Tyra Banks Has Everyone Online Wondering 'What In The World Is Hot Ice Cream?'
At The Takeout, we're no strangers to weird ice cream. We've seen everything from Van Leeuwen's Kraft Macaroni & Cheese ice cream to the bizarrely savory mayo ice cream sundae. Those may not sound appetizing, but at least they make sense. Hot ice cream, however, sounds like an oxymoron and seems impossible to visualize. All of this is to say that the celebrity and "America's Next Top Model" creator, Tyra Banks, has unveiled her "Hot Mama" hot ice cream, which she breaks down in an Instagram post.
Still dancing around exactly what this new product really is, the announcement spends more time explaining what it's not. Banks insists this isn't a latte, hot chocolate, or fried ice cream — and it doesn't seem to just be melted ice cream with better PR. Instead, Banks claims that she spent the past year working with her ice cream company, Smize & Dream, to innovate a liquid ice cream base that tastes good at hot temperatures. The early results were watery, but the final version is apparently thick, silky, and velvety, according to Banks.
It's like cold ice cream, except hot
Right now, there's frankly not many more details available, beyond the reveal that hot ice cream comes in a couple of flavors. Based on Tyra Banks' preferred ice cream as a child, the Tyra's Favorite flavor features a sweet cream base, salted butter caramel, butter-roasted pecans, and whipped cream. The other is Fairy Dough Diva, based on Australian fairy bread that's covered in rainbow sprinkle-like nonpareils, and showcases fairy bread buttered toast cookie dough mixed into salted butter ice cream.
Hot Mama hot ice cream has only been available for a limited time in Sydney, Australia. That's because Sydney is home to the recently opened flagship location for Smize & Dream, the ice cream business Banks created back around 2020 in honor of her mother, with whom she has happy memories of sharing ice cream as a child. Tyra Banks has gone all-in on ice cream since then, with Smize & Dream's Hot Mama hot ice cream set to debut Stateside sometime this winter. If it's still confusing, you may be overthinking it: it's hot ice cream that you sip from a cup. But if you're more of an ice cream purist, these flavors come in cold versions, too.