Strains & products

Stay chill with Ice Cream Cake—July’s Leafly HighLight

Published on July 1, 2022 · Last updated August 23, 2022
ice cream cake weed collage
Each month, Leafly highlights a trending strain you should know about—we call it Leafly HighLight. This month, you can have your Ice Cream Cake and smoke it too.

The searing month of July begs you to lose your cool. Leafly says: Stop it. Reach for a bowl of Ice Cream Cake and chill the eff out for at least one more afternoon.

All types of smokers—from everyday heads to novices—have made Ice Cream Cake a top 10 American dispensary staple in 2022. It’s gorgeous, award-winning, and has won over America in four years.

A modern classic, like frickin’ Beyonce—Ice Cream Cake is July’s national Leafly HighLight.

Since 2018, across US shops, this combo of the two champs Wedding Cake and Gelato #33 has spoken to people.

‘Thick, sweet, vanilla, creamy, minty, cookie dankness,’ the nose relates. Ice Cream Cake reviewers left sleepy, relaxed, and hungry notes, and they report it works on pain, anxiety, and insomnia.

Americans hit this dessert strain in every possible way. We’re seeing Ice Cream Cake from sea to shining sea in joints, bowls, blunts, infused blunts, carts, pods, live resin, live rosin, rosin, and even tinctures. Huzzah.

ice cream cake weed bud
Seed Junky, Josh D, and the Emerald Cup judges see something in Ice Cream Cake. But you don’t? … Sounds like a you problem. (David Downs/Leafly)

Now. Some weed snobs always say ‘Ice Cream Cake is played out.’ Indeed, popularity drives prices and quality down. But plenty of elite-tier growers still run ICC because both they and their shoppers frickin’ love it.

Case in point: scoreboards don’t lie: Ice Cream Cake has an average 4.6 out of 5, based on 923 reviews since 2018. It’s considered an indica hybrid with Starlink-level THC effects that hit calming and sedative. Bring plenty of water, do not operate heavy machinery, and get into a comfy spot mentally and physically.

The best Ice Cream Cake jumps out of the jar, and the creamy sweet vanilla smell can decohere into big whiffs of fuel/gas. All of this comes GSC and OG Kush family genes.

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“Holy shit. Been smoking religiously for about 12 years. Few strains have hit me like this. Crazy powerful. Relaxation and pain relief are pronounced. Happy as can be,” states one Leafly reviewer.

Long summer days can get stressful and sleep-deprived. Not if you hit that cake.

“Absolute anxiety blaster and great for sleep. My anxiety gets pretty bad at night and prevents me from sleeping and this works on both fronts. 100%,” said one reviewer.

Weed, lest we forget, is fun, too. So if you’re watching TV, snogging, or zoning out, Ice Cream Cake works.

“I packed my bowl and sat in my bed not feeling much watching TV, doing my usual thing wondering why I haven’t felt anything yet. And then I realized I’ve been watching TV in Spanish the whole time. (I don’t speak Spanish) Have a good sesh! :)”

“Absolutely next level. Them boys out in Cali are NOT messing about. Taste, smell, and the high are all blinding. This bit of kit will blow a new smoker’s socks off.”

How much does Ice Cream Cake cost?

(Sasha Beck/Leafly)

Praise Baskin Robbins—it’s an Ice Cream Cake buyer’s market. You can find it from Long Beach, CA to Manhattan New York.

Prices vary by state market and quality. Eighth-ounces have hit $10 on the West Coast, but go as high as $50 in Boston or $60 in New York.

Dark Heart Nursery's Ice Cream Cake, 2021. (Courtesy Dark Heart Nursery)
Every day is Cheat Day with Ice Cream Cake. (Courtesy Dark Heart Nursery, 2021)

Splurge on some high-end ICC from Ember Valley in Cali ($40), or Phat Panda ($30) in Washington.

The Ice Cream Cake flood powers affordable extracts nationwide as well. A half-gram of Decibel ICC live rosin runs a bargain $30 in Oregon, versus $60 for a 0.5g cartridge in Illinois.

Ice Cream Cake flower spot prices around the US:

low-grademidshigh-grade
1 gram of flower$8$12$16
eighth (3.5 g)$18$35$50
quarter (7)g$35$70$90
Related
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Ice Cream Cake seeds

This is one strain you’ll want in your garden. (Leafly)

World-leading breeder/grower Seed Junky Genetics of Los Angeles sold ICC originally as seeds, leading to today’s bumper crop. But Seed Junky Genetics isn’t selling Ice Cream Cake seeds at the moment. Instead, knock-off cakes abound, especially overseas.

