Freakshake — the over-the-top loaded milkshake

i. Origin & history

The freakshake as a named thing is usually credited to Patissez, a café in the Canberra suburb of Manuka, run by pastry chef Anna Petridis. In early 2015 the café began serving milkshakes in mason jars with their rims caked in chocolate or Nutella and their tops piled with cream, sauces, pretzels, brownies and other sweets. Photographs of them spread quickly on Instagram, queues followed, and within months the word 'freakshake' was being used by cafés across Australia, the UK and North America.

The idea did not come from nowhere. American diners and soda fountains had long served shakes with whipped cream and a cherry, and at almost the same moment Black Tap in New York was building its own heavily garnished 'CrazyShakes', which became the American face of the trend. Which came first is a matter of some friendly dispute; what is clear is that both drew on the same visual logic — a dessert designed to be photographed from the side, with everything visible through the glass.

That is why the freakshake sits in the North American section of this guide despite its Australian birthplace. Its components — vanilla and chocolate shakes, glazed doughnuts, chocolate-chip cookies, fudge and caramel sauces, sprinkles — are the classic American soda-fountain vocabulary, piled higher than any diner would have dared. It belongs with the cronut and the doughnut ice cream cone as one of the 2010s 'hybrid' sweets that spread by image as much as by taste.

The name is simply 'freak' plus 'shake' — a shake that is freakishly large. It is written as one word, two words or hyphenated; 'freakshake' is the usual form. The original Patissez shakes were not wildly complicated by later standards — the early favourites were built around salted caramel, pretzels and chocolate — and many cafés now offer a stripped-back version precisely because the most extreme ones are hard to actually drink.

ii. How to build a freakshake that stands up

A freakshake has to do two things at once: be a good, cold, thick milkshake, and support a heavy, unstable load on top for at least the few minutes it takes to carry and photograph it. Both depend on temperature and thickness.

The shake itself must be thick — closer to soft-serve than to a drinkable milk drink. The ratio is roughly two parts ice cream to one part milk by volume. A thin shake cannot support whipped cream, which sinks into it, and the toppings then slide off the rim. Blend only briefly: a long blend warms the ice cream through friction and the motor, and the shake loses body before it reaches the glass.

The glass should be cold. A jar straight from the freezer sets the sauce on the rim almost instantly, which is what lets the sprinkles or crushed biscuits cling in a thick band instead of running down in streaks. The cold glass also buys the shake several extra minutes before it starts to thin.

The topping is built like a structure, not scattered. Whipped cream is piped stiffly into a dome that rises above the rim, so that heavier items have something to sit in. The heaviest pieces — a doughnut, a brownie, a cake slice — are either set directly on the cream at the centre or speared on a wooden skewer pushed down into the shake, which anchors them. Lighter things such as cookies and pretzels are pressed into the sides of the cream at angles. Sauces go on last, so their weight does not collapse the cream before everything else is in place.

Finally, speed. From the moment the shake is blended you have perhaps five minutes before it begins to loosen, so every component — whipped cream, decorated glass, cut cake, skewered doughnut — should be ready before the ice cream comes out of the freezer.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 2 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 500 g vanilla ice cream (about 6 scoops)
• 200 ml cold whole milk
• 3 tbsp salted caramel sauce, plus extra to drizzle
• 4 tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread or thick fudge sauce, for the rims
• 4 tbsp sprinkles or crushed biscuits, for the rims
• 200 ml double cream
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 small glazed doughnuts
• 2 brownie squares or cake slices
• 4 chocolate-chip cookies or wafers
• 10 mini pretzels
• 2 maraschino cherries

Use a dense, full-fat ice cream; cheap, heavily aerated ice cream melts to a foamy, thin shake that will not support anything. Whole milk keeps the shake rich — swap in a little more ice cream rather than less milk if you want it thicker. Double cream whipped with a little icing sugar holds its shape longer than aerosol cream, which collapses within a minute or two. For the rim, anything sticky and spreadable works: chocolate hazelnut spread, thick fudge sauce, peanut butter or melted white chocolate. The toppings are entirely flexible — the classic choices are a glazed doughnut, a brownie, cookies and something salty such as pretzels or popcorn to cut the sweetness.

