How to calculate an ice cream mix

Below is the Excel spreadsheet I created to calculate my ice cream mix. It’s based on the calculations in Ice Cream (7th Ed) by Professor Doug Goff and Professor Richard Hartel, which I highly recommend reading. There are no restrictions on the use of this spreadsheet so feel free to download and use it as you see fit. It comes populated with what I’ve found to be the optimum mix composition for 900 ml (0.95 quart) of homemade ice cream mix.

1. Download

You can download the spreadsheet from Microsoft OneDrive by clicking  here. Click on the three horizontal dots in the top right of the screen under ‘Sign Out’ and then click ‘Download’.

2. Ingredients

2.1 Mandatory Ingredients

To use this spreadsheet, the 3 ingredients that you have to use are cream, milk, and sugar. You can use either full-fat, semi-skimmed, or skimmed (fat-free) milk, as well as single, light, whipping, heavy, heavy whipping, or double cream. You can use any sugar that is composed of 100% solids (i.e. no water), which includes granulated (table), cane, demerara, turbinado, muscovado, light-brown, or dark-brown sugar, as well as fructose, lactose, and maltose, but excludes liquid sugar or sugar syrup, dextrose, honey, invert sugar, corn syrup solids (CSS), and maltodextrins, which contain some water.

2.2 Optional Ingredients

You can choose whether to use skimmed milk powder, stabilisers, and emulsifiers when composing your mix.

2.3 Ingredients you can’t use

I haven’t included water, butter, whey powder, or concentrated milk, as well as the sugars mentioned above, in this spreadsheet. I may create a second spreadsheet with these ingredients if there is enough interest.

3. Instructions

Step 1. How To Enter The Cream And Milk Fat

It’s important that you only enter data in the cells coloured in yellow. To start, in cell C3 enter the fat percentage of the cream that you’ll be using. I use fresh double cream comprising 47.5g of fat per 100 ml, or 47.5% fat. In cell C5, enter the fat percentage of the milk that you’ll be using. I use fresh fat-free milk comprising 0g fat per 100 ml, or 0% fat.

Step 2. How To Enter The Mix Weight Pre and Post Heating

2.1 If You Are Not Using My Method of Heating

If you’re not planning on using my method of heating the mix at 72°C (161.6°F) for 25 minutes to pasteurise and promote reversible protein denaturation, which I’ve found has a significant effect on texture, or are using a closed pasteuriser, the weight of your mix pre and post heating will remain constant. In cell C18 enter the weight in grams of the batch that you want to make; about 997g produces 900 ml (0.95 quart) of mix, 890g about 800 ml (0.85 quart), and 760g about 700 ml (0.74 quart). In cell G18, enter the same value that you entered in cell C18.

2.2 If You Are Using My Method Of Heating

If you intend to use my method of heating the mix at 72°C (161.6°F) for 25 minutes, you’ll need to account for the reduction of water through evaporation, which will increase the solids percentages of the mix after heating (displayed in cells D30 to D36). When I heat my mix, I use a pan with a 24 cm (9.45″) diameter and have found that 10% of the water in my 1150g starting mix evaporates, leaving 1035g of mix after 25 minutes of heating. Determining the amount of water that’s evaporated from your mix will take some trial and error and will depend on factors including the size of your pan, the heating temperature, elevation, and ambient temperature.

I recommend starting with 1150g in cell C18 and 1035g in cell G18. Cells C20 to C26 display the weight of each ingredient needed for your mix. Use these values to combine all of your ingredients in your pan. Once combined, place your pan on some kitchen scales and record the combined weight of the mix and the pan. My starting weight is 2488g (1150g starting mix weight + 1338g weight of pan). On a medium heat, bring your mix to 72°C (161.6°F), which will take between 10 and 16 minutes, whilst continuously stirring. Once your mix reaches 72°C (161.6°F), keep it as close to this temperature as you can for 25 minutes whilst stirring. After 25 minutes, place the pan back on the scales and record the combined weight of the pan and the reduced mix. Subtract the weight of the pan from the total weight of the pan plus the reduced mix to get the weight of the mix after heating; mine is 1035g (2373g total weight of pan and mix after heating – 1338g pan weight). Enter the weight of the mix after heating in cell G18. Use Steps 3-7 below to adjust the data so that cells D30 to D36 display the following optimum mix composition:

• Total Solids – 55.3%
• Not Fat Milk Solids – 10.8%
• Fat – 24%
• Sugar – 16.2%
• Egg Yolk – 4.3%
• Stabiliser – 0%
• Emulsifier – 0%

Step 3. How To Enter The Mix Fat

The percentage of fat in your mix after heating is displayed in cell D32. For homemade ice cream, I’ve found a mix comprising 24% milk fat optimum for the promotion of smooth and creamy texture. If you’d like to change this, change the value in cell C4.

Step 4. How To Enter The Milk Fat-Not-Solids

The percentage of not fat-milk-solids in your mix after heating is displayed in cell D31. I’ve found the optimum milk fat-not-solids percentage in homemade ice cream to be 10.8%. You can change this by entering a different value in cell C6. If you don’t want to use skimmed milk powder, decrease the value in cell C6 so that cell D31 displays 0.

Step 5. How To Enter The Stabiliser and Emulsifier

The percentage of stabiliser in your mix after heating is displayed in cell D35 and the percentage of emulsifier in cell D36. I don’t use stabilisers or emulsifiers in my mix but If you’ d like to use either of these two ingredients, enter the amount of stabiliser in cell C12 and emulsifier in cell C13. Usually, 0.2-0.5% of a stabiliser/emulsifier blend is used in ice cream.

Step 6. How To Enter The Sugar

The percentage of sugar in your mix after heating is displayed in cell D33. I’ve found that around 16.2% sugar in homemade ice cream works well. To change this, you can increase or decrease the data in cell C14.

Step 7. How To Enter The Egg Yolk

The percentage of egg yolks in your mix after heating is displayed in cell D34. To increase or decrease this, change the value in cell C15. I’ve found that around 4.3% egg yolk solids works well in homemade ice cream.