It's too expensive and difficult to shoot real ice cream, especially for a TV commercial. Dozens of takes are made on set, and the spotlight melts the ice cream in seconds. For a commercial an artificial but edible ice cream is a must and there are many recipes to fake it well.
Over the years I have tried over 15 variations of fake ice cream until I met a food stylist from Germany who was kind enough to teach me the best recipe for artificial but edible ice cream. Don't get me wrong, I'm kind too, but I'll keep the whole recipe with the proportions and details between me and him. If you're persistent enough, you might steal it and guess it, but I'll only help you with the basic ingredients.
The texture of real ice cream is specific and even the smallest mistake can be recognised with a naked eye. Depending on the storyboard, and whether the ice cream is eaten in the frame or melted, the recipe for its creation changes.
The best artificial ice cream base includes a huge amount of the finest powdered sugar, cream cheese and vegetable fat. I mostly use palm oil and a planetary mixer for the mixing, adding the desired colour of food colouring at the very beginning. Philadelphia is a good choice for cream cheese, but in Bulgaria we have many other types of good cream cheese that I use for that recipe.
When the texture is ready, the ice cream can be kept in the refrigerator for months. When scooped with a special ice cream spoon, you can fool anyone into thinking it's a mouth-watering ice cream. Melting this mixture is impossible, which makes the recipe fantastic on set. If melting is necessary on the story board, a second mixture is made in the same colour, with which the base of the main ice cream is covered. The proportions of the recipe are changed by increasing the amount of fat and cheese and the magic is ready.
Fake ice cream is perfectly edible, delicious, and it's very easy to convince a child to eat it because it's not a well-coloured mashed potato that's neither sweet nor tasty. If you need a food stylist to make the best fake ice cream possible, just let me know. My team is here for you.
