Why does my ice cream always turn out like frozen whipped cream?

ice cream recipe book for ice cream maker image

Bryce B

My ice cream always turns out fluffy and whipped in my ice cream maker. It doesn't freeze well and doesn't have a dense texture to it. I am using an electric ice cream maker. Has anyone else run into this problem or does someone know how to fix it?
I am using an electric ice cream maker, with 1 quart of capacity. I am using 2 cups heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk. The ingredients are think enough, but how do I prevent it from whipping?

Answer
It sounds to me like too much air is being whipped into the ice cream or you are using ingredients without an appropriate cream content. The heavier your milk, the heavier the ice cream. skim milk, 2 percent, etc. will make light ice cream. You want Heavy whipping cream, Evaporated milk or whole milk as the base. Also, I have heard a friend complain that the pre packaged ice cream "mixes" that she has used in her electric ice cream maker really sucked. She thought it was not ice creamy like at all and in fact tasted like sweetened air. Try some old fashioned recipes like in a good OLD cook book, or look up some old fashioned recipes on the internet.

Here are some tips:

Hints for Making Better Ice Cream
The consistency of ice cream may vary from batch to batch. Several factors that will affect the firmness or consistency of ice cream are the recipe used, how hot or cool the day is, size of ice, temperature of the salt water, and temperature of the mixture before it is churned.

Too Soft - If after 20 minutes of steady cranking on manual models you feel no drag or tightening, or if motor on electric model continues to run freely after 30 minutes, then the salt water is not cold enough, therefore, the ice cream is not hardening. You should add another 3 ounces of table salt or 5 ounces of rock salt. This will begin to reduce the saltwater temperature and cause the ice cream to harden. As the ice melts, you may have to continue to add ice and salt until the ice cream is the consistency of mush.

Too Grainy, Icy or Hard - If the cranking mechanism becomes too hard to turn in less than 20 minutes on manual models, or if motor stalls in less than 20 minutes on electric models, resulting in coarse or an inconsistent texture of ice cream, the saltwater became too cold too fast. In this case, you used too much salt and the ice cream froze too fast on the edge of the can, and/or you did not used crushed ice.

Recipe Hint - Preparing the ice cream mixture the day before makes smoother ice cream and increases the yield.

Recipe:
Old-Fashioned Homemade Ice Cream
6 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
13-ounce can evaporated milk (1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons)
1 gallon whole milk
chipped ice
rock salt
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add sugar gradually, stirring constantly. Add salt, vanilla and canned milk. Add about a pint of the fresh milk and mix.

Pour mixture into ice cream freezer can. Add enough of the remainder of the milk to fill can to the middle of the top board of dasher. (If the freezer can has a "fill" line on it, fill no higher than that line.)

Assemble the ice cream freezer. Add alternating layers of chipped ice and rock salt to barrel around freezer can. Crank freezer until ice cream begins to freeze (cranking will become harder as ice cream freezes), adding more ice and salt, as needed. When handle becomes difficult-to-impossible to turn, remove turning mechanism, and carefully remove top from freezer can; remove dasher. Replace top. Cover can with more ice and salt. Cover ice with an old towel, allowing ice cream to "cure" for at least 1 hour. If yours is an electric freezer, follow manufacturer's directions, but the curing step is essential.

Makes about 5 quarts of ice cream.


Good luck!

Kim