Ice Cream Class Milan Italy Review

Rigoletto Ice Cream Class Milan Review

Booyah!… 1.5 hr ice cream class Milan, Italy.

Want to learn how to make REAL “Gelato Italiano” at home, without an ice cream machine?

More to the question, can that be done ??

You bet ya!

All you need is your hands, some passion and a home freezer!

What could be more COOLing than making your own ice cream and sorbets while holidaying in Milan?

Eating it maybe ??

OK, I’ll give you that one.

Good news is,

In Rigoletto Gelateria ice cream class, you’ll be doing both!

Become A “Gelato Yoda”

Forget everything you know about making ice cream,

And I MEAN everything!

Umberta, “Gelato Master Yoda” will teach you the secrets of making incredible smooth Gelato Italiano.

Before I go any further, just to note,

You can ONLY BOOK this ice cream experience Milan through Airbnb.
Location: Rigoletto Gelateria
Cost: £47 per person
Class length: 1.5 hours
Skill level: Beginners

What To Expect in Rigoletto’s Ice Cream Class

First off, Umberta will spoon feed you a short, in-depth history about the birth and evolution of one of the best treats on earth.

Before we started even making the ice cream,

Umberta explained each ingredient used and why.

We learnt how each ingredient acts with the sugar and influences the texture, freezing point and water absorption of the mixture.

And most importantly, the end result.

The good thing is,

You can easily purchase these ingredients in MOST supermarkets and health shops.

That over with, we now came to the good part.

All Hands On Deck – Making Gelato

On this course, you’ll be making one type of ice cream and one type of sorbet

We made Hazelnut ice cream and Strawberry Sorbet.

Yum-diddly-umptious!

To begin with, Umberta explained how to make the Hazelnut paste which was pre-done for us.

We all dived in to taste this pure nut bliss.

I could easily spread that on my toast.

Considering it was just roasted hazelnut blitz up into a paste

It tasted EPIC!

Would make a cracking hazelnut spread.

Just add good quality chocolate to it and you’ve got Nutella!

He will tell you how to do this also.

He’ll even give you a sample of the chocolate he uses to make his ice cream.

By the way, there is only one ice cream and one sorbet batch made,

But don’t worry,

You’ll be split into two groups.

You’ll all take turns in participating in making either the ice cream or sorbet.

Whether your weighing ingredients, blending or whisking, all hands will be on deck.

So back to the process.

Precise Measurements = Good Gelato

We then mixed the hazelnut paste with the milk and used a blender to mix thoroughly.

Now the all-important sweet bit.

Adding the sugar.

I know the amount of sugar is shocking but…

Chill out!

You’re on holiday remember 🙂

Next, we had to weigh up the glucose and dextrose powder.

Umberta stressed the need to be EXACT with these measurements!

After giving it a good bashing with the whisk,

We weighed up and added the inulin fibre and carob flour.

Again, had to be bang on the mark weight wise.

No pressure!

That said, I weighed up the inulin fibre.

And being such a DUMMY, I went over by 2 grams… Doh!

To be honest, the end result tasted awesome.

Ha… In your face gelato!

Although, another participant weighed up the carob powder and got it bang on.

Show off!

My scales must have been dodgy as.

Nice excuse yeah, but it makes me feel better.

If you’re wondering what carob is,

Its a funky looking fruit:

After the entire ingredients were combined, our lovely participant poured it into his ice cream machine to freeze.

Hang on, ice cream machine??

Yes yes, I know.

That was just to speed up the process.

He explained quite clearly how to do it by just using your freezer at home.

Don’t doubt it, It works, I’ve tried it.

And guess what?

It was ice-licious!

So, after about 5 minutes in the machine, the ice cream was done.

We filled the tub with the ice cream and popped it in the freezer to store while we worked on our sorbet.

Dairy Free Sorbet

With the sorbet, the EXACT same process was used.

Simply blitz all the strawberries with the water and whisk in all the other ingredients and into the machine it went.

Once that was done Umberta emptied the sumptuous strawberry mixture into the tubs.

If you don’t like hazelnut or strawberry,

(who would that weirdo be??)

No fret, Umberta will give you a few pointers on how to tweak the recipes for other flavours.

Taste Test

I couldn’t wait for this bit.

Even though I knew I would have a tummy ache if I tasted the ice cream,

I just had too!

There was no way I was gonna leave that class without tasting the hazelnut bliss.

It looked too good.

And it was good.

Very creamy, smooth and delish!

Oh, how I miss dairy ice cream.

We then had a tub of sorbet to taste.

Literally the BEST tasting sorbet EVER.

What amazed me was,

That you didn’t get that watery taste you usually get with sorbets.

It was SOOO smooth and creamy.

How I thought??

Umberta explained that it was all down to how certain ingredients act with the sugar and how the carob powder influences the water content etc.

I was FLABBERGASTED!

Amazing I thought.

I can now make my very own sorbets quite easily.

Sadly we came to the end of our class.

But you’ll be glad to know this.

You can take home AS MICH gelato and sorbet you can carry!

He’ll provide the tubs.

Landed !!!

Oh, and theirs another prize for you.

You get to keep your Rigoletto apron.

Double Landed !!!

All agreed, by the end of this course,

You’ll be wowing your pals with your very own homemade ice cream and sorbets.

I promise!

Highly recommended if you love gelato or sorbets and want to dig a little deeper into your obsession 🙂

Buckets of fun and incredibly delicious.

Thank you, Umberta, for the tastiest 1 and a half hours I ever experienced in Milan!!!!

Enjoy the ice cream!!