Turning simple ingredients into a delicious treat with the YayLabs! Ice Cream Ball from Amazon. 

Summer and ice cream are the ultimate combo. Nothing can beat the oppressive heat like noshing on a cool and creamy dessert dripping down a sugar cone, waffle cone, or waffle bowl if you’re fancy.

But you know what’s better than eating ice cream? Eating ice cream you’ve spent 30 minutes making, and that’s the beauty of the YayLabs! SoftShell Ice Cream Ball, which my family and I tested out…for science, of course. 

The YayLabs! Ice Cream Ball in its box. 

The YayLabs! Softshell Ice Cream Ball is an interactive, fun and simple way to make ice cream at home. The ball comes in two sizes: Pint and quart (I got the pint). The circumference of the ball is the same, the only difference is the capacity of the inside. The ball's shell is pliable and rubbery, and is removable in case you have to wash any dirt or grit that accrues. 

There are two openings on opposite sides of the ball: A top opening for the cream which houses a pint-sized metal container, and a bottom opening for the ice and salt which envelops the outside of the aforementioned metal container. 

All in all, it feels like a heavier version of a kickball, BUT DON'T KICK IT. This ball is meant for ROLLING only. I had to tell my children that, so I’m compelled to inform you as well. It's as manual as you can get ⁠— there’s no app, paired component, or machine involved, just grab the ingredients to make your ice cream out of and get to mixing.

Prepping the ingredients for the ice cream ball. 

To get started, the ice cream ball required a few ingredients:

Obviously ice is paramount, but rock salt is the key component; otherwise it is extremely difficult to control the freezing process. A half cup of rock salt is required, although if you have table salt that’s acceptable as well. Just add an additional ¼ cup to counteract the small salt granules.

The consistency of the ice cream depends on the milk and cream products you decide to use. Soy beverages, reduced fat milk and milk are on the lighter end, which make it slower for the ice cream to emulsify (30 minutes). Double cream, heavy whipping cream and heavy cream are on the heavier end, making it faster (15 minutes). I used half and half, putting it more on the lighter, slower end of emulsification.

The ball comes with a recipe booklet for ice cream flavors (Vanilla/Key Lime/Chocolate Chip/Frozen Yogurt/Fruit Sorbet) but the fam had a hankering for strawberry ice cream, so we cut a cup of strawberries and mixed it in a bowl with the half and half, sugar and vanilla extract. We transferred the mixture into the ball and packed the ball with as much ice as it could hold. Then we dumped the salt into the ice and closed the lid. We didn’t have any rock salt on hand but Himalayan pink salt worked well in a pinch because of the bigger size of the salt granules. 

The ice and salt area of the ball (left) and the liquids area of the ball (right). 

My children and I rolled this dodgeball from hell in our backyard, in the sweltering heat, for 10 minutes. The heaviness from the ice and the cream made it seem like we were rolling a bowling ball on concrete. It was fun at first, but the circles on the outside of the ball would catch pebbles and dirt on the ground and we'd have to brush it off occasionally so our fingers wouldn't get hurt.

It’s specified that after 10 minutes you’re supposed to check on the ice cream and scrape out the sides of the container with a plastic or wooden spoon. Then you’re supposed to remix the liquid that’s left, close the lid, and add ice if needed. I wasn't going to that because I was afraid that once my kids saw ice cream they would forsake all other fun and worship at the altar of freshly made dessert, regardless of how sparse the offering was. We continued rolling the ball inside our apartment, and around the 20-minute mark my older son commented that he could feel the ice cream getting harder by how different the ball was rolling, and he was right. It was evident that the slush was more on the outside, due to the melting ice, and less on the inside due to the emulsifying ice cream.

Rolling the ice cream ball proved most difficult on concrete compared to grass and indoor surfaces, but was fun nonetheless.

After 30 minutes we stopped rolling, opened the ball and started scooping out our hard-earned treat. It was a little soupy in the middle with hard ice cream stuck to the sides, which is probably why it’s important to scrape the ice cream after the first 10 minutes. We used a plastic scraper to remove the ice cream from the sides and put it in bowls for the boys, and as the ice cream cooled it resembled the consistency of something you'd eat at your local creamery. The flavor was excellent because it was specified to our personal tastes and cleanup was a breeze (just had to run water through the ice cream opening with a dollop of dishwashing soap and dry with a soft towel).

The only problem I had was that it was very hard to open the section holding the ice. It was a bit frozen and it may have been best to wait for the ice to thaw more before opening that end for cleaning. 

Overall I found this to be a delightful product. My children are already thinking about other flavors they can create and perfect. This is a product you can take on a family outing to the park or a family member's house, provided you have ice and the ingredients. I do recommend only using this product either outside in grass or inside on a level, smooth surface. The outer shell doesn’t do well on concrete, pavement or the beach; best practices are parks and indoors.

Now when you head to the supermarket and you see Ben and Jerry’s or Häagen Dazs you may think, “Wow. Those flavors are super complicated.” Not if you have the YayLabs! Ice Cream Ball in your possession. With this product, whenever you get a hankering for a cookie dough or some cherry Garcia, all you need is a pint of cream, a rolling space and a dream. Roll the ball for thirty minutes for fresh dessert on the scene.