Coffee Ice Cream With Thick Cream and No Alcohol

Asked by aasthachawla. Answered on 28th February 2014

Full question

Hi. I'm in Abu Dhabi in the UAE and wanted to make this wonderful vegetarian No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream but am unable to find double cream. I think the closest I can get to double cream is Thick Cream by Puck. The fat content is still less than for double cream. Will this do to make a creamy ice cream or should I go with any whipping cream carton?

Is it absolutely imperative to add the coffee liqueur to the No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream mixture? If it is, then can you suggest a suitable non-alcoholic alternative pleasee as I do not consume alcohol for religious reasons. Thank you. Mush13

Our answer

Nigella's No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream (from Nigellissima and on the Nigella website) is made with double cream in the UK. Unfortunately this cream is difficult to find outside of the UK, but it is possible to use a cream that can be whipped. Whipping is important as it incorporates air into the ice cream and stops the texture from being too dense.

The Thick Cream (made by Puck) that you have mentioned seems to be a form of canned, sterilized cream. Unfortunately this cream is very unlikely to whip. The fat content looks to be around 23% which is too low to whip successfully (you need 32% fat content or above) and also heat-treated creams such as UHT or sterilized cream tend to not whip as well as pasteurized cream.

If you can buy whipping cream then we would suspect that it is a better alternative. However it is important to first whip this cream on its own to soft peaks before whisking in the condensed milk, coffee and liqueur. Also you may find it helpful to make sure that the cream, bowl and whisk are all thoroughtly chilled before you start whipping the cream.

The liqueur in the ice cream does help slightly with the texture, as alcohol inhibits the formation of ice crystals. However if you cannot use alcohol then it is fine to leave the liqueur out of the mixture and you do not need to use a substitute.