For better results, Seed Junky Genetics sells Cake Crasher (Wedding Cake x Wedding Crasher) that’ll crush it. Dark Heart Nursery in California has—Gelato Ice Cream clones on tap. Yum. And North Atlantic Seed Co has an easy ICC auto from Humboldt Seed Organization.

Ice Cream Cake awards

(Sasha Beck/Leafly)
Ridgeline Lantz (Courtesy Ridgeline Farms)
An Ice Cream Cake cross, Ridgeline LANTZ. (Courtesy Ridgeline Farms)

Both the Wedding Cake and Gelato #33 parents of Ice Cream Cake are champions of their own. Ice Cream Cake took home its most notable 1st place trophy in 2019, in The Emerald Cup mixed light category, submitted by grower Josh D (popularizer of OG Kush).

Ice Cream Cake terpenes

(Sasha Beck/Leafly)

Ice Cream Cake’s great not only for its icy white look and chilling THC scores, but it’s also got a trendy mix of aromatic molecules called terpenes. Lab tests show many samples average high in caryophyllene, limonene, and linalool; with myrcene, too. 

These heavily gassy fuel smells can at times cohere into an opposite aroma—velvety soft sweet vanilla; especially in the Triangle Kush line, from which much of this pot springs.

For the real experience, shop fresh Ice Cream Cakes in the 2% plus range for terpenes. 

Other highlights this July

Ice Cream Cake ran out? Don’t stress—here’s three more July campout and barbecue flavors.

donny burger nug
No milkshake and fries needed with this one. (David Downs/Leafly)

We support the continued countrywide hype around Donny Burger—which can smell funky, biting, cheesy, and savory, and make you one with a beach chair. Donny Burger is for GMO lovers—a mix of GMO Cookies to Han Solo Burger. (Han Solo Burger itself crosses GMO to Larry OG F8, so it’s got a lot of great GMO genes doing what we love.)

Skunk House Genetics bred Donny Burger and released it in 2017 at the Michigan High Times Cannabis Cup where it started to pick up heat. Follow Skunk House’s funk to hybrid effects that leave reviewers giggly, happy, and aroused. Top terpenes: pinene, caryophyllene, and humulene.

Add this juicy hybrid to your dayger rotation. (David Downs/Leafly)

Keep the campout lit with Watermelon—a strain that has become more of a flavor profile than a genetic at this point. The original, mythical Watermelon OG has spawned many crosses: Watermelon Kush, Watermelon Sherbert, Watermelon Punch, and Watermelon Zkittlez. They’re generally indica hybrids that can lift summertime sadness with sweet, tropical, grape, and berry notes. Prepare to meet three of our favorite dwarves: Sleepy, Hungry, and Relaxed.

cherry pie
She’s YOUR cherry pie! (David Downs/Leafly)

Lastly, super-classic Cherry Pie in July. Cherry Pie has 171 reported descendant strains over eight generations: Forbidden Fruit, Trophy Wife, Pie Face, Carbon Fiber, Forbidos, … It’s in carts, flowers good and bad, tinctures, and live resin. If it’s got Cherry Pie in it—we’ll dig in.

Breeder Pieguy’s creation first received a review on Leafly in 2011. Popularized by grower Jigga for Cookies and rapper Berner, Cherry Pie presaged Girl Scout Cookies. A mix of GDP x F1 Durb, Cherry Pie clones only moved in close underground circles. But its giggly, happy, arousing hybrid effects and berry, sweet, fruit taste ensured Cherry Pie’s takeover of the mainstream.

And that’s the flavors for Leafly HighLight July. Stay frosty.

Wait, what’s Leafly HighLight?

Leafly HighLight helps US weed shoppers discover all-star strains on dispensary shelves. Each month, Leafly News’ experts spotlight a trending, top 200 national cannabis strain you should know.

We combine:

  • Leafly Strain Database search data,
  • dispensary menu data,
  • dispensary visits,
  • and smoke sessions

to select one cultivar worthy of special attention. Leafly HighLight.

Read past Leafly HighLights of 2022.

Like Leafly HighLight? Fave this post, leave a nice comment and order some trees on Leafly.

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David Downs
David Downs
Leafly Senior Editor David Downs is the former Cannabis Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. He's appeared on The Today Show, and written for Scientific American, The New York Times, WIRED, Rolling Stone, The Onion A/V Club, High Times, and many more outlets. He is a 2023 judge for The Emerald Cup, and has covered weed since 2009.
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