Cuisinart ICE-70 Review: Ice cream and Gelato?

The ICE-70 [Amazon] is the premium model in the range of ice cream makers from Cuisinart that use removable, freezable bowls.

The way it makes the ice cream is exactly the same as all the other models in the range. And in fact, in many respects it's identical to the ICE-30.

But there are some added features which may or may not make it worth the slightly higher price. And if you keep reading, we'll take a close look at these features.

We'll also look at how well it makes ice cream, gelato, sorbets and other frozen goodies. I'll weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the ICE-70. And finally, I'll recommend some alternatives if it's not quite the best ice cream maker for you!

What I like about the Cuisinart ICE-70 ice cream maker

1. It's really well-made

Like all the Cuisinart ice cream makers, the ICE-70 is a robust machine with a high quality finish. The motor is powerful, and the base is strong: I know this ice cream maker will last many years!

2. It's relatively simple

Ice cream makers with removable, freezable bowls are probably the simplest type you can buy. This means that they're very easy to use. But more importantly, there's very little that can break or go wrong.

3. It makes great ice cream

As long as your recipe's good and your freezer gets the bowl cold enough, the ICE-70 will always produce quality ice cream, gelato, sorbet.

In fact, there are just 4 parts that make up the ICE-70 ice cream maker:

1. The base that holds the motor and the control panel
2. A removable, freezable bowl
3. The "dasher" which is a paddle that churns the ice cream
4. A transparent lid that holds everything in place

The base of the Cuisinart ICE-70

The base of the ICE-70 is very similar to that of the more basic ICE-30. It's made from the same handsome, brushed, stainless steel. And there's also an embossed Cuisinart logo on the front.

It's pretty much the same size too, measuring 9.5 x 8.5 x 10.5" (24 x 21.5 x 27 cm).

However, while the only control on the ICE-30 is a manual on/off switch, the ICE-70 has an electronic control panel on the front. This contains an adjustable timer display and 4 touch sensitive buttons:

1. START/STOP
2. ICE CREAM
3. GELATO
4. SORBET

These buttons clearly allow you to select different programs according to which type of frozen dessert you want to make.

Once you select a type of dessert, a pre-set time lights up in the display. This is how long Cuisinart recommends this type of dessert is churned for.

If you leave the pre-set time as it is and press the start button, the machine will begin to churn, and the timer will start counting down. However, there are also a couple of arrows that allow you to adjust the pre-set time, but only before you press the start button.

Once the machine begins churning, you can't adjust the time.

Why would you want to adjust the time away from the pre-set recommendations? Well, how long it actually takes to finish your dessert will depend on a whole load of factors including, how much mixture there is, how cold it is, what recipe you're using, how cold the bowl is etc.

After a while you'll get a feel for this and more often than not it will be different to the pre-set time. So think of the pre-set times as for guidance only!

But I'll talk about these functions and how well they work in a lot more detail further on in the review!

Underneath the base, there are four rubber tipped feet that keep the machine firmly in place while the mixture's being churned and, by dampening vibrations, slightly lessen the noise.

There's also a small cavity in which to store the 35" (90 cm) power cable and plug when the machine's not in use.

At the bottom of the big cavity in the base is a 12 toothed gear which is turned by a motor underneath. This gear fits into the base of the removable bowl. So when the machine is churning, it's actually the bowl that is rotating rather than the dasher (mixer). I'll talk about this more later.

All in all, the base feels sturdy and well-made. It's not super heavy, but it's got enough weight to keep the machine steady while it's in use.

The Cuisinart ICE-70 removable bowl

The bowl that comes with the ICE-70 is identical to the one that comes with the ICE-30. It has a 2 quart (1.5 liter) capacity, and it measures 7.8" (19.7 cm) across and 6.4" high (16.3 cm).

These measurements are really important, because: this bowl needs to fit in your freezer. If you can't get it in your freezer, you won't be able to make ice cream! So do check carefully that the bowl's going to fit before you buy the ICE-70!

If it doesn't, don't worry! There are machines with smaller bowls. And there are also machines with their own, built in freezers, so you don't have to put anything (except the finished ice cream!) in your main freezer.

The bowl's sides are lined with a special liquid gel that becomes solid as it freezes. So at room temperature, if you shake the bowl, you can hear the liquid sloshing about. But once it's frozen hard, you can't hear anything if you shake it.

And this is an easy way to tell if it's been in the freezer for long enough!

Cuisinart actually recommend that you leave the bowl in the freezer for between 12 and 24 hours to make sure it's frozen. However, once you've made your ice cream, if you wash and dry the bowl and return it to the freezer straight away, it will never completely defrost and will be ready to use again much sooner.

