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THE TAKE-IT-EASY ICE CREAM

Chocolate (only) Ice Cream
• Philadelphia - style •

Chocolate (only)
Ice Cream
• Philadelphia - style •

With chocolate, milk, cream, and sugar.

Philadelphia-style ice cream is our Take-It-Easy ice cream; it is what we make when we are short of time yet want to make something that everyone will love. Easy and superb, it is a delightful reminder of how great it is to make your own ice cream at home.

This Chocolate-only ice cream is perfect for celebrating the flavour of your favourite chocolate bar. It is also lower in cocoa than our rich Classic Chocolate Ice Cream -made with chocolate AND cocoa powder- so if you like your chocolate ice cream lighter in chocolate flavour this is the perfect ice cream for you. Children love it this way, too!

Also available: Cocoa Powder (only) Ice Cream.

3 more ways to make this Chocolate (only) Ice Cream:

with corn starch

THE ITALIAN WAY. This is your hot weather ice cream: easy to make, and resistant to melting. Perfect for popsicle moulds, too. With chocolate, milk, cream, sugar, corn starch.

with egg yolks

THE FRENCH-STYLE ICE CREAM. Rich and velvety, this is a custard-based ice cream; a tad bit tricky to make, but so much worth it. With chocolate, milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks.

with xanthan gum

LIKE A PRO. The closest you can get to store-bought ice cream with just one extra ingredient: xanthan gum. With chocolate, milk, cream, sugar, xanthan gum.

with corn starch

THE ITALIAN WAY. This is your hot weather ice cream: easy to make, and resistant to melting. Perfect for popsicle moulds, too. With chocolate, milk, cream, sugar, corn starch.

with egg yolks

THE FRENCH-STYLE ICE CREAM. Rich and velvety, this is a custard-based ice cream; a tad bit tricky to make, but so much worth it. With chocolate, milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks.

with xanthan gum

LIKE A PRO. The closest you can get to store-bought ice cream with just one extra ingredient: xanthan gum. With chocolate, milk, cream, sugar, xanthan gum.

or see:

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all Philadelphia-style
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all chocolate
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all Philadelphia-style
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The ingredients

Do not reduce or replace anything; everything is there for a reason.

• Chocolate/couverture: the taste of this ice cream will be as good as the taste of the chocolate (or couverture) you use, so pick one that you like. In the recipe, we use chocolate with 70-74% cocoa solids, but you can make this ice cream with any chocolate with 50-100% cocoa solids. To find out how go to the end of this page.

• Milk: use whole milk; this has approx. 3,5% fat. Do not substitute with skimmed milk (lower fat) or non-dairy milk. You need both the fat and the milk proteins for this ice cream recipe.

• Sugar: you can use regular sugar (white granulated sugar) or a raw cane sugar such as Demerara or Turbinado, which enhances the chocolate’s flavour.

Do not use any other sugar or sweetener, natural or artificial, liquid or powder, like honey, stevia, golden syrup, table sweeteners, confectioner’s sugar, etc.

• Heavy cream (for double cream read below): for this recipe you can use heavy cream with 35% to 40% fat content. It is ok to use cream suitable for whipping or ultra-pasteurised cream with 35-40% fat content. Do not use low-fat cream or non-dairy cream.

🇬🇧 For UK readers: if you want to use double cream -which has a higher fat content (50%) than heavy cream (35-40% fat)- stir some milk into the double cream to bring it to the right fat content. Instructions in “double cream – how to use”.

• Chocolate/couverture: the taste of this ice cream will be as good as the taste of the chocolate (or couverture) you use, so pick one that you like. In the recipe, we use chocolate with 70-74% cocoa solids, but you can make this ice cream with any chocolate with 50-100% cocoa solids. To find out how go to the end of this page.

• Sugar: you can use regular sugar (white granulated sugar) or a raw cane sugar such as Demerara or Turbinado, which enhances the chocolate’s flavour.

Do not use any other sugar or sweetener, natural or artificial, liquid or powder, like honey, stevia, golden syrup, table sweeteners, confectioner’s sugar, etc.

• Milk: use whole milk, with around 3,5% fat. Do not substitute with skimmed milk (lower fat) or non-dairy milk. You need both the fat and the milk proteins for this ice cream recipe.

