Unicorn ice cream is a fruity and magical frozen treat that's perfect for birthday parties. Creamsicle flavored ice cream is loaded with rainbow sprinkles and bright colors like pink, blue, and purple.
No churn ice cream is easy to make at home because you don't need an ice cream maker. All you'll need is a hand mixer or a stand mixer and a few bowls to get started.
Unicorn ice cream is made with a swirl of rainbow colors topped with rainbow sprinkles. It's perfect for parties and tastes just like an orange creamsicle.
Serve unicorn ice cream at your next princess party, unicorn party, or birthday celebration. It's also a fun recipe to make with kids over summer vacation.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Heavy cream - Necessary to make no churn ice cream. Heavy cream, or heavy whipping cream, is whipped and folded with the other ice cream ingredients to make a fluffy, aerated base.
- Sweetened condensed milk - The base of your ice cream. Sweetened condensed milk adds sweetness and creaminess. Homemade or store bought sweetened condensed milk will work in this recipe.
- Extracts - Lemon, vanilla, and orange add flavor to your ice cream. As written, this ice cream tastes like creamsicle. You're welcome to customize the flavor by using just one or all three.
- Sprinkles - Rainbow jimmies work best because their color doesn't bleed into the ice cream. I don't recommend nonpareils (tiny round sprinkles) for this reason.
- Food coloring - You'll need food coloring to make your ice cream rainbow colored. Gel and liquid coloring work in this recipe. Here are the exact gel colors I used for the ice cream shown:
- Betty Crocker Food Color Neon Gel, 2.7 oz - pink and purple
- Betty Crocker Classic Gel Food Colors - blue and yellow
Tips and tricks
Making whipped cream - Use a hand mixer with a whisk attachment and mix your heavy cream on medium speed until stiff peaks are achieved. Once your cream begins to hold its shape in the bowl, turn the mixer off and lift the whisk out. If the tip of the whipped cream holds it shape without drooping, your whipped cream is ready.
Divide and color - Divide your ice cream base into as many colors as you'd like to add to your unicorn ice cream. I used four colors in the images shown. Add a few drops at a time and gently fold to incorporate.
Fold gently - When incorporating food coloring and extracts, use gentle folding strokes to avoid deflating your light and airy ice cream base.
Layering ice cream - The swirled look of unicorn ice cream is created by adding small dollops at a time of each color and slowly layering. Once frozen, you'll get a bit of each color in every scoop.
Don't stir or swirl your colors - Take care not to stir or swirl the individual colors together - this can muddle the colors and ruin the effect.
Storage
Unicorn ice cream will keep for up to three months in a tightly sealed, freezer safe container.
Frequently asked questions
No churn ice cream is ice cream that's made without the use of an ice cream maker or other specialized equipment. All you need is a hand mixer and a few simple ingredients. For this recipe, we're blending sweetened condensed milk together with homemade whipped cream. Whipped cream gives this homemade ice cream it's light and airy texture without the need for an ice cream maker.
This recipe is made with vanilla, lemon, and orange extracts to create a creamsicle (a creamy vanilla orange) flavor. If you're curious, Target carried a cherry and sour blue raspberry version (which appears to no longer be available), and Walmart carries unicorn ice cream that's flavored like cake with frosting and sprinkles.
Yes, feel free to use any food colorings you have on hand to create your own unique unicorn ice cream. This recipe can easily be customized to match your favorite sports team, cartoon character, or birthday party theme.
A 9x5 loaf pan is the ideal size for this no churn ice cream recipe. However, any freezer safe container will work. Try using a large tupperware container with a tightly sealing container.
This depends on the temperature of your freezer. It takes my freezer about 4 to 5 hours to freeze ice cream, but it could take as long as 8 hours or overnight.
Jellies and jams can used to add pastel color and fruity flavor, like in my strawberry jam ice cream recipe. About eight ounces of jam will flavor an entire ice cream recipe.
Here's a great article on how to make your own natural food coloring at home: How to Make Your Own Safe Food Coloring at Home
You can also buy natural food coloring and sprinkles on Amazon:
- McCormick Nature's Inspiration Food Colors, 0.51 oz - comes in pink, blue, and yellow, with directions on how to mix even more colors
- India Tree Nature's Colors Carnival Sprinkles, 6 Ounce - sprinkles made with vegetable colorants and no artificial dyes
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Unicorn Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 16 ounces (454 g) heavy cream
- 14 ounces (397 g) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- food coloring, pink, purple, blue, and yellow
- 1 tablespoon rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add heavy cream. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, whip until stiff peaks are achieved, about 3 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, add sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract. Stir to combine. Add whipped cream from the previous step and gently fold until incorporated.
- Divide ice cream base evenly between two bowls. Add orange extract to one bowl and lemon extract to the other, folding to incorporate each. Then, divide the orange mixture into two bowls and the lemon mixture into two bowls, for four total bowls of ice cream base.
- Add one food coloring to each bowl. I used pink, purple, blue, and yellow. Gently fold to incorporate.
- In a loaf pan, add dollops of each color to fill the pan. Once the pan is halfway full, add half of your rainbow sprinkles in a single layer. Once full, add remaining sprinkles on top.
- Cover and freeze for about 4-5 hours, or overnight, until firm.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Extracts can be substituted with your favorite food extract flavors.
- Homemade ice cream will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer in a tightly sealed container.
- I used Betty Crocker Gel food coloring in yellow, blue, neon pink, and neon purple. Any food coloring (including natural coloring) will work in this recipe.
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