What? A tasting of Sonia Booth’s new Marula Cheesecake Passion range of  ice cream available in four different flavours — cafe latte, salted caramel, vanilla fudge and butterscotch. I met up with Booth at the Gourmet Grocer in Birdhaven, Johannesburg, with owner Larry Hodes, the first official stockist of the product.

Why? After a very public expose of an alleged cheating scandal with football player ex Matthew Booth, Booth is cleverly capitalising on the baked cheesecake saga which was  central to the unfolding scandal.  She reminded me that cheesecake trended on social media at the time not only in South Africa, but in Africa and around the globe for four days.

Booth has turned adversity on its head by creating an adult brand of ice cream — yes, the base is alcohol —  which creatively features the words “cheesecake” and “passion” in the branding. It also offers a nod to South Africa’s favourite liqueur made from the marula fruit.

Well? Packed into fully recyclable 1-litre tubs, Booth is super proud of the product. The container has an earthy but quality feel to it. “I’m in charge of everything,” said the entrepreneur, “from the recipe, flavourants and making of it in my kitchen”.  And the official taster of the product? Her 18-year-old son who she says can’t get enough of it.

We didn’t need any encouragement to tuck in, long tasting spoons in hand. The Marula Cheesecake Passion Café Latte is a beautiful pearly white colour. The texture is impressively smooth, but not too soft. We both raved about the delectable creaminess and our only lament is we both felt it needed more coffee to give it a distinctive cafe latte taste.