• Heavy cream (for double cream see scroll to the right): for this recipe you can use heavy cream with 35% – 40% fat. It is ok to use cream suitable for whipping or ultra-pasteurised cream with 35-40% fat content.

Do not use low-fat cream or non-dairy cream.

🇬🇧 For UK readers: if you want to use double cream -which has a higher fat content (50%) than heavy cream (35-40% fat)- stir some milk into the double cream to bring it to the right fat content. Instructions in “Double cream: how to use” notes in the recipe.

Overview

This is a quick overview of the recipe. If you are new to ice cream making, do read the recipe before proceeding. 

Warm the milk, and the sugar until hot and steamy.

Add the chopped chocolate and whisk to melt it.

Add the heavy cream and blend to ensure a smopoh texture.

Strain into a bowl and cool it down over an ice bath.

Put the ice cream mixture in the refrigerator overnight or until completely cold

(a faster chilling method is also included in the recipe).

Churn in your ice cream maker until fluffed up and creamy.

Put it in the freezer for a few hours to set. 

As soon as it sets, you can either serve it from the ice cream maker bowl or transfer it to a container and store it in the freezer.

The recipe

Chocolate (only) Ice Cream | Philadelphia - style

Print recipe

Chocolate (only) Ice Cream
• Philadelphia - style •

Print recipe
  • Special equipment: ice cream maker, blender
  • Active prep: 15 mins.
  • yields: 1.4 litre/quart ice cream
  • makes: 1.2 ltr/qrt ice cream mixture (before churning), perfect for ice cream makers of 1.5 ltr/qrt capacity and bigger
  • Special equipment: ice cream maker, blender
  • Active prep. time: 15 mins.
  • yields: 1.4 litre/quart ice cream
  • ice cream maker capacity: for 1.5 ltr/qrt and up
Ingredients:
  • 1 cup = 237 ml , 1 tablespoon = 15 ml
Notes:
If you find the heavy cream in this Philadelphia-style ice cream recipe is too much, do not try to reduce it. Instead, make this ice cream thickened with corn starch, which has the least amount of heavy cream a homemade ice cream can have.
 
Philadelphia-style, on the other hand, is easy because we do not thicken the ice cream mixture. So we need that much heavy cream to compensate for the lack of body in the ice cream mixture.

When making ice cream, prefer to weigh all the ingredients, even the liquid ones. We also recommend – whenever possible – to weigh the liquid ingredients directly into the bowl/pan as you proceed with the recipe instead of transferring them from one bowl to another because this transfer causes a small -but unwanted- loss of quantity.

If you do not have a kitchen scale, follow these guidelines:

• 1 cup (US) = 237 ml | 1 tablespoon = 15 ml

• sugar: measuring sugar in tablespoons is more accurate than measuring it in cups. Use a 15 ml measuring tablespoon (not a regular one); this is 13 gr of sugar. To measure correctly, each time you scoop the sugar, level it with the flat side of a knife.

• chocolate/couverture: measuring chocolate in cups is not possible because measurements vary depending on how finely chopped the chocolate is. Instead, you can estimate the number of chocolate pieces you need based on the weight of the chocolate bar as written on the packaging.

• milk and heavy cream: thoroughly scrape with a rubber spatula any residues left on the sides and bottom of the cup every time you measure something and empty it.

Note that the quantities in each measuring system (grams, ounces, and cups) in our recipes may not always be accurate conversions; any deviations in conversions you may notice do not affect the outcome.

This recipe makes a 1.2 litre/quart ice cream mixture (before churning), perfect for ice cream makers with a capacity of 1.5 and up to 2 litres/quarts (like Cuisinart ice cream makers).

If you need to scale the ice cream mixture up or down, use this ratio of the ingredients (in weight only):

milk 40.3% / heavy cream 35.2% / sugar 13.9 % / 70-74% cocoa solids chocolate 10.6%

in desired total weight of ice cream mixture.

For example, if you want to make 1000 g (approximately 1 litre) of ice cream mixture, you need:

  • 1000 g x 40.3% = 403 g milk
  • 1000 g x 35.2% = 352 g heavy cream
  • 1000 g x 13.9% = 139 g sugar
  • 1000 g x 10.6% = 106 g chocolate with 70-74% cocoa solids

You can combine double cream with whole milk to make heavy cream for this recipe.

