How to Food Style Vanilla Ice Cream that Never Melts

Use this food styling trick to create Ice Cream for better Food Photography

Ice cream is a tricky thing to photograph. It has to be kept in a freezer that is set to 0-10 degrees, scooped from this rock hard state where is starts melting immediately and then photographed before it’s a puddle in your dish. We food stylists have a way around that… It’s called faking it.

There are a few recipes I could share with you but this is my personal favorite and the one that I would recommend. It’s very simple and consistently perfect. For ‘ice cream’ to look real it has to have the correct proportions of wet and dry to produce the characteristic ‘cracking’ or ‘barking’ that you see when you scoop it.  That magic formula for vanilla ice cream is one can of vanilla frosting (any brand, just NOT ‘whipped’) and one 16 oz. box of powdered sugar.

Mix the two together by hand or in a blender.

Scrape it a couple times and then dig in with an ice cream scoop.

Release scoop as you press it into your hand. Save the ‘skirt’ that is around the scoop as this is what naturally happens with the real thing.

It’s good to keep scooping until you get the scoop (or scoops) that look best. Place them in your bowl or dish and there you have it…ice cream that never melts. Great for fooling and amazing your friends and family! Click here for a few recipes for ‘Flavor Variations of Ice Cream that Never Melts’