Who needs Mr Whippy?
Spring has sprung and it’s never been easier to make ice cream at home. So which machine is the coolest?
WITH temperatures creeping up, let’s celebrate with some ice cream. In fact, why not make your own? The choice of ice cream makers has never been wider. MANDY FRANCIS tried out the best brands on the High Street with some enthusiastic help from her children Stanley, 13, and Florence, eight.
BEST FOR DINNER PARTIES
Swan Come Dine With Me Ice Cream & Gelato maker, £49.99, argos.co.uk
HOW DOES IT WORK? This minimalist, cube-shaped machine looks sleek and impressive. The removable bowl — which has an inner, freezable gel layer — has to be frozen for eight hours before you put it back in the machine, then add the mixing arm, pop on the lid, and turn it on.
As it starts to churn, you slowly pour in the mixture according to the recipe included — a basic one of egg yolks, cornflour, sugar, double cream and vanilla extract which has to be cooked and cooled in the fridge. Check the progress every five minutes or so, switching it off when it’s reached the texture you want.
IS IT ANY GOOD? At two litres, this has one of the biggest capacities we came across, so it’s perfect for dinner parties and family gatherings. Unusually, the bowl rotates on this machine, while the mixing arm stays still — which looks clever, but creates a huge amount of noise. Stanley and Florence kept popping in to ask if it was ready — not because they were looking forward to eating it, but because they wanted the racket to stop! Fortunately the clattering was over in 20 minutes and the light, fluffy ice cream was really tasty.
VERDICT: Nice ice cream, shame about the noise. Having to keep a close eye on the machine until the ice cream is the right texture is a pain, too.
3/5
BEST FOR KUDOS IN THE KITCHEN
Sage Smart Scoop by Heston Blumenthal, £349.99, sageappliances.co.uk
HOW DOES IT WORK? Sleek and polished, this looks like a breadmaker but weighs in at a huge 12.5 kilos (26lbs). Unlike other machines, it’s self-refrigerating (so there’s no need to freeze the mixer bowl before use).
The leaflet recommends using a chocolate creme Anglaise (custard, to us regular folk) made from cream, milk, egg yolks, dark chocolate and sugar, which is cooled and poured into the bowl which sits within the machine. Then you pick from the 12 consistencies the machine can make (including sorbet, frozen yogurt, gelato and ice cream), turn it on and let the rotating paddle whip it together. Thirty minutes later, a litre of your favourite ice creamis ready.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Beautifully smooth and truly delicious. We all licked our bowls clean. Best of all, the machine signalled that it was ready by playing a retro ice cream van jingle, which the kids adored.
VERDICT: A fantastic ice cream maker, but bulky and expensive.
4/5
BEST BUDGET BUY
Shake n Make Ice Cream Maker, £14.99, thefowndry.com
HOW DOES IT WORK? This looks more like a large plastic takeaway cup. Half-fill it with crushed ice and four tbsp of salt, then place your ice cream mix, a 50/50 blend of milk, single cream, flavouring and sugar, in the metal coneshaped container which sits inside, screw it together and shake vigorously for three minutes. A neat, individual portion of ice cream should be waiting inside.
IS IT ANY GOOD? A doddle for the children to use, and educational too — they loved learning how salt helps make the frozen dessert (it allows the very cold, melting ice to cover a greater area of the metal cone, if you’re interested).
So we were disappointed to find little more than a frothy milkshake, despite three minutes of serious shaking from Florence.
Stanley took over for two minutes, but the resulting thin, rock hard layer of vanilla ice cream had to be chiselled off the sides. A second attempt, with a four-minute shake, gave a more palatable result.
VERDICT: A fun gadget, but for all that effort, it’s a bit leaky and you only get a small portion. 2/5
BEST FOR CHILDREN
Chill Factor Ice Cream Maker, £12.99, johnlewis.com
HOW DOES IT WORK? This giant plastic ‘ice cream cone’ had the kids salivating before we’d even started. You simply freeze the soft, rubbery cornet section, which is lined with thick freezable gel, for four to six hours, then use the lid to measure out the ingredients recommended in the leaflet — in our case, just single cream, strawberry sauce and a little sugar.
