The Dole Whip – a frozen pineapple flavored soft serve (I guess it’s not actually ice cream, but rather a grainy ice cream style product) treat is available at Disneyland I guess (my familiarity with the stuff is from having it in Hawaii, #humblebrag) and has spawned a newly released bit of sugary glory:
The Dole Whip Donut.
Except – Not so fast…
It looks good and I’m sure it’s delicious, so I’m not trying to be a buzzkill when I remind that: this really only a Dole Whip product in name only. There’s no actual Dole Whip in or on it. It’s just a pineapple donut. And that’s what I found interesting about this, because it changes the story from “amazing new confection item at an amusement park” to a case study in “the power of branding”.
A genuine “Dole Whip donut” would chiefly – duh – include the Dole Whip frozen soft serve product within or around, presumably a donut.
This food item is not that.
It’s a donut stuffed with pineapple fruit filling, topped with a creamy pineapple icing and a tall swirl of fluffy “marshmallow-y” meringue, according to the Disney Food Blog – which totally sounds like an excellent treat – but calling it a “Dole Whip donut” when its really a pineapple donut cupcake, is misleading.
I still intend to eat one.