Rolled ice cream — basic vanilla base
The base for all rolled ice creams: cream, milk and condensed milk, with no cooking and no eggs.
Rolled ice cream comes from the streets of Thailand: a liquid mix is poured onto an ice pan, chopped and spread thin with scrapers and, once it sets, rolled up. At home a rolled ice cream pan or a well-frozen baking tray is all you need. This base isn’t cooked — condensed milk brings sugar and milk solids in one go, so you just mix everything and chill it. The other flavours are built on it too.
Type: Rolled ice cream · Servings: 3 · Difficulty: Moderate
Equipment
Ingredients
- 150 g whipping cream 33 %
- 150 g whole milk 3.5 %
- 110 g sweetened condensed milk (sweetened, from a tube or tin)
- 15 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
- 3 g vanilla extract (1 teaspoon)
- 20 g dark chocolate 70 % (for topping or folding in at the end, grated, or another topping)
Making the mix
- Whisk the cream, milk and condensed milk (plus the sugar or vanilla, if the recipe has them) until smooth — don’t whip it into a foam; the mix should stay liquid.
- Put the mix in the freezer for 30 minutes or in the fridge for at least an hour — the colder it is, the faster it sets on the pan.
Method — Ice pan for rolled ice cream
- Take the ice pan or tray out of the freezer only just before you start and set it on a dry tea towel so it doesn’t slide. Have two flat metal scrapers and all the add-ins ready.
- Pour about a third of the mix (about 130–150 ml) onto the pan. Keep stirring the mix with the scrapers until it starts to thicken.
- Quickly spread the mix into a thin, even layer 2–3 mm thick, in a rectangle about as wide as a scraper.
- Let the layer set — 2–5 minutes on a home ice pan. It is ready when the surface stops being glossy and the layer is firm but still flexible.
- Slide a scraper under the edge of the layer at an angle of about 45° and push it firmly away from you — the layer curls into a roll. Transfer the rolls straight into a glass or bowl.
- Return the pan to the freezer for at least 20 minutes until it is cold again, then make the next portion. Keep the mix in the fridge in the meantime.
Professional pans are cooled by a compressor to about −30 °C and a portion is done in 2 minutes. A home ice pan with a cooling gel or a tray from the freezer only reaches about −18 to −20 °C and warms up quickly — hence a small portion, a thin layer and fast work. Freeze the pan according to the manufacturer’s instructions; a tray for at least 12–24 hours in the coldest part of the freezer. On a tray the layer often won’t set on the worktop: in that case spread it out, put the tray back in the freezer for 10–20 minutes and only then roll. Don’t scratch a non-stick surface with a metal scraper.
Total time: 1 h 35 min
Stages
- Preparation
- 10 min
- Cooling
- 30 min
- Processing in the machine
- 15 min
- Freezing
- 40 min
- Total time
- 1 h 35 min
Serving and storage
Stand the rolls upright in a glass or bowl, sprinkle with chocolate, fruit or nuts and serve straight away — thin rolls melt faster than scooped ice cream.
Not for storing — thin rolls stick together, harden and frost over in the freezer. Eat them straight away. Unused liquid mix keeps, covered, in the fridge until the next day.
Tips
- The most common mistake is a thick layer or a pan that isn’t cold enough: the mix then won’t set, and when you start rolling it tears. Better a smaller portion and a thinner layer.
- If the layer cracks, it is too hard — let it soften for 30 seconds. If it squashes and won’t curl, it isn’t firm enough yet.
- The mix isn’t cooked, so raw eggs don’t belong in it. Shop-bought cream, milk and condensed milk are all pasteurised.
- Rolling is fun for children: an adult prepares the pan and the mix, the children chop the add-ins and roll. The metal scrapers aren’t sharp, but the pan is very cold — don’t leave bare fingers on it.
Why it works
In a thin layer on a very cold surface the mix freezes in a few minutes. Fast freezing produces small ice crystals, so the ice cream is smooth even without a machine. Almost no air is whipped in, which is why it is dense and firm. Condensed milk adds plenty of sugar and milk solids and little water — the mix sets pliable rather than brittle, and it can be rolled.