Scoop Kitchen
Why balance matters
A CREAMi shaves a rock-hard block into ice cream, so what is in the block decides how it spins. Sugar and solids decide how hard it freezes: too little and the first spin is powdery or icy, too much and it is soft and runny. Fat decides how rich and creamy it is: too little and it tastes thin, too much and it turns greasy or buttery. Thickeners help lean tubspints, but a pinch is plenty.
The ranges
Percent of the frozen base by weight. Our recipes sit inside these, apart from a few traditional treats like kulfi, which is made dense and sweet on purpose.
| Style | Fat | Sugars | Total solids | Button |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice cream | 10–16% (rich up to 18%) | 14–21% | 30–42% | Ice Cream |
| Gelato | 4–12% (rich up to 14%) | 16–23% | 30–42% | Gelato |
| Protein and lite | 0–7% | up to 16% | 10–32% | Lite Ice Cream |
| Sorbet and fruit whips | 0–5% | 12–32% | 14–36% | Sorbet |
| Frozen yogurt | 1–10% | 13–22% | 20–38% | Frozen Yogurt |
| Vegan ice cream | 7–16% (rich up to 19%) | 14–22% | 26–42% | Ice Cream |
| Smoothie bowl | 0–9% | 6–24% | 12–36% | Smoothie Bowl |
Sugars include the natural sugar in milk and fruit, plus sweeteners that soften like sugar, such as allulose. Total solids are everything that is not water.
What happens outside the range
| Too little | Too much | |
|---|---|---|
| Fat | Thin, icy, foamy | Greasy, waxy, churns into butter |
| Sugars | Powdery, icy, bland | Soft, runny, too sweet |
| Solids | Icy, crumbly | Heavy, sandy, chalky |
| Thickeners | Icy in lean tubspints | Gummy, slimy |
Starter formulas for a 473 ml16 oz tubpint
- Ice cream (like our Classic Vanilla): 170 ml (¾ cup) heavy cream, 230 ml (1 cup) whole milk, 60 g (⅓ cup) sugar, 15 g (1 tbsp) cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla. About 15% fat, 16% sugars.
- Gelato (like Fior di Latte): 300 ml (1¼ cups) whole milk, 90 ml (⅓ cup) heavy cream, 70 g sugar, 1½ tbsp cornstarch, cooked until it thickens. About 9% fat, 18% sugars.
- Protein (like Vanilla Protein): 280 ml 2% milk, 120 g Greek yogurt, 30 g protein powder, 2 tbsp allulose or sweetener, ¼ tsp xanthan gum. Lite Ice Cream, then Re-spin.
- Sorbet (like Mango Sorbet): 380 g ripe mango, 45 g sugar, 30 ml lime juice, 30 ml water. Sweeter fruit needs less sugar, lemon needs much more.
- Frozen yogurt (like Tart Frozen Yogurt): 300 g Greek yogurt, 90 ml whole milk, 60 g sugar, 2 tsp lemon juice.
- Vegan (like Vegan Chocolate Oat): 240 ml oat milk, 120 ml coconut cream, 60 g sugar, plus flavor.
For a 709 ml24 oz Deluxe tubpint, multiply everything by 1½. Stay under the max fill line.
Adjusting a recipe
- Greasy or buttery: swap some of the cream for whole milk, one for one. Re-spin less.
- Icy: add 1 tbsp sugar or syrup, or swap 60 ml (¼ cup) of milk for cream.
- Powdery every time: more sugar, allulose or 15 g cream cheese, the Lite Ice Cream button, and 5 to 10 minutes on the counter before spinning.
- Too soft: less sugar, syrup or alcohol.
- Gummy: less thickener. One kind, a small amount.
Check your recipe
The recipe check does the maths. Pick one of our recipes or paste your own ingredient list, and it shows the fat, sugars, solids, protein and thickeners against the range for the style, plus exactly what to swap, in your units.