To make 415 g (14.6 oz) heavy cream, stir together:

  • 290 g double cream (10.2 oz) (with approx. 50% fat)
  • 125 g / ml whole milk (4.4 oz) (with approx. 3.5% fat) -note that this milk is extra to the 475 g; 16.8 oz asked in the recipe-

The resulting heavy cream has 36% fat, perfect for this ice cream. Proceed with the recipe just as if you had the 415 g (14.6 oz) heavy cream needed.

A flexible rubber spatula is good for:
-wiping the bottom of the saucepan when you cook dairy on the stovetop.
-scraping residues from bowls, saucepans etc.

If you do not have one, we strongly encourage you to buy one, preferably a flexible one. 

Instructions
Plan ahead:

The ice cream mixture needs to cool completely before churning, so prepare it in advance (approx. 8 hours before) to give it time to chill in the refrigerator. Alternatively, if you have plenty of ice cubes, you can have the ice cream mixture ready for churning in less than two hours; you will find detailed instructions under step 2.

If your ice cream maker has a removable freezer bowl, put it in the freezer for the whole time indicated by the manufacturer before churning, usually 24 hours.

Step 1: Make the ice cream mixture

Place a rubber spatula and a whisk on a plate next to the stovetop to have them ready to use interchangeably.

Warm the milk with the sugar: in a medium saucepan, put the milk (475 g; 16.8 oz) and the sugar. Warm over medium heat, often whisking until the sugar dissolves and the milk is very hot and steamy (this is at 75°C / 167°F if you have a thermometer). Do not let it come to a boil. Remove from the heat.

Add the chopped chocolate and whisk to melt it.

Add the heavy cream (415 g; 14.6 oz) and stir to combine.

Blend with an immersion/regular blender until it is a uniform brown colour with no streaks, pausing to scrape the bottom and sides of the saucepan/blender jug with the rubber spatula as needed.

Step 2: Chill the ice cream mixture

Strain the ice cream mixture over a fine-mesh sieve and into a bowl.

Cool it down: prepare an ice bath by putting the bowl with the ice cream mixture into a larger bowl and filling the empty sides with ice cubes and cold water. How many ice cubes? A tray of ice cubes (200 g; 7 oz of ice) is enough to bring the ice cream mixture to room temperature. Let the ice cream mixture cool down for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Chill until completely cold: cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.

If you have plenty of ice cubes, you can have the ice cream mixture ready for churning in less than one hour by cooling it in an ice bath. Note that the time and quantities of ice given below, are for an ice cream mixture that has been cooled down (it is not hot to the touch).

How to prepare an ice bath for fast chilling:

1. Put the ice cream mixture in a bowl made of heatproof glass or stainless steel; these materials help the mixture chill fast; and don’t break in sudden temperature changes. Avoid using a plastic bowl which will take forever to cool, or a regular glass bowl that may break upon contact with the ice bath.

2. Nest the bowl with the ice cream mixture into a large empty bowl (it should be large enough to fit ice cubes on the sides) and fill the sides of the large empty bowl with ice cubes. How many ice cubes? Well, the more ice you put in, the faster it will chill.

3. Pour cold water into the sides of the large bowl, taking care that no water slips into the ice cream mixture. Pour as much cold water as needed so that the level of the water bath in the large bowl is 2 cm / 1 inch above the ice cream mixture. Add more ice cubes to keep them plentiful in the water.

 For this quantity of ice cream mixture, we started with approx. 500 g; 17 oz ice cubes and less than 1 litre fridge-cold water.

4. Refresh the ice bath with new ice cubes as soon as the older ones start to melt. If you have a thermometer, add enough ice cubes to keep the water well below 10° C / 50° F – take care that you measure the temperature of the water itself, not the ice temperature. The colder the ice bath, the faster the ice cream mixture will chill. You may need to remove water from the ice bath if it starts to overflow; to do so, carefully remove the bowl with the ice cream mixture, pour out the excess water and put the bowl back in. We used approximately 250 g; 9 oz additional ice cubes.