Then you tip the ingredients into the frozen cornet, screw the container back together and give everything a shake. Finally, you remove the top section of the lid and squeeze the cornet repeatedly for 30 seconds to encourage the ice cream to freeze and churn, before diving in — you can eat directly from the container with the long-handled spoon supplied, saving on washing up!
IS IT ANY GOOD? It’s surprisingly well-made, considering the price, and really easy to use. We were all amazed at how quickly it transformed the contents into a sweet but slightly lumpy soft- serve ice cream. Clever.
VERDICT: A cute, well-made gadget that children will love. 5/5
BEST FOR PERFECT PORTIONS
Lakeland Mini Ice Cream Maker, £19.99, lakeland.co.uk
HOW DOES IT WORK? Florence fell in love with this as soon as she saw it. Cute, pink and compact, it’s designed to produce a smaller, 500ml portion of ice cream (that’s the same size as a tub of Ben & Jerry’s or Haagen-Dazs).
The removable bowl- shaped base also fits neatly in to my packed freezer. Once it’s thoroughly frozen ( which takes about eight hours) you slot the lid, motor and paddle together and fix them on top of the base.
Then you flick the on/ off switch and slowly pour in your ice cream mix, in our case a cooked custard recommended in the handbook, made from whole milk, double cream, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla paste. Your ice cream should be ready in 15-20 minutes.
IS IT ANY GOOD? As you’d expect from Lakeland, this is a high-quality, no-fuss product that delivers — neatly and without too much noise. The only downside? You need to keep an eye on it to get the texture of the ice cream just right.
VERDICT: A basic but handy little ‘everyday’ gadget. 4/5
BEST FOR RETRO FANS
Gourmet Gadgetry Retro Diner 3 in 1 Slush and Soft Serve Ice Cream Maker, £59.99, Robert Dyas
HOW DOES IT WORK? At first glance, this Fifties- inspired machine looks more like a blender (or ‘a bubblegum dispenser’ according to my children).
In fact, it makes and dispenses both soft- serve ice cream and slushy drinks, and has a tall aluminium ice cylinder inside the plastic vessel.
First, you fill the aluminium cylinder with salt, ice and water, then put on the lid and set it to start mixing.
As the paddles rotate, you pour your ice cream mixture — mine was a blend of condensed milk, double cream, whole milk, sugar, vanilla extract and mashed fresh strawberries — into the plastic casing, and watch as the combination of the icy central cylinder and stirring starts to create ice cream.
Once the ice cream looks ready, which takes approximately 12 minutes, turn the machine to ‘dispense’ mode for a stream of velvety soft ice cream.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Super-easy to use, but quite noisy. We also had to remember to top up the ice as it melted before the ice cream had formed. But the kids loved dispensing the result, which comes out ‘Mr Whippy’ style. And they declared it ‘delicious’, although it melted too quickly for my liking.
VERDICT: A statement gadget — but it’s noisy, and you need to be quick before the ice cream melts.
3/5
BEST FOR A QUICK TREAT
Zoku Ice Cream Maker Bowl, £19.99, domu.co.uk)
HOW DOES IT WORK? A brightly coloured, plastic and metal bowl that allows you to make a portion of ice cream by hand.
Freeze the metal bowl section that sits within the plastic casing for 12 hours in your freezer, return it to the plastic case and pour in your ice cream recipe.
We used the recommended chocolate recipe, made with a little whole milk, cream, sugar, cocoa powder and a pinch of salt.
Stir the ingredients and scrape the sides of the bowl continuously with the spatula- style spoon supplied and the frozen bowl will produce a delicious ice cream in under ten minutes.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Stanley loved the idea of this, and he thought the bowl looked ‘cool’ once assembled (praise indeed from a 13-year-old).
Yet after five minutes of stirring, he started to lose heart, as did I when the mixture splashed messily over the sides.
After a bit more scraping and stirring, a solid white film of ice cream started to form on the steel bowl, and five minutes later, he had a generous portion of lovely, soft ice cream, into which he sprinkled a little grated chocolate. Simply delicious!
VERDICT: A fun, but slightly messy way to make and personalise your own ice creams. Requires elbow grease. 2/5