar has built a brand as an upscale, trendy bakery — celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Seth Rogan have been photographed coming out of the flagship East Village shop.
The product coming out of the Taco Bell collaboration can then be described as a sort of high-and-low dessert. The Strawberry Bell Truffle will feature vanilla cake with a fudge center and strawberry pieces soaked in strawberry milk.
The truffles are also topped with strawberry corn cake coating and tiny bits of Taco Bell's Crunchy Taco Shell for crunch.
"We white boarded ideas and R&D'ed to seemingly no end, but then the masterminds of our culinary team, led by VP, Anna McGorman, struck sweet gold with this unique dessert that packs such delicious flavor and is a true meeting of minds who love to color outside the lines," Milk Bar fonder Christina Tosi said in a statement. "We're pumped for you to take a bite!"
Now in its testing phase, the Strawberry Bell truffle this new product will be sold at an Orange County Taco Bell (14042 Red Hill Ave. in Tustin, CA) and two Milk Bar locations in New York (1196 Broadway at 29th Street) and Los Angeles (7150 Melrose Avenue) between August 4 and August 16 (or until the location runs out.)
Wait, This Is Really Real?
Two truffles will sell for the low price of $2.99 but those who live outside those two cities will have to wait until a nationwide rollout that may or may not follow.
This isn't the first time Taco bell tried to play the cereal game since, in 2015, it launched a donut hole coated with Cap'n Crunch cereal.
The chain has, over the years, rolled out a number of limited-time desserts that did not make its permanent menu such as the caramel apple empanada or the long-gone Cinnamon Crispas with strawberry sauce from the 1980s.
And while generations of visitors grew up seeing it on Taco Bell in the 1990s and 2000s, the Choco Taco only made a brief reappearance in February before Unilever (UL)'s Klondike announced that it was permanently discontinuing the dessert last week to much internet outrage.
If the Strawberry Bell Truffle does pass the test, it will join the sugar-coated cinnamon twists and Cinnabon Delights pastries currently on its permanent menu.
"The Strawberry Bell Truffle is the first mashup of its kind to be served to consumers on a large, test scale from our brands," Taco Bell Executive Chef Rene Pisciotti said in a statement. "This one-of-a-kind truffle is the friendship-fueled fruition of a concept made possible by a mutual dedication to innovation."
