Restaurants whipping up boozy ice cream desserts

Chefs are creating innocent-looking but heady stuff. On the menu are vodka, gin and whiskey popsicles, and more.

Chefs in many Bengaluru restaurants are enjoying experimenting with boozy desserts.

They use either liqueur (sweetened spirits with various flavours) or liquor (serve as a base spirit for liqueurs) to make heady items that look like colourful iced stuff.

The Open Box on St Mark’s Road started the boozy popsicle trend in 2015, when the restaurant opened.

“People loved doing shots, so we thought it would be a fun idea to make the experience different. We infused the alcohol with flavours and created popsicles,” says Amit Ahuja, founder of the multi-cuisine restaurant.

The drinks are packaged as sip-ups or lollies, like the ones popular with children in the ‘90s, the only difference being that they are meant for adults. Their vodka-infused popsicles with flavours of mango, pineapple, aam panna, lychee, orange and cranberry are priced at Rs 100.

Suresh T Venkataramana, executive chef at Aurum Brew Works, has been working on creating alcohol and ice creams. His creations are not on the menu yet but should be soon.

“Being in the business for 20 years, you know there are certain taste profiles that work. The trial and error was the fun part,” he says. Flavours he has worked with are cinnamon and rum, strawberry and vodka, Baileys and Nutella and stout chocolate and orange. “We also worked on some whiskey and brew malt, nutty pecan and Cointreau. Will will soon get to work on seasonal fruits as well,” he says.

So how exactly do you make a boozy ice cream?

Chef Suresh explains the process: “We do it in stages. The general stage is to infuse the milk and cream with the required flavour by simmering it on a stove and allowing it to cool. In

Chef Vinesh Johny

the next stage, add fruit flavouring or alcohol and chill for a few hours. Churn the cream mixture to a soft creamy texture. Then freeze overnight and it is ready to serve.” Some feel the creamy ice creams are harder and take longer to freeze.

That’s probably why ‘Nevermind Bar & Social’ in Indiranagar decided to add boozy popsicles, and not boozy ice cream, as part of their Sunday brunch menu.

Sonalika Pawar, general manager, says, “We took popular cocktails and made them into frozen desserts.” On their popsicle menu are items such as mango mojito (rum, fresh mangoes, mint and sugar syrup), fresh strawberry and vodka (vanilla ice cream, vanilla Monin and fresh cream and vodka), and coconut and cucumber spiked with gin (coconut milk, cucumber chunks, basil leaves, vanilla Monin and fresh cream), and Bloody Mary (Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce, tomato juice, pepper, lime and celery stick). All items are priced at Rs 320.

The struggle was to ensure that the items didn’t turn out watery. Adding gelatine made it jelly-like and too much alcohol overpowered the flavour. The chef realised 30 ml of alcohol was the ideal for each popsicle, she says.

Things to remember

Using the right quantity of ingredients is what makes the boozy ice cream perfect.

Vinesh Johny, co-founder of Lavonne Academy of Baking Science and Pastry Arts, breaks it down

You can either use the flavouring of alcohol or make the base of the ice cream first and then add alcohol. If you’re making it at home, think of a popular cocktail or a dessert and work around it. So it can be cherry liqueur in black forest cake or coffee liqueur in tiramisu.

The alcohol evaporates during the process and the freezing time, so you have to be sure how much alcohol you want to add. If it’s too much alcohol, the freezing point becomes higher and then it melts quickly.

You have to also ensure you don’t add too much alcohol as it could take away from the complexity of the other flavours. It’s best to add less liqueur as it already has enough alcohol in it.

On an average, you can store it for about six months but it has to be stored right. Once you make it in a blast chiller, you have to make sure the freezer is at 18° Celsius. At the end of the day, it should melt in your mouth as soon as you put it in, and you shouldn’t have to wait for it to melt.