5. Stir often, leaving the spatula in the bowl during the cooling process. The ice cream mixture is ready for churning when it is fridge-cold to the touch (anywhere between 4-12° C / 39-54° F is perfectly ok).

6. Remove the bowl with the ice cream mixture from the ice bath, and wipe its bottom with a kitchen towel. The ice cream mixture is now ready for churning.

When churning with a domestic ice cream maker, the ice cream mixture must be fridge-cold (4ºC–12ºC / 39ºF-54ºF / it feels fridge-cold when you place your index finger into it).

If the ice cream mixture is not cold enough, the ice cream maker may not be able to churn it to its fullest potential, resulting in a sloppy liquid vs. fluffy ice cream.

Step 3: Churn the ice cream

Check if the ice cream mixture is cold before churning it: 4ºC–12ºC / 39ºF-54ºF / it feels fridge-cold when you place your finger into it.

Prepare the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 

Stir: give the ice cream mixture a nice, thorough stirring. Or if it is too thick, give it a quick blitz with an immersion blender.

Churn: with the machine running, pour the ice cream mixture through the canister and into the ice cream maker. Leave to churn until fluffed up and creamy; depending on your ice cream maker, this can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes.

This ice cream will expand and fluff up during churning. It is ready when it looks smooth and fluffy, with the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. The total churning time depends on your ice cream maker and could be anywhere from 30-70 minutes.

To evaluate if it is ready, lift a spoonful; it should be thick enough to stand on the spoon, but it will still be soft like soft-serve ice cream. If it looks watery or starts to melt the moment you spoon it, leave it to churn for longer.

In any case, if you feel doubts about the consistency, leave it to churn for ten minutes more. But beware: at this stage, do not expect it to be like store-bought carton ice cream; for now, it should be more like soft-serve ice cream. It will firm up and become like store-bought ice cream only after it sets in the freezer.

So, stop the ice cream maker when thick and creamy, as described above. If you leave to churn it for much longer, it will start turning grainy.

Warning: some ice cream makers are programmed to stop after a specific time, which doesn’t make sense because the ice cream may need to churn for more to reach its fullest potential. So, if you notice that your ice cream maker stops on its own and upon checking the ice cream, you find that it is sloppy instead of fluffy, try to turn the machine on again and leave it to churn until it reaches the desired texture.

Step 4: Put the ice cream in the freezer to set

Put in the freezer to set: before serving the ice cream or moving it to a container for storing, you have to put it in the freezer to set. To do so, turn off the ice cream maker and: 

· remove the removable freezer bowl (still filled with the ice cream) from the ice cream machine
· remove the paddle, scraping any ice cream attached to it back into the ice cream bowl 
· cover the ice cream bowl and place it in the freezer 
Setting time depends on many factors; see notes below for indicative times.

Serve or store: when it sets, you can serve it directly from the removable freezer bowl or transfer it to an airtight container for longer storage.

The setting time for the ice cream largely depends on the type of ice cream maker you use.

It can take :

  • 3-5 hours for removable freezer bowls (these are the ice cream maker bowls which you should pre-freeze before churning)
  • 1-2 hours for aluminium bowls (these are the bowls from compressor ice cream makers)

Note: the times given are indicative. Setting time depends on many factors.

Check it occasionally (approx. every 2 hours; or as needed) while it is in the freezer. The ice cream is ready when it has an internal temperature of -11ºC / 12ºF. If you do not have a thermometer, to evaluate if the ice cream has set, insert a round tip knife into it, all the way to the bottom: 

  • when the ice cream is ready, it feels firm as you go down, but at the same time it is soft enough to insert the knife into it; it should have this same firm consistency from top to bottom.
  • not ready yet: it will feel hard on the top and softer as you go down
  • if left in the freezer for too long: it will be too hard for the knife to be inserted into it and too hard to scoop out of the ice cream bowl. Do not worry, though! Read right below how to soften it.

If the ice cream stays in the removable freezer bowl for too long, it will harden and be difficult to remove or serve.

To make it scoopable again, leave it in the refrigerator to soften. That can take:

  • anywhere from 4 to 10 hours for removable freezer bowls (the ones which need pre-freezing before churning)
  • 1-2 hours for aluminium bowls (these are the bowls from compressor ice cream makers)

(Note: the time given is indicative, time may vary depending on many factors, so do check it occasionally as it sits in the refrigerator.)

