Cauldron’s Rose-Shaped Ice Cream Puffle Cone Is The Perfect Valentine’s Day Treat
I love ice cream beyond any other dessert. It’s sweet, it’s cold, it’s creamy, it’s perfect. Any excuse to eat ice cream, I’ll jump on it.
So when I heard that Cauldron, a local ice cream shop in Santa Ana, CA, was making some special rose-shaped ice cream treats for Valentine’s Day, I leapt at the chance to check it out.
Cauldron’s specialty is a variety of top-notch liquid nitrogen ice creams. While liquid nitrogen isn’t necessarily the newest trend from the ice cream trend, Cauldron stands out by picking a unique vessel to serve their frozen creations in – Puffle cones.
Basically, a puffle is Cauldron’s name for Hong Kong-style egg waffles – a light, airy waffle cooked in a special plate that makes it look like a massive piece of bubble wrap. It’s incredibly tasty, airy, chewy, and light – and could arguably replace actual waffles as the best ice cream cone out there.
These puffles serve as the base for a variety of flavors that Cauldron makes, including a “Rose H2O” option that features rose water and their newest flavor – Nutella.
As an homage to Valentine’s Day, the ice cream parlor is turning any of their ice cream scoops into a gorgeous rose, and fellow Foodbeast Raphael and myself were able to see the entire process in action.
Cauldron starts off by pouring their homemade liquid ice cream base into a mixer attached to a liquid nitrogen unit. As the ice cream is mixed, liquid nitrogen is added to freeze the sweet dessert within minutes.
A scoop of the newly made ice cream is then added onto a Puffle cone. At this point, if you get the Rose H2O ice cream, a sprinkling of rose sugar comes on top (the other ice cream flavors won’t have that, but still look pretty as roses). Then, the ice cream scoop is transformed into a flower by some ingenious method.
Cauldron wouldn’t let us see the entire process of the rose being formed from that point, but we did get to see Nick, the manager, form the last two petals with an ice cream scoop.
The ice cream rose then gets blasted with a quick hit of liquid nitrogen to refreeze it before being served. It was a cool and fun process – and the ice cream is just as fun to eat as it is to see being made.
Both Raphael and I enjoyed the powerfully fragrant-but-sweet Rose ice cream and the chewy, eggy Puffle that encased it. It was truly a Valentine’s Day masterpiece – and whether you’re single or have a date for the special occasion, it’s a treat that speaks to your heart.
If you’re in the Santa Ana area, and you’re looking for a fun dessert spot to check out for Valentine’s Day (or beyond), give Cauldron some consideration. It’s definitely got the most unique ice cream cones out there – and some gorgeous ice cream flowers as well.
