Wandering Cone Creamery opened in Wilmington’s Soda Pop District last year, and culinary collaborations have been on owner Amanda Cassella’s radar since Day 1.

Her shop at 921 Princess St. is one example of the many food and drink establishments in Wilmington that work with others to create unique offerings.

“I am really big with helping to promote small (businesses); we shop local, and I like to build relationships with other local businesses. We are customers of many of them ourselves,” Cassella said. “There is so much synergy around town, and we lift each other up and create new experiences for our customers.”

In a recent example, Cassella celebrated National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day on Feb. 1 by collaborating to create unique ice cream-for-breakfast options.

Cassella partnered with Philip Jones III, owner of The Jelly Cabinet Bakery, to create “breakfast-inspired ice cream” flavors. Cinnamon roll ice cream and blueberry muffin ice cream were on the breakfast menu, each with its namesake baked goods made fresh from The Jelly Cabinet, 1011 N. Fourth St.

In addition, specialty sundaes were available, including a cinnamon roll sundae with chopped-up chunks of cinnamon roll and cream cheese frosting. Another selection was the waffle sundae with The Jelly Cabinet waffles, which included a customer’s choice of ice cream topped off with a maple syrup drizzle and whipped cream.

Wandering Cone also collaborated with Julia Castellano, of Little Loaf Bakery & Schoolhouse, 3410 Wrightsville Ave., to create an ice cream-and-biscuit sundae, which featured Little Loaf’s split honey biscuit with a scoop of ice cream, topped with a fresh berry compote.

“All of this is done in-house. All our ingredients are handmade, all-natural. We even make our own whipped cream,” Cassella said.

Soda Pop neighbor The Ibis Coffee and Cocktails also collaborated with Cassella to create specialty drinks to pair with the ice cream breakfast. This included an affogato, a vanilla ice cream espresso, an espresso martini with cold brew ice cream and an Aperol Spritz cocktail with the Wandering Cone’s blood orange sorbet.

While these were made just for National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, Ibis and Wandering Cone have plans for more ongoing pairings. 

Another ice cream collaboration brought the Wilmington Sharks and Boombalatti’s Homemade Ice Cream together to create a special flavor to celebrate the baseball team’s mascot, Sharky.

“We wanted to do something more than a free scoop after two strikeouts, and the wheels started turning and Sharky’s Sandbar was born,” said Boombalatti’s co-owner Wes Bechtel.

Sharky’s Sandbar is a graham cracker-infused ice cream with cinnamon honey and vanilla cracker goldfish grahams. The seasonal flavor was available last summer.

Brett Bloomquist, team president of the Wilmington Sharks, is a father of young children and was on board to partner with Bechtel to create the fun new flavor. In addition, they partnered with NourishNC and ACCESS of Wilmington, which received a portion of the ice cream sales.

“Both of those charities made sense since they both involve kids, baseball and sports,” Bechtel said. “This was really fun for us since we often do the same flavors all the time. It was a lot of fun to come up with something new.”

Boombalatti’s also partnered with a local distillery to create a special holiday flavor, eggnog, featuring End of Days’ bourbon and freshly grated nutmeg.

“It is all about finding the right partner,” Bechtel said.

In another local collaboration, End of Days Distillery paired its award-winning spirits with treats from Apple Annie’s Bake Shop.
“A perfect pairing for those who appreciate the finer things in life,” according to End of Days Distillery co-founder Shane Faulkner.

The distillery has teamed up with Apple Annie’s Bake Shop to bring new and enhanced flavor combinations in the form of mouthwatering baked goods.

Faulkner said, “This partnership allows us to push the boundaries of flavor and create something truly special for our customers.”

Spirit-infused baked goods take the art of dessert making to a whole new level, according to Faulkner and Apple Annie’s marketing manager Krissy Mingia.

“It’s important when incorporating spirits into baked goods that you use the best quality products because it really does make a difference in the flavor,” Mingia said.

Mingia explained that the bake shop originally reached out to End of Days (EOD) when they heard the distillery was producing small batches of Madagascar vanilla extract made with its Port of Entry Vodka.

As Apple Annie’s began using more and more spirits in its recipes, it occurred to Mingia that this was an opportunity to expand upon the partnership with EOD.

“It just always makes sense to work with another local business whenever possible,” Mingia said, “especially when they’re producing a premium product that they put their heart and soul into.”