When the ice cream is easy to scoop (or it has an internal temperature of approx. -11°C / 12°F if you have a thermometer), you can transfer it to another container and store it in the freezer or serve it directly from the removable freezer bowl.

Straight after churning, the ice cream has a soft-serve ice cream consistency and melts immediately upon contact with anything. This makes it impossible to serve or transfer to another container.

Putting it in the freezer after churning sets it and brings it to the right consistency, similar to that of an ice cream parlour’s.

Storing and serving

Storing: Philadelphia-style ice cream is at its best when eaten the day it is made. If you want to keep it for longer, cover it well to protect it from the freezer’s smell and keep it in the freezer for up to one month.

Scooping: this ice cream, like all artisanal ice cream, freezes hard in the long term. You can make it perfectly scoopable again by putting it in the refrigerator for 45-60 minutes until soft; or until its internal temperature reads -11°C / 12°F.

Instructions

The ice cream mixture needs to cool completely before churning, so prepare it in advance (approx. 8 hours before) to give it time to chill in the refrigerator. Alternatively, if you plenty of ice cubes, you can have the ice cream mixture ready for churning in approximately one hour; see detailed instructions below.

If your ice cream maker has a removable freezer bowl, put it in the freezer for the whole time indicated by the manufacturer before churning, usually 24 hours.

Place a rubber spatula and a whisk on a plate next to the stovetop to have them ready to use interchangeably.

Warm the milk with the sugar: in a medium saucepan, put the milk (475 g; 16.8 oz) and the sugar. Warm over medium heat, often whisking until the sugar dissolves and the milk is very hot and steamy (this is at 75°C / 167°F if you have a thermometer). Do not let it come to a boil. Remove from the heat.

Add the chopped chocolate and whisk to melt it.

Add the heavy cream (415 g; 14.6 oz) and stir to combine.

Blend with an immersion/regular blender until it is a uniform brown colour with no streaks, pausing to scrape the bottom and sides of the saucepan/blender jug with the rubber spatula as needed.

Strain the ice cream mixture through a fine-mesh strainer and into a bowl.

Cool it down: prepare an ice bath by putting the bowl with the ice cream mixture into a larger bowl and filling the empty sides with ice cubes and cold water. How many ice cubes? A tray of ice cubes (200 g; 7 oz of ice) is enough to bring the ice cream mixture to room temperature. Let the ice cream mixture cool down for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Chill until completely cold: cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.

In a hurry? Read How to have the ice cream mixture ready for churning in one hour in the questions & troubleshooting section below.

Check if the ice cream mixture is cold before churning it: 4ºC–12ºC / 39ºF-54ºF / it feels fridge-cold when you place your index finger into it.

Prepare the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 

Stir: give the ice cream mixture a nice, thorough stirring. If there are streaks of cream visible in the ice cream mixture, give it a quick blitz with an immersion blender, or pass it through a fine-mesh sieve.

Churn: with the machine running, pour the ice cream mixture through the canister and into the ice cream maker. Leave to churn until fluffed up and creamy; depending on your ice cream maker, this can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes; read more in How do I know when the ice cream is ready in questions & troubleshooting below.

Put in the freezer to set: before serving the ice cream or moving it to a container for storing, you have to put it in the freezer to set. To do so, turn off the ice cream maker and: 

· remove the removable freezer bowl (still filled with the ice cream) from the ice cream machine

· remove the paddle, scraping any ice cream attached to it back into the ice cream bowl 

· cover the ice cream bowl and place it in the freezer 

Setting time depends on many factors; read How long does it take for the ice cream to set in questions & troubleshooting below.

Serve or store: as soon as it sets, you can either serve it directly from the removable freezer bowl or transfer it to an airtight container for longer storing. 

Storing: Philadelphia-style ice cream is at its best when eaten the day it is made. If you want to keep it for longer, cover it well to protect it from the freezer’s smell and keep it in the freezer for up to one month.

Scooping: this ice cream, like all artisanal ice cream, freezes hard in the long term. You can make it perfectly scoopable again by putting it in the refrigerator for 45-60 minuter until soft; or until its internal temperature reads -11° / 12°F.

