On 30th June, the inhabitants of Gloucester were quite literally treated to a visual feast as The Hamiltons’ gigantic Mr. Whippy ice cream sculpture was unveiled by Heston Blumenthal in the town centre. As mentioned previously, this is all in aid of Heston’s new television series in which he explores Britain’s nostalgic culinary favourites.
Having spent over 10 hours in a freezer at -20 degrees, it was something of relief for the team to see the final product being hoisted by crane onto an equally gigantic cone to cheers and rapturous applause.
Jamie and Jack found that ice cream carving isn’t perhaps as easy as it may look. It turns out that the difficulty with the texture of ice cream lies in the awkwardness of it being too soft to chip into, yet too hard to slice through. Thankfully these issues were overcome and Mr. Whippy was looking swirlier than ever. Extra steel reinforcements and dry ice were utilised inside the centre of the ice cream in order to keep it cold for longer and the results, as you can see, were definitely worthwhile. Having been adorned with its massive Flake and splattered with 100s and 1000s, the suitably wowed and enthusiastic punters of Gloucester were allowed to sample the delights of Mr. Whippy for themselves.
The event was a great success with the public and most importantly, Heston himself, enjoying the day. He even wrote to the team to express his gratitude: “I just wanted to say a massive thank you for doing an amazing job on the ice cream on Saturday!… It came out much better than I ever expected and looked fantastic… How you spent that long in those arctic conditions I don’t know, but it totally paid off.”
In other news, the Hamiltons have been hosting top pastry chefs at their Wimbledon studio this week as they prepare for the ice sculpting component of a very prestigious food competition in France.
Masterclasses are currently being held every Saturday at the studio if you are interested in learning the basics of ice sculpture. They typically last for three hours and cost £125.00 + VAT per person. Discounts are available for larger groups and any class can be tailored to meet your requirements. What will you make for your final piece? Use your imagination. 🙂