I scream, you scream we all scream for Ice Cream… I apologize in advance if this causes uncontrollable urges for real ice cream – whoops! Enjoy!
But… what if you want to photograph it? You better snap it quick as that luscious yummy cold deliciousness doesn’t last long.
The solution? FAKE IT.
Food Stylists regularly use fake food in place of real food on a photo shoot. Here’s a quick easy way to fake some ice cream.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Corn Syrup
- 1/2 Cup Shortening
Directions:
- Mix corn syrup and shortening until smooth. Gradually add 3/4 of the powdered sugar until mixture is like a thick frosting.
- Knead in additional powdered sugar as needed. Mixture should be mold-able but not sticky.
You can scoop straight from the bowl or ‘pack it’ in a different container. It scoops best when it is chilled. Choose your scooper of choice and dig in. You can use a regular anti-freeze scoop or squeeze style dipper. The latter is nice as they are available in many different sizes. You may want to remove the squeeze bar for best results as it often smooths the texture of the ice cream as it is released.
Your goal is to get ridges showing the ice cream texture. This is called barking.
Barking size and design vary depending on the quality of the ice cream. You may want to try your favorite ice cream in real life so you have a vision for what you want your barking to look like. (Oh to have another reason to eat ice cream.) The trick is in how you twist the ice cream out and it is really a matter of practice, practice, practice to achieve the look you want. You can re-knead the ice cream to scoop again if your first scoop fails. If it starts to ‘wilt’ put it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes until cool again. But remember…real food doesn’t look perfect…so the goal is to make it look appetizing. To store, place in an airtight bag for up to a week. It will dry fairly quickly when exposed to the air.
Additional Tips:
- Strawberry ice cream can be made by kneading in pink gel food coloring until you achieve a smooth uniform looking color.
- For chocolate ice cream knead in 1/8-1/4 cup cocoa. After working this you will need to refrigerate until the ice cream is cool.
- For french vanilla use butter flavored shortening instead of regular.
Be creative, then test it on your subject.
It looks good enough to eat! Go ahead…take a lick.
Love it! I would never even think of these things! Awesome might try it for my little one's 1 year pictures but she will probably take to eating it ! Yuck!
Thank you for posting. I have recently discovered a love for food photography. I can't wait to try this out…
I'm learning so much about food styling lately. I love how much detail and work goes into food photography.
Thanks for sharing this!
AWESOME.
Wow. What a great tip. Is it wrong that I still want to eat the Criso stuff?
Looks great! I need something that will last over a couple weeks in a display we will be using & I'm pretty sure this would not hold up over time. Polymer clay, maybe? Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.
thats so cool! i wanna eat it!
Thanks for sharing…………..!
I need this to last a couple of weeks. can i dry it in the oven about 40 degrees celsius (the lowest on mine)?
I use corn starch and cheap 1$?tree hair conditioner. Just add slowly til ya get your consistency. I have sealed mine after dries with a Matt modge podge .. works excellent
Ohh this sounds interesting and you can’t beat the price! Does it matter the brand of conditioner?