Women making ice cream: from cheesecake at home to unusual shop flavors

Pulenaz: testing apple crumble in a scoop

Pulenaz starts with a dessert she already knows: warm apple crumble. She wants the fruit and the buttery topping to be recognizable in cold ice cream, so she makes a plain base and cooks apples with cinnamon until they soften. She divides the base into two tubs and gives each the same apple ribbon and the same amount and size of crumble. She leaves the crumble on top of one tub and folds it through the other.

Once frozen, she scoops each into a bowl. The apple ribbon gives the first tub distinct spoonfuls of fruit and cream. In the second, the topping is easier to find across the scoop, although it has softened in the ice cream. She prefers the contrast in the first and adds a little fresh crumble when serving. The point of the comparison is visible: she changes where the topping goes, then tastes the consequence.

Pulenaz is a good starting point if you enjoy a companionable kitchen experiment more than a formal lesson. Her idea is approachable enough to adapt: choose a dessert, decide which part should run through the base and which part you want to notice separately, then compare the scoops.

Gemma Stafford: make a familiar dessert at home

Gemma Stafford’s Bigger Bolder Baking offers recipes and videos for home cooks, including a two-ingredient no-machine ice cream base with many flavor ideas. Her strawberry cheesecake ice cream turns the dessert into a specific recipe: whipped cream and sweetened condensed milk form the base, with cream cheese, strawberry puree and crushed graham crackers mixed in before freezing.

References: Gemma Stafford / Bigger Bolder Baking · Gemma Stafford / Bigger Bolder Baking · Gemma Stafford / Bigger Bolder Baking

The cheesecake connection is easy to follow. Cream cheese carries the filling, strawberry puree brings the fruit, and graham crackers suggest the crust. Stafford gives a choice between using those components and using pieces of her prepared New York cheesecake. Her recipe calls for at least six hours in the freezer, so this is a make-ahead dessert rather than an instant scoop.

References: Gemma Stafford / Bigger Bolder Baking

Choose Stafford when you want a written recipe and video to follow and ingredients you can connect to an existing dessert. Pulenaz’s two tubs show how a single choice about a topping changes the result; Stafford gives a more complete route from familiar cheesecake to a frozen version. Neither requires a shop-sized batch.

Adrienne Borlongan: developing a flavor for a shop

Adrienne Borlongan is the creative co-founder of Wanderlust Creamery, where she conceptualizes and crafts the ice creams in-house. The creamery links its Instagram account from its own site, and its flavor blog introduces seasonal selections. Her shop work gives flavor experiments a different destination from a tub made for a kitchen freezer.

References: Wanderlust Creamery · Wanderlust Creamery

Wanderlust’s Malted Ube illustrates how a flavor can begin with a question rather than a list of toppings. Borlongan wanted her version of ube ice cream to reflect her American upbringing as well as the purple yam. The shop describes a combination of sweet purple yam and malted milk, developed over months and introduced in 2016. The menu says the original crunchy inclusion is temporarily absent while a replacement is sought.

References: Wanderlust Creamery

In a shop video, Borlongan begins a toasted-rice and pear test before opening. She tastes the base, adds pear and finds that the fruit is too quiet beside the toasted note. She adjusts a second batch, then sets both aside for the team to taste. Before the doors open, she checks the tubs in the display and makes sure the scooping station is ready for customers.

When the lunch rush arrives, she pauses the experiment to serve scoops. Afterward, the team compares the two test batches: the pear is clearer in the second, but Borlongan decides to make another small trial before putting it on the menu. The video connects an appealing flavor idea to the practical rhythm of a shop, where testing has to fit around serving the flavors already in the case.

For someone interested in both a small shop and new flavors, Borlongan is the strongest choice here. Her ube-and-malt explanation shows the thought behind a menu flavor; the shop video follows a separate idea from tasting to a decision about what to try next.

Where to start

Start with Pulenaz for the pleasure of watching one home idea change between two tubs. Pick Stafford for a recipe with a familiar dessert identity and a clear ingredient list. Choose Borlongan for the progression from an unusual flavor concept to a shop menu, and for the practical choices behind running an ice cream business.

Sources and attribution

1. Wanderlust Creamery

   MenuPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

2. Gemma Stafford / Bigger Bolder Baking

   No-Machine Strawberry Cheesecake Ice CreamPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

3. Gemma Stafford / Bigger Bolder Baking

   The Easiest Homemade Ice Cream Recipe with 50+ FlavorsPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

4. Gemma Stafford / Bigger Bolder Baking

   About Bigger Bolder BakingPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

5. Wanderlust Creamery

   Our JourneyPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

6. Wanderlust Creamery

   Flavor BlogsPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026