However, don't forget that as soon as you take it out of the freezer, it will start to warm up. So it's best not to remove it until you're ready to churn your ice cream!

The dasher of the Cuisinart ICE-70

The "dasher" is just the posh name for the paddle that actually mixes the ice cream. It's only a simple piece of plastic. But it has 2 important jobs:

1. Scraping the frozen mixture from the sides of the bowl
2. Adding air to the ice cream mixture

Unlike many other ice cream machines, on the Cuisinart models, the dasher doesn't actually move. Instead, the dasher is held in place by the lid while the bowl is rotated by the gear at the bottom of the base.

This might not seem like a big deal, but this is the reason that the Cuisinart ice cream makers are so much better that the other brands…

Other ice cream makers tend to rotate the dasher from above. And in this position, they don't have enough power and leverage to keep mixing the ice cream as it starts to harden. This can lead to gears slipping and horrible clunking noises that will make you think the machine is broken. Sometimes the motor can just stop.

By rotating the bowl from below, the Cuisinart machines get a lot more leverage and power. So (in my experience at least) there's no slipping, no clunking and the motor always finishes the job!

One problem with this dasher (and in fact with all the dashers on all the ice cream makers I've tested) is that there's a small gap between the blade and the side of the bowl.

This means that there's always a thin layer of ice cream that's frozen to the sides of the bowl, which isn't scraped off. Why is this important? Well, making smooth ice cream is all about freezing it as fast as possible. And this thin layer of frozen ice cream on the side of the bowl will provide some degree of insulation and slow the freezing process.

But on the ICE-70, the gap is so small that there isn't much of a layer left on the sides of the bowl. Which is one of the reasons the ICE-70 freezes the mixture so fast and the ice cream is so smooth!

The lid of the Cuisinart ICE-70

The lid of the ICE-70 is a very simple, transparent plastic thing. However, unlike other Cuisinart models, on the ICE-70 it comes in 2 parts. There's the main lid. And there's a plug that fills the hole in the middle of the main lid

The hole in the lid is important if you want to add extras to your ice cream. Things like chocolate chips, pieces of fruit and candies should never be added at the start as they can disintegrate over the course of the churning and even slow down the freezing.

Instead, these extras should be added 5 minutes before the ice cream's finished, when it's already pretty firm. This is where the hole comes in handy. Other machines (that rotate the dasher from above) don't have this easy access hole, so adding extras requires you to turn the machine off, which can be a right faff!

The plug that fills the hole in the ICE-70 will keep sticky young fingers from interfering with the machine while it's running! But its main purpose is as a measuring cup for the extras that you might be adding towards the end of the churning.

It's also worth mentioning that it's the lid that anchors the dasher so that it doesn't move while the bowl is being rotated from below. This means the machine won't work without the lid!

How to use the Cuisinart ICE-70 ice cream maker

There are 5 stages to making ice cream with the ICE-70. Yeah, I know that sounds like a lot! But in fact, they're pretty simple:

1. Freeze the bowl
2. Make the ice cream mixture
3. Churn and freeze the mixture in the ICE-70
4. Transfer the ice cream to the freezer to firm up
5. Clean the ICE-70

Stage 1: Freeze the Cuisinart ICE-70 bowl

So we already know that we have to chill the bowl in the freezer until the liquid gel inside the walls freezes solid. This will take between 12 and 24 hours. It’s probably best to leave it overnight the first time since it's unlikely to be disturbed (when you open the door, the temp drops).

Before you put the bowl in the freezer, you could cover the top with a layer of cling film, secured with an elastic band, and then put the whole bowl in a plastic bag. 

The cling film prevents any ice or water vapor that might spoil the ice cream getting in the bowl. And the plastic bag stops the bowl from getting any freezer burns.

However, this isn’t necessary. I don’t always bother anymore and haven’t had any issues.

The colder you can get the bowl, the faster the ICE-70 will work and the smoother your ice cream will be. So if you can adjust the temperature on your freezer, turn it down to the coldest setting. Then put the bowl in the coldest part of the freezer, which is usually at the back.

Don't remove the bowl from the freezer until your mixture is ready to be churned. Why? Because as soon as the bowl is out of the freezer, it starts to warm up. And the warmer it gets, the slower it will freeze your mixture!

Stage 2: Make the ice cream mixture

This is the most important part of making ice cream. By and large it's the recipe that will determine whether your ice cream is a smooth, creamy, full-bodied success or an icy, watery, thin failure!

