Nigella's Coffee Ice Cream Without an Ice Cream Maker

Nigella’s Coffee Ice Cream Without an Ice Cream Maker

Ice Creams

Yes, we know. It’s not quite a classic ice cream, but for lack of a proper name, we’re going to use this one. As you can see, the recipe is from us Nigellathe queen of practical recipes!

It was one of the recipes she made during the BBC series Nigellissima. There was a clip of the dessert on YouTube, but it has now been taken down. All is not lost, the official website has the recipe.

What stands out, as is usual, is the ease of preparation. Few ingredients, no churnmeaning you don’t need an ice cream maker.

Not to mention a well-known ingredient of ours: condensed milk. The candy basically comes from him, and hey, it works really well.

In the original recipe, Nigella only uses instant coffee (the espresso type, which we don’t have here) and Illy coffee liqueur. I ended up changing it, I used very concentrated coffee (via Aeropress) with instant coffee reinforcement too.

I don’t have liquor, and I wasn’t going to buy a bottle just for that (+R$100!). Replace the “alcohol” with vodka. It is important to use a drink that contains alcohol because of freezing.

It ends up turning into ice cream because it goes into the freezer, but it could easily serve as a quick mousse of coffee without any problems. In the end, it’s just coffee whipped cream. Not that this is bad, quite the opposite. It makes you want to eat it as soon as you finish mixing.

Coffee ice cream in a cup with dark background by PratoFundo.com

Nigella’s Coffee Ice Cream

Pre-preparation: 10 minutes

Preparation time: 6 hours

Total: 6 hours 10 minutes

Makes: 700 mL


  • 300 g fresh/pasteurized cream (49% fat)
  • 175 g condensed milk
  • 20 mL vodka
  • 10 g (2 teaspoons) instant coffee (strong; coffee option 1; about 2 tsp)
  • 50 mL very concentrated coffee (coffee option 2)
  • 5 g instant coffee (strong; coffee option 2; if necessary)
Use the quantities in units of measurement in weight and volume when present. The measures in cups/spoons are just one system courtesy e less accurate .

1 cup: 250mL | 1 tablespoon: 15mL.


  • In a bowl, beat the pasteurized cream until it reaches whipped cream (firm peak).
  • In a bowl mix the condensed milk, vodka and coffee. Mix well.
  • Add the coffee mixture over the whipped cream and stir gently to homogenize.
  • Transfer to a container with a lid, place in the freezer for 6 hours before serving.

  • Café: I used option 2, reinforcing it with instant coffee as well. I made a very concentrated shot of coffee in the Aeropress. I used 25g coffee (Fazenda Santa Quitéria) with 70mL of water. It should also work with espresso, make 1-2 ristretto. The amount may vary depending on the coffee.
Nutritional information is just a courtesy of the system and generated automatically; may not reflect the nutritional reality of the recipe.