Deep Fried Ice Cream

Deep Fried Ice Cream used to be my favourite thing about going to a Chinese restaurant when I was a kid and it’s actually so much fun to make.

It always baffled me how the ice cream wouldn’t melt and just the play between the hot crispy outside and the cold centre is what makes it so damn good.

You can also definitely not make everything from scratch like I did and just use store bought ice cream and cake then egg wash it, cover it in coconut and fry it.

Ingredients

For the cake:

2 eggs
100g softened butter
100g sugar
100g flour
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon vanilla
½ teaspoon baking powder

For the ice cream:

4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
12 tsp Vanilla extract
Salt

Assembly:

½ cup Desiccated coconut
½ cup Breadcrumbs
1 egg 1 tbsp milk
Neutral oil, for frying

How to Make Deep Fried Ice Cream

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 180C.
Beat together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, beat again then add the milk.
Add the remaining ingredients and beat until just combined.
Transfer batter to a tin and bake for about 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when pierced in the middle.
Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

For the ice cream:

Beat together the yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Heat the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan until just below simmering point.
Pour 1/2 the milk mixture into the yolks to temper them, then pour that mixture back into the remaining milk and cream mixture in the saucepan.
Return the saucepan to a low flame and stir constantly with a spatula until the custard comes up to 80C. If you don’t have a thermometer, you want it to thicken to the consistency of thickened cream or a thin pouring custard, so that it coats the back of a spoon.
Transfer to a jug and set it in the fridge for a few hours, preferably overnight, for it to completely chill. You want it as cold as possible before churning so it takes the shortest amount of time to freeze to prevent over-working the cream, leaving you with a fatty tasting ice cream.
Freeze in a container until firm.

Assembly:

Scoop out balls of ice cream and place on a plate lined with baking paper. Place them back in the freezer to firm up.
Slice the cake as thinly as possible (around 3-5mm) and lay a piece onto cling film.
Place a ball of ice cream on top and layer with another piece of cake diagonally across.
Bring the edges of the cling film up and around the ball and squeeze and press the outside so the cake forms a tight barrier around the ice cream.
Twist the top of the cling film, and place it back in the freezer to firm up again. You want the ice cream completely frozen before frying so that it doesn’t melt in the hot oil.
Combine equal quantities of desiccated coconut and breadcrumbs in a bowl and beat an egg with a splash of milk in another.
Unwrap the ice cream and cake ball, coat it in egg wash and then in the coconut mixture, making sure the really press the coating in so you get a nice even layer around the outside.
Place back in the freezer while you set up your deep fryer.
Fry the ice cream for about 3-5 minutes at 190C or until it is nicely golden on the outside. You don’t need to cook anything so you want to go just until it’s golden to prevent the ice cream melting too much,
Repeat for the remaining balls and serve immediately.

Video