That's especially the case with these types of ice cream makers. They are so simple, there's very little that can go wrong, as long as your recipe's good (and your freezer's working!).

Now, it goes without saying that the best bit about owning your own ice cream maker is inventing your own recipes! But when you're starting out, I would urge caution...

You can't throw any old combination of milk, cream, sugar and who knows what else into the machine and expect it to pump out amazing ice cream. The recipes need to be balanced. And you won't know how to balance your own recipes until you have a bit of experience.

So I would recommend starting out with some tried and tested recipes. Either from books, from the decent websites, or why not from the recipe booklet that comes with the Cuisinart ICE-70?

The booklet contains 38 recipes for ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt, sorbet and even ice cream sandwiches and cakes! They’re not the most exciting recipes, but they're a great place to start.

Then when you've got some experience, and you've read a little more about the science of ice cream and how to balance your mixtures, then you can start getting crazy inventive!

So pick a good recipe and prepare your mixture. Once it's prepared, you'll need to chill it to around 39°F (4°C) which, luckily enough, should be the temperature of your fridge. Some recipes can be prepared with cold ingredients. And if they come straight from the fridge, you can probably make the recipe and stick the mixture straight in the machine.

But if there's any cooking involved, you'll need to wait until the mixture's cooled down. The quickest way to do this (and the quicker you do it, the less chance there is of harmful bacteria forming) is to pour it into a zip lock bag and put it in an ice bath. But if you haven't got any zip lock bags, just cover the bowl with cling film and when it's cooled down a bit, put it in the fridge.

Alternatives to the Cuisinart ICE-70

So if you're thinking that perhaps the ICE-70 isn't the right choice for you, let's look at a couple of other ice cream makers that might be...

Looking for something cheaper?

This is an easy one. The Cuisinart ICE-30 is almost identical to the ICE-70. It has the same 2 quart capacity. It features the same brushed steel body. And the bowl, the paddle and the lid are all pretty much the same.

However, the ICE-30 doesn't feature the fancy control panel with the different settings for different types of frozen treats. So you won't be able to easily vary the amount of air in your desserts.

More importantly, the ICE-30 features an older dasher design that's not as efficient as the one you get with the ICE-70. It only has one blade, there's a bigger gap between it and the side of the bowl, and it doesn't seem to mix the mixture as well. All this means the ICE-30 freezes more slowly and the ice cream is slightly less smooth.

Of course, the ICE-30 is a fair bit cheaper. And if your main priority is 2 quarts of ice cream at a much cheaper price point, then the ICE-30 is a great alternative!

Looking for a compressor machine that will make ice cream and gelato?

Yes, this is another Cuisinart model, I'm afraid! But the Cuisinart ICE-100 is a completely different kind of machine, as it freezes the ice cream with its own built in compressor.

So there's no bowl to fit in your freezer, and there's no need to plan anything in advance. If you want ice cream, just turn it on to pre-cool, add your mixture and in 30 to 40 minutes you'll be eating ice cream!

The disadvantage of these compressor ice cream makers is that they're more expensive. The compressors can also be quite delicate, so they have a tendency to develop (or be shipped with) more faults. And they take up more room on your counter top!

But in this case, the great thing about the ICE-100 is that it comes with 2 paddles. One for ice cream and another for gelato. And while both paddles spin at the same rpm, they will actually introduce different amounts of air into the final product. Which means the gelato will be more dense than the ice cream.

So if you're looking for ice cream and gelato settings with all the advantages of a machine with a built-in freezer, then the Cuisinart ICE-100 is the machine for you!

Still not convinced? Check out my guides to the best ice cream maker and the best ice cream maker with compressor.

Final thoughts on the Cuisinart ICE-70 ice cream maker

Cuisinart make the best freezer bowl ice cream makers. There's no doubt about that. I wouldn't recommend any other brand. And the Cuisinart ICE-70 [Amazon] is the top ice cream maker in their range.

The question is: is it worth the extra money?

Well, the Cuisinart ICE-70 is a definite step-up, both in terms of the features it offers and the quality of the ice cream it produces...

The improved dasher is much more efficient than the one you get in older machines like the ICE-30. This means the mixture freezes faster and the final ice cream is smoother.

And the ice cream, gelato and sorbet settings allow us to vary the amount of air that's incorporated into the mixture to produce genuinely different textures, just as we find in proper ice cream parlors and gelaterias.

So for me, yes, it's definitely worth the extra money. And don't forget that although it might be expensive for a freezer bowl machine, it's really cheap compared to many compressor machines.

And this is despite the fact that it makes better quality, smoother ice cream than most of those compressor machines! So buy with confidence.

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