  • questions & troubleshooting

If you have plenty of ice cubes, you can have the ice cream mixture ready for churning in one hour by cooling it in an ice bath. Note that the time and quantity of ice given below, are for an ice cream mixture that has been cooled down (it is not hot to the touch).

How to prepare an ice bath for fast chilling:

1. Put the ice cream mixture in a bowl made of heatproof glass or stainless steel; these materials help the mixture chill fast; and don’t break in sudden temperature changes. Avoid using a plastic bowl which will take forever to cool, or a regular glass bowl that may break upon contact with the ice bath.

2. Nest the bowl with the ice cream mixture into a large empty bowl (it should be large enough to fit ice cubes on the sides) and fill the sides of the large empty bowl with ice cubes. How many ice cubes? Well, the more ice you put in, the faster it will chill.

3. Pour cold water into the sides of the large bowl, taking care that no water slips into the ice cream mixture. Pour as much cold water as needed so that the level of the water bath in the large bowl is 2 cm / 1 inch above the ice cream mixture. Add more ice cubes to keep them plentiful in the water.

 For this quantity of ice cream mixture, we started with approx. 500 g; 17 oz ice cubes and less than 1 litre fridge-cold water.

4. Refresh the ice bath with new ice cubes as soon as the older ones start to melt. If you have a thermometer, add enough ice cubes to keep the water well below 10° C / 50° F – take care that you measure the temperature of the water itself, not the ice temperature. The colder the ice bath, the faster the ice cream mixture will chill. You may need to remove water from the ice bath if it starts to overflow; to do so, carefully remove the bowl with the ice cream mixture, pour out the excess water and put the bowl back in. We used approximately 250 g; 9 oz additional ice cubes.

5. Stir often, leaving the spatula in the bowl during the cooling process. The ice cream mixture is ready for churning when it is fridge-cold to the touch (anywhere between 4-12° C / 39-54° F is perfectly ok).

6. Remove the bowl with the ice cream mixture from the ice bath, and wipe its bottom with a kitchen towel. The ice cream mixture is now ready for churning.

When churning with a domestic ice cream maker, the ice cream mixture must be fridge-cold (4ºC–12ºC / 39ºF-54ºF / it feels fridge-cold when you place your index finger into it).

If the ice cream mixture is not cold enough, the ice cream maker may not be able to churn it to its fullest potential, resulting in a sloppy liquid vs. fluffy ice cream.

This ice cream will expand and fluff up during churning. It is ready when it looks smooth and fluffy, with the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. The total churning time depends on your ice cream maker and could be anywhere from 30-70 minutes.

To evaluate if it is ready, lift a spoonful; it should be thick enough to stand on the spoon, but it will still be soft like soft-serve ice cream. If it looks watery or starts to melt the moment you spoon it, leave it to churn for longer.

In any case, if you feel doubts about the consistency, leave it to churn for ten minutes more. But beware: at this stage, do not expect it to be like store-bought carton ice cream; for now, it should be more like soft-serve ice cream.

It will firm up and become like store-bought ice cream only after it sets in the freezer.

So, stop the ice cream maker when thick and creamy, as described above. If you leave to churn it for much longer, it will start turning grainy.

Warning: some ice cream makers are programmed to stop after a specific time, which doesn’t make sense because the ice cream may need to churn for more to reach its fullest potential. So, if you notice that your ice cream maker stops on its own and upon checking the ice cream, you find that it is sloppy instead of fluffy, try to turn the machine on again and leave it to churn until it reaches the desired texture.

The setting time for the ice cream largely depends on the type of ice cream maker you use.

It can take :

  • 3-5 hours for removable freezer bowls (these are the ice cream maker bowls which you should pre-freeze before churning)
  • 1-2 hours for aluminium bowls (these are the bowls from compressor ice cream makers)

Note: the times given are indicative. Setting time depends on many factors.

Check it occasionally (approx. every 2 hours; or as needed) while it is in the freezer. The ice cream is ready when it has an internal temperature of -11ºC / 12ºF. If you do not have a thermometer, to evaluate if the ice cream has set, insert a round tip knife into it, all the way to the bottom: 

  • when the ice cream is ready, it feels firm as you go down, but at the same time it is soft enough to insert the knife into it; it should have this same firm consistency from top to bottom.
  • not ready yet: it will feel hard on the top and softer as you go down
  • if left in the freezer for too long: it will be too hard for the knife to insert into it and too hard to scoop out of the ice cream bowl. Do not worry, though! Read right below how to soften it.

