Deep Fried Ice Cream

Ice cream is the perfect buffer, because you can do things in a somewhat light-hearted way. Plus, people have an emotional response to ice cream; it's more than just food. So, I think when you combine caring, and eating wonderful food, it's a very powerful combination.

Jerry Greenfield

A couple of weeks ago myself and a couple of friends went to Upmarket, a trendy area just off Brick Lane in London’s East End. Upmarket is known to host some of the London’s most eclectic street food and innovative desserts. If you’ve followed my blog for any great length of time, you’ll know I’m a total foodie with an eye for the unusual so, I was completely intrigued when I spied a food van with the name T’s Fried Scoop claiming to make fried ice cream!

Now I love things like Frickles, (deep fried pickles!) and doughnuts and I love gelato so, putting the two concepts together had my taste buds tingling! The fried scoop is a combination of hot and cold desserts in one. Fried ice cream enthusiast and founder, Natasha describes it as “a hot fried crust coated in cornflakes or Oreos, wrapped around a decadent ice cream”.

Influenced by Mexican and Japanese versions, Natasha describes how she tried several methods from various cultures before settling on a perfect blend of techniques of her own, making T’s Fried Scoop quite unique.

T’s Fried Scoop offer four ice cream flavours; Vanilla Clotted Cream, Matcha, Chocolate, and Ube, (pronounced ooo-bay), occasionally Natasha likes to try new, crazy things, specials from the past include Bubble-gum, Charcoal Vanilla, Coconut, Cookies & Cream and Strawberry. Scoops of ice cream are wrapped in plain dough and kept frozen in a freezer. You simply select an ice cream flavour, then pick a crumb coating and choose a sauce.

The frozen dough ball is first dipped in a batter, coated in an Oreo crumb or crushed cornflakes, and then fried briefly. It is served straight away with a chocolate or caramel sauce and whipped cream – tell me your mouth isn’t watering right now!

As you know, I’m a big fan of chocolate so, I tried the chocolate ice cream with a coating of Oreos and chocolate sauce, whipped cream is an option however, I wanted to taste the darkness of the yummy chocolate.

The result was a wonderful mixture of hot and cold, contrasting textures which wasn’t overly sweet or too dense.

Surprisingly the ice cream remained frozen, cocooned within the warm, crispy coating. The crushed Oreos added an extra layer of flavour and texture and the whole dessert had a good amount of chocolate sauce drizzled on top – chocolate heaven right there!

It was blooming gorgeous and a wonderful way to round off a street food meal, or simply enjoy as you walk around the market stalls, be prepared to stop every thirty seconds though to say, “OMG, this is totally delicious!!”

All the fried scoops are vegetarian and kosher and there are also vegan options. Natasha is currently working on creating a gluten free option has plans to introduce more flavours soon such as Bubble Gum, Charcoal Vanilla, Ube, and Cookies and Cream.

So, if you happen to be in London or indeed see a version in your own country and you’re a fan of fried desserts and fancy trying something new with ice cream, head over to Upmarket and try one of T’s Fried Scoops, I’d love to know what you think or indeed listen to your finds!

As you will imagine I’m a huge fan and can’t wait for my next visit!

What’s on this week?