iv. Method

1. Put two tall glasses or 500 ml jars in the freezer for at least 20 minutes. Take the ice cream out of the freezer 5 minutes before blending so it softens slightly.
2. Whip the double cream with the icing sugar to stiff peaks — the cream should hold a firm point when the whisk is lifted. Spoon into a piping bag with a large star nozzle and keep in the fridge.
3. Prepare the toppings: cut the brownies or cake into slices, push each doughnut onto a long wooden skewer, and have the cookies, pretzels and cherries ready on a tray.
4. Spread the chocolate hazelnut spread thickly around the outside top 3–4 cm of each frozen glass, and drizzle a little down the inside. Roll the rim in sprinkles or crushed biscuits immediately so they stick, then return the glasses to the freezer.
5. Blend the ice cream, milk and 3 tbsp caramel sauce for 15–20 seconds only, until smooth but still thick enough to hold a spoon upright for a moment. Do not over-blend.
6. Pour the shake into the cold glasses, filling to about 1 cm below the rim. Pipe a tall swirl of whipped cream on top, rising well above the glass.
7. Push the skewered doughnut down through the cream into the shake so it stands securely. Press the brownie or cake slice, cookies and pretzels into the cream at angles around it.
8. Drizzle with extra caramel sauce, top with a cherry, add a wide straw and a long spoon, and serve within a couple of minutes.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Keep the shake thick. Two parts ice cream to one part milk is the starting point. A runny shake swallows the whipped cream and everything on top sinks or slides off.
• Freeze the glasses. A frozen jar sets the rim coating in seconds so the sprinkles stay put, and keeps the shake from melting while you build the topping.
• Blend briefly. Fifteen to twenty seconds is enough. Long blending heats the ice cream and gives a thin, frothy drink.
• Use a skewer for the heavy pieces. A doughnut or cake slice balanced on soft cream will topple. Spearing it on a wooden skewer pushed into the shake anchors it.
• Whip real cream, not aerosol. Canned cream looks dramatic for about a minute and then deflates. Stiffly whipped double cream holds for ten minutes or more.
• Add something salty or sharp. Pretzels, salted caramel, peanut butter or a few raspberries stop the whole thing being relentlessly sweet and make it far easier to finish.
• Prepare everything first. Once the shake is blended you have only a few minutes, so the cream, glasses and toppings must all be ready.

vi. Variations

The original Patissez shakes leaned on salted caramel, pretzels and chocolate, and that combination remains the classic. A chocolate freakshake uses chocolate ice cream, fudge sauce and a brownie; a cookies-and-cream version blends crushed chocolate sandwich biscuits into the shake and coats the rim in crumbs; a strawberry version uses strawberry ice cream, a white-chocolate rim and a slice of sponge or cheesecake. Peanut-butter freakshakes, with a peanut-butter rim and a peanut-butter cup on top, are common in North America.

Black Tap's New York 'CrazyShakes' are the closest American relatives, often topped with an entire slice of cake or a lollipop. In Singapore the Milo Dinosaur is a far simpler cousin in the same over-topped spirit. For a less extravagant ice-cream treat, see the doughnut ice cream cone, frozen custard or a classic rocky road ice cream.

vii. Serving & storage

A freakshake is a sharing dessert in practice, even if it is served in one glass: one between two is plenty for most people, and cafés usually provide two straws and a long spoon. Serve it on a plate or board to catch the inevitable drips, and eat the toppings first, before they slide, then drink the shake.

It cannot be stored or made ahead once assembled — the cream sinks and the shake melts within ten to fifteen minutes. You can, however, prepare the components in advance: decorate the rims of the glasses and keep them in the freezer for up to a day, whip the cream a few hours ahead and keep it chilled in the piping bag, and bake brownies or cookies up to three days before. Leftover shake can be frozen in a lidded container and re-blended with a splash of milk, though it will be icier than before.

ix. More from North American

• Doughnut Ice Cream Cone — ice cream in a doughnut cone
• Maple Bacon Donut — sweet-and-salty glazed doughnut
• Frozen Custard — Midwest egg-rich soft-serve
• Rocky Road Ice Cream — chocolate, marshmallow and nuts
• Milo Dinosaur — Singapore's over-topped iced Milo
• Cronut — New York's croissant-doughnut hybrid