Straight after churning, the ice cream has a soft-serve ice cream consistency and melts immediately upon contact with anything. This makes it impossible to serve or transfer to another container.

Putting it in the freezer after churning sets it and brings it to the right consistency, similar to that of an ice cream parlour’s.

If the ice cream stays in the removable freezer bowl for too long, it will harden and be difficult to remove or serve.

To make it scoopable again, leave it in the refrigerator to soften. That can take:

  • anywhere from 4 to 10 hours for removable freezer bowls (the ones which need pre-freezing before churning)
  • 1-2 hours for aluminium bowls (these are the bowls from compressor ice cream makers)

(Note: the time given is indicative, time may vary depending on many factors, so do check it occasionally as it sits in the refrigerator.)

When the ice cream is easy to scoop (or it has an internal temperature of approx. -11°C / 12°F if you have a thermometer), you can transfer it to another container and store it in the freezer or serve it directly from the removable freezer bowl.

Make this ice cream with any cocoa solids % chocolate/couverture!
Make this ice cream with any cocoa solids % chocolate!

Click on the cocoa solids % chocolate of your chocolate to see how much chocolate & sugar you need for the recipe:

Scroll right to find the cocoa solids % chocolate of your choice and see how much chocolate and sugar you need:

50 - 54%

• 200 g (7.1 oz) chocolate 50-54% 

• 110 g sugar (3.9 oz; 8.5 Tbsp.)

55 - 59%

• 175 g (6.2 oz) chocolate 55-59% 

• 130 g sugar (4.6 oz; 10 Tbsp.)

60 - 64%

• 145 g  (5.1 oz) chocolate 60-64%

• 145 g sugar (5.1 oz; 11 Tbsp.)

65 - 69%

• 135 g (4.8 oz) chocolate 65-69% 

• 155 g sugar (5.5 oz; 12 Tbsp.)

70 - 74%

• 125 g (4.4 oz) chocolate 70-74% 

• 165 g sugar (5.8 oz; 12.5 Tbsp.)

75 - 79%

• 120 g (4.2 oz) chocolate 75-79% 

• 175 g sugar (6.2 oz; 13.5 Tbsp.)

80 - 84%

• 110 g (3.9 oz) chocolate 80-84% 

• 180 g sugar (6.3 oz; 14 Tbsp.)

85 - 89%

• 95 g (3.4 oz) chocolate 85-89% 

• 185 g sugar (6.5 oz; 14 Tbsp.)

90-94%

• 90 g (3.2 oz) chocolate 90-94%

• 185 sugar (6.5 oz; 14 Tbsp.)

95 - 100%

• 85 g (3 oz) chocolate 95-100% 

• 195 sugar (6.9 oz; 15 Tbsp.)

How to use it: 

1. Find out how much cocoa solids your chocolate contains (it is written on its packaging) 

2. Click above on the cocoa solids% of your chocolate (or scroll to find it if using a mobile/tablet)

3. Take a note of how much chocolate and sugar you need, and 

4. Use that much in the recipe.

The quantities of the other ingredients (milk and heavy cream) remain the same.

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Make this ice cream with any cocoa solids % chocolate/couverture!
Make this ice cream with any cocoa solids % chocolate!

Click on the cocoa solids % chocolate of your choice for the recipe. 

50-54%
55-59%
60-64%
70-74%
mother recipe (full version)
65-69%
75-79%
80-85%
unsweetened chocolate
100% cocoa solids

You can use any cocoa solids % you like; the final ice cream will be the same. The difference between the recipes is in the quantities of the ingredients. For example, with 50% cocoa solids chocolate, you need 200 gr (7.1 oz.) chocolate, whereas, with 70-74% chocolate, you need 125 gr (4.4 oz.); e.t.c., e.t.c. The same is with the rest of the ingredients (sugar, milk, cream); they change so that the final ice cream has the same chocolate intensity and a perfect mouthfeel, no matter the cocoa solids % of the chocolate you use.

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