The brand behind “31 flavors” is stepping outside its own freezer, launching a line of baked, non-frozen desserts in India under the banner “Treats Beyond Ice Cream” — its most significant menu departure in three decades.
Baskin-Robbins’ new “Treats Beyond Ice Cream” line marks its first major push into baked, non-frozen desserts Representational graphic — The Indian Bugle
For eight decades, Baskin-Robbins has built its identity on the freezer — on scoops, tubs, and the promise of a different flavour for every day of the month. Now, for the first time in a meaningful way, the ice cream giant is stepping out of the cold and into the bakery aisle.
The company has launched a new range called “Treats Beyond Ice Cream,” a lineup of artisanal baked desserts built for consumers who want something indulgent without the ice cream base at all. It’s a small phrase with a big implication: Baskin-Robbins, long synonymous with frozen treats, is formally entering the standalone bakery and pastry category.
What’s on the new menu
The debut range leans into two categories that have exploded in popularity across urban India’s dessert scene in recent years — baked cheesecakes and layered mousse cakes.
Treats Beyond Ice Cream — Launch Lineup
- Baked Cheesecake — Classic: the traditional, dense-baked take on the category staple
- Baked Cheesecake — Mango Sauce: a tropical, fruit-forward variant
- Baked Cheesecake — Tiramisu: coffee-and-cream flavoured spin on the Italian classic
- Layered Mousse Cake — Caramel: a premium, multi-textured caramel mousse cake
- Layered Mousse Cake — Strawberry Mousse: a lighter, fruit-based mousse cake option
It’s a deliberate pivot toward “classic dessert experiences outside the frozen category” — the kind of bakery-case items typically associated with dedicated patisseries and cake studios, not a scoop shop.
Not the brand’s first departure, but its biggest one
Baskin-Robbins has flirted with non-scoop formats before. Ice cream cakes have been on the menu for years, alongside frozen beverages and dessert-flavoured sundaes. In 2019, the brand even entered the plant-based space globally with non-dairy flavours made from a coconut oil and almond butter base.
But all of those, in one way or another, still lived inside the frozen category. Baked cheesecakes and mousse cakes don’t. They mark the brand’s first real foray into standalone, non-frozen confectionery — treats that don’t need a freezer between the kitchen and the customer.
A brand built entirely around the freezer is now betting that its customers want dessert without the cold.
Behind the move: a pastry chef hire signals bigger bakery ambitions
The timing lines up with another development at Dough and Cream Private Limited, the company behind Baskin-Robbins’ India operations. The company has appointed Chef Rajat Nunwal as Executive Pastry Chef, tasking him with strengthening product development, operational efficiency, and quality standards across its bakery and pastry business.
Chef Nunwal brings more than 14 years of experience across India, the UAE, and the United States, with a background spanning artisan breads, viennoiserie, plated desserts, chocolate work, and celebration cakes. He previously held leadership roles at Savorworks in Delhi and Andaz Delhi by Hyatt, where he was part of the pre-opening culinary team. In his new role, he’s expected to oversee pastry and bakery production, lead product innovation, and expand the company’s portfolio of breads, cakes, desserts, and seasonal items.
Read together, the new dessert line and the pastry chef appointment suggest this isn’t a one-off seasonal special — it looks like the opening move in a longer bakery strategy.
Three decades in India, one big menu shift
Baskin-Robbins entered the Indian market in 1993 through a joint venture with the Graviss Group, opening its first parlour in Mumbai. Since then, it has grown into one of the country’s most recognisable dessert brands, built almost entirely on its scoop counter and ice cream cakes.
1945 Founded in Glendale, California
1993 Entered the Indian market
7,800+ Stores worldwide
Globally, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by brothers-in-law Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins, and grew into the world’s largest chain of ice cream specialty stores — now under the ownership of Inspire Brands, sibling company to Dunkin’. Its “31 flavors” slogan, coined in 1953, remains one of the most recognisable ideas in dessert marketing history: a different flavour for every day of the month.
The launch of “Treats Beyond Ice Cream” doesn’t touch that legacy — but it does test something new: whether a brand this closely tied to frozen dessert can convince customers to reach for it even when they’re not in the mood for ice cream at all.
