Glossary: Ice Cream Types & Other Frozen Desserts

Terms & Definitions: A ~ F

Is gelato the same as ice cream? Not exactlyits all about the air, or lack of
it. Is sorbet the same a sorbetto? Yes, one word is French and one is Italian;
but sherbet is slightly differentit adds milk. Heres a guide to one of our
favorite topics, ice cream and its close relations. This is Page 1 of a five-page
glossary of ice cream types. This page includes terms such as frozen custard,
French ice cream and frozen yogurt. See also the History Of Ice Cream and
our many other food glossaries.

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BAKED ALASKA
A masterpiece of chemistry: ice cream, cake and meringue baked in the oven
until the meringue browns. Ice cream, in a rectangle or mounded in a pie
plate, is covered on all sides with slices of sponge cake or pound cake, which
is then covered with meringue. The entire dessert is then placed in a 425F
oven just long enough to firm the meringuethree or four minutes. The
meringue is an effective insulator, and in the short cooking time needed to
finish the dessert, it prevents the ice cream from melting. The concept was
developed by the Chinese, who used pastry as the insulator; a Chinese
delegation introduced it to Paris in the nineteenth century. The American

physicist Benjamin Thompson then investigated the heat resistance of beaten

egg whites, and, in 1804, demonstrated that beaten egg whites were a better
insulator.

Baked Alaska. Photo by Monkey Business | Dreamstime.

The dish was named Omelette Surprise or Omelette la Norvgienne, the

Norwegian attribution owing to the arctic appearance and cold center.
Delmonicos Restaurant in New York City renamed it named Baked Alaska in
honor of the newly acquired Alaska territory. Make your own with this Baked
Alaska recipe.

BANANA SPLIT
The traditional banana split is a type of ice cream sundae made in a long dish
called a boat (hence the alternate term, banana boat). It was invented in
1904 by David Evans Strickler, a 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist at Tassel
Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The sundae originally cost 10 cents, twice
the price of other sundaes, and caught on with students of nearby Saint
Vincent College. In those pre-digital days, news of the nifty new sundae
quickly spread by word of mouth and written correspondence. It must have
done well for Strickler: He went on to buy the pharmacy, renaming it
Stricklers Pharmacy. Heres more about the banana split, including modern
versions and how to throw a banana split party.

A classic banana split. Photo courtesy Wholesome Junk Food cookbook.

BISCUIT TORTONI or BISQUE

TORTONI or TORTONI
Theres actually a biscuit in a biscuit tortoni, typically crumbled amaretti
cookies but also coconut macaroons, that are mixed into vanilla gelato. The
original recipe was a custard frozen to the consistency of ice cream, flavored
with rum. The top was dusted with finely chopped almonds. It is not certain if

the concept originated with a late 18th-century Neapolitan, Mr. Tortoni, who
opened Caf Tortoni, one of the first ice cream cafs (glaciersit operated for
nearly 100 years until it closed in 1893); or if it was created elsewhere and
named for the popular glacier. In modern recipes, vanilla gelato replaces the
custard. In New York, the dessert, typically made in individual portions in
fluted paper cups, was served at posh establishments (it was at the Waldorf
Astoria in 1900).

A biscuit tortoni. The biscuits are cookies crumbled inside and/or on top.
Photo courtesy Sue Ade. Heres her family recipe.

The recipe trickled down to neighborhood Italian restaurants. In the U.S., the
cookie crumbs often replaced chopped almonds on top, almond extract
replaced the rum in the base, and the top was garnished with a maraschino
cherry.

BOMBE
A combination of frozen parfait and ice cream, in a mold; the mold can be
conventional (round, oval) or an unusual shape (flower, lobster). As with a
frozen souffl, fruit can be added, and the mixture can be molded to
individual portions or large molds. It is a classic French dessert and an
elegant end to a dinner. Ice cream and fruit bombes were very popular in
Victorian times; the molds were often lined with cake or biscuits.

