Name: Ice Cream Soda with Homemade Chocolate Syrup
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: ½ c. water; ½ c. white sugar; 1/3 c. unsweetened dark cocoa powder; 1 t. real vanilla extract; 1/8 t. salt; 1 c. club soda; 3 c. vanilla ice cream; Whipped cream; Mini-chocolate chips; Maraschino cherries

Sometimes when the sun is high in the sky and the day seems to last forever, you just want something cooling and tasty. There are plenty of options but how about an ice cream soda on this occasion? With homemade chocolate syrup? Tempted?

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Let’s dive in because sometimes, it is the simple ones that do the best job!

Ice cream soda or ice cream float?

Now before we dive into the ‘how’ let’s take a moment to clarify what, especially for our US readers. Here in the UK, ice cream soda is the term we use for this recipe. But in the US, there is also the ice cream float – so what’s the difference?

There are probably plenty of opinions but this one from Mother Would Know made sense to me. If the drink uses soda water, carbonated water or seltzer and has flavoured syrup such as vanilla syrup on it, it is an ice cream soda. If it is made with root beer, cola or another flavoured soda then this qualifies as an ice cream float. Either way, tasty and simple!

What’s the best glass for an ice cream soda?

When it comes to making your ice cream soda recipe, you want to have all those ingredients, but you also want to have something else very important – the right glass.

A classic ice cream soda glass is very tall, and you will need those long handled latte glass spoons to get to the bottom. You do see some that are squatter and have a little pedestal foot but for me, tall and slender is the job. Of course, you can swap glass for funky plastic versions if you want – don’t forget the matching straw!

What you need to make the ice cream soda

Chocolate Syrup Ingredients:

½ c. water
½ c. white sugar
1/3 c. unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1 t. real vanilla extract
1/8 t. salt

Soda Ingredients:

1 c. club soda
3 c. vanilla ice cream

For Garnish:

Whipped cream
Mini-chocolate chips
Maraschino cherries

How to make the recipe

STEP ONE: To make the chocolate syrup, add the water with the sugar, cocoa, vanilla extract and salt into a small skillet over medium heat.

STEP TWO: Whisk until the sugar dissolves and the cocoa is mixed, 2-3 minutes then remove from the heat.

STEP THREE: Add a large spoonful of syrup to the bottom of each glass and top with soda to about halfway up.

STEP FOUR: Divide the ice cream between glasses and top with more syrup.

STEP FIVE: To serve top with whipped cream, mini chocolate chips and a maraschino cherry

Recipe tips

Chocolate: Use unsweetened chocolate or the drink could be too sweet. If you can’t find unsweetened, you might want to reduce the sugar in the syrup a little to compensate for this. Or just go for the sugar hit!

You can mix up this basic recipe in tons of ways. For starters, change the chocolate syrup for something like strawberry, caramel or even maple syrup. Then you can change the flavour of the ice cream. Choose something that matches up with the syrup for a full-on taste or a contrast – caramel syrup with chocolate ice cream and sprinkled with some nuts would be perfect!

Yield: 2 glasses