CABINET
A Rhode Island term for milkshake. The term may have derived from the
cabinet in which the ice cream was kept; i.e., the soda fountain referred to
the unit with the soda-dispensing spigots; the cabinet was a separate unit
from which the ice cream was scooped.
Raspberry Bombe
A raspberry bombe. Photo by Richard Dudley | SXC.

CAKE CONE or CUP CONE or

MOLDED CONE

An ice cream cone with a lighter texture, in a mold that creates a cuff at the
top. It has less flavor than a sugar cone or a waffle cone and is generally
served with less expensive ice cream. It is made in both the cup style, with a
flat bottom (see photo) and with a classic tapered (pointed) bottom.

CHURNING
The process of freezing a liquid mixture in an ice cream machine to minimize
crystal formation while incorporating air.

CONE
A baked conical holder for ice cream. There are three main types: cake cone,
sugar cone and waffle cone.
Frozen CustardCake cone filled with frozen custard. Photo by Jeff
Prieb | SXC.

CONE CUP
As opposed to the cup cone, a cake cone with a flat bottom (see above), a
cone cup is a bowl made from sugar cone batter.

CUSTARD
Short for French custard ice cream: ice cream made richer with the addition
of egg yolks, and also called Philadelphia ice cream. Do not confuse this with
frozen custard or soft-serve ice cream.

A cone cup, a.k.a. waffle cone bowl. Photo courtesy Joy Cone.

FLOAT
An ice cream soda, so-called because the carbonation of the soda causes the
scoop of ice cream to float on the top of the drink.

FRAPPE
A New England term for milkshake, from the French frapper, to beat.

FRENCH-STYLE ICE CREAM or

FRENCH ICE CREAM or FRENCH

CUSTARD ICE CREAM
Ice cream made with a custard base that includes eggs. It is richer than
regular ice cream, also called Philadelphia-, New York- or American-style ice
cream. See glace.
Float
A float can be made with sorbet; for example, orange sorbet in orange soda.
Photo courtesy Chocolate Box Cafe.

FROZEN CUSTARD or SOFT-SERVE ICE CREAM

Soft-serve is a frozen dessert similar to ice cream, but served at a warmer
temperature from a machine that extrudes the ice cream into soft, swirled
peaks (see photo at right). It is much lighter than ice cream, lower in milk fat
and and higher in overrunup to 60% air by volume. Frozen yogurt is also
available in soft-serve form. With both ice cream and frozen custard, the
ingredients are mixed at 21F; then the ice cream goes into a hardening room
where it becomes rock-solid at -40F. Soft ice cream leaves off this last step.
Frozen custard is perceived as tastier because it is warmer and doesnt numb
the taste buds. What we know today as soft serve or frozen custard and
was originally regular French ice cream or glace (pronounced GLAHS).
Cones

Frozen custard. Photo Pinkcandy | Dreamstime.

Over time, the hard ice cream became known as French ice cream, and
frozen custard became the term used for the soft-serve ice creams, which
did once use a custard ice cream base that included eggs.

FROZEN SOUFFL
A dessert that has a base, usually a cooked custard, that is lightened with
whipped cream or cooked egg whites and then still-frozen in a souffl dish in
a conventional freezer. Fruit can be added, and the mixture can be molded in
individual ramekins or molds or in large molds.

A frozen cappuccino souffl in a chocolate cup. Get the recipe. Photo courtesy
Etoile Restaurant.
FROZEN YOGURT
A dessert is made of lowfat or nonfat yogurt plus sweetener, gelatin, corn
syrup, flavoring and sometimes, coloring. It is churned in an ice cream
machine. Frozen yogurt is available soft-serve and hard-packed. It both
freezes and melts much more slowly than ice cream, since yogurt has a much
higher freezing and melting point than milk. The beneficial bacteria
Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus are believed to be
killed when the yogurt is frozen. If you are making frozen yogurt at home, you
can use nonfat yogurt and milk in place of regular milk and yogurt in the
recipes. Use a high quality ice cream maker that can successfully freeze the
mix over the longer freezing time required. Learn more about yogurt.

Green tea-flavored frozen yogurt. Photo courtesy Pinkberry.

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