Milkshakes, huh? I have one Sundae recipe and just posted it above...
Long Story short:
Milkshake Base Flavoring at 25%
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream - 10%
Marshmallow - 5%
French Vanilla Deluxe - 4%
Sweetener - 3%
Dulce de Leche - 2%
Koolada - 1%
Notice I use both the Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and the French Vanilla Deluxe...same as my Fudge Brownie Sundae. For some reason, this works best for me. And here we go on the Odyssey:
First things first. I start with six 100 ml beakers of 70% VG and VG Nicotine, ready to rock and roll. I'll be adding PG, including flavoring, of 30%. That's my target ratio, i.e., 30/70 PG/VG. I always buy my Nicotine at 100 mg/ml in VG, so my 6 mg/ml is always 6%, or 6 drops in a 100DT. Therefore, my VG carrier is always 64%, or 64 Drops (100DT). Simple, and easy to follow. KISS….it's too early in the morning to do otherwise…
Milkshake? Thinking either Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, or French Vanilla. Love them both. My favorite, actually. Nail the base vanilla milkshake, I can go anywhere, including chocolate, strawberry, oreo's, fruits, etc. Be the milkshake…As mentioned, I've had good luck using both together.
Started off my milkshake by testing a 10% Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Impressions are tasty, but thin, not creamy, high custard note, weak. Increased to 15% VBIC. I want to leave room at the top (25%) for milkshake flavorings like fruits, nuts, oreo cookies, etc., so I can't go too much higher than 15% without bursting through my preconceived 30% overall flavoring mix threshold. I know I need to get this mix sweeter, thicker, creamier, and with more "in your face" vanilla.
I do know that a 2-3% dulce de leche is going to get me sweeter, thicker and creamier, so I still have some room, but not a lot. Ok, the 15% VBIC is the flavor I want. Can't be stronger, but strong enough, hopefully wil withstand the supporting flavors to come. If I need a percent here or there, I can probably drop to 13-14%, if I need to. Let's see how the other primary/secondary flavorings go. Let's first attack with Dulce de Leche at 2%:
VBIC - 15%
Dulce de Leche - 2%
Immediately notice that the flavoring changed. Also, notice that we're much thicker on this juice. Amazing, really….how this works. Vaping. Even the vapor feels thicker. Does that make sense? There's my sweet milk. Don't feel like I need to add dairy milk, the TFA flavoring. This is working fine in that regard. Pretty sweet as well…but I like it even sweeter. Now thinking about a popular combination (for me anyways)….sweet cream and sweetener. Maybe 2-3% each. Also, more in your face vanilla. Vanilla Swirl is the sweetest of the TFA vanillas, Vanillin notwithstanding. Probably need to do vanilla swirl first, because that will affect how much sweetener we add if any. We shall see. We're closing in on it. Did lose some of the Vanilla Bean though. To be expected….but did we lose too much? I think when this flavor bonds, it's going to be fine, better than fine…perhaps outstanding. We shall see.
Will Vanilla Swirl take me further away from the Vanilla Bean? How about French vanilla cream? Thick, sweet, vanilla, and in the same VBIC family, more or less…taste-wise. Perhaps a better choice than sweet cream? Maybe a replacement for Vanilla Swirl? I think yes…and, so we try:
VBIC - 15%
Dulce de Leche - 2%
French Vanilla Cream - 3%
Ok, that dulled the flavoring, while changing the flavoring and taking us away from VBIC. Not bad, but not as good as before the FVC. Backtrack:
VBIC - 15%
Dulce de Leche - 2%
Vanilla Swirl - 3%
Better. Smoothed the VBIC and DdL. Definitely vanilla. Good, but again, took us away from VBIC, and smooth means less thickness. We need more thickness. Back Track:
VBIC - 18%
Dulce de Leche - 3%
Sweetener - 4%
This was not bad, but lacked depth and thickness that I need. Maybe something like marshmallow or whipped cream? Works in Lemon and Key Lime pies pretty well. Good sense of thickness in those juices. Let's try:
VBIC - 15%
Dulce de Leche - 2%
Marshmallow - 5%
Sweetener - 3%
Notice I'm now bumping into the 25% upper limit of the vanilla ice cream "Base." This needs to work. So, another tank, and…..that works pretty well. The mix has thickness and depth now, much better than before. Flavor?….vaping….good sweetness….definitely get the dairy flavoring….vanilla…check….not really tasting the Vanilla Bean, but it tastes more like vanilla extract to me. This is probably ok as a base. Perfect? No way…but a start. We just have to see how this flavor bonds and steeps, and how it plays with the primary added flavorings such as strawberry, etc.
As I've mentioned before, supporting flavors, like marshmallow here, at less than 6% don't usually take over the mixes, but, rather, enhance the mix. That is happening here. If the vanilla bean was coming through really strong, then I might consider this Base "done." May still get there because this is pretty good, so there's a chance with bonding/steeping (48 hours or less at these flavor percentages).
One of my goals, though, was "In Your Face" vanilla. We don't have that. Vanillin might fix that. It's super strong and hard to shake. It lingers….Since the VBIC is not really there, in strength, I could reduce it to say 12% and add Vanillin at 3% and check it. First I'll try French Vanilla Deluxe and see if that does the trick, then maybe the Vanillin:
VBIC - 12%
Dulce de Leche - 2%
Marshmallow - 5%
Sweetener - 3%
French Vanilla Deluxe - 3%
Another beaker, another tank…vaping…Ok, this is the best so far. It just needs to be frozen! More vanilla (not IYF), depth, thickness, sweet, dairy….it may be ready for the oreos! Still not vanilla bean, but I do taste the French Vanilla, so similar flavor family, this one with an egg!
Now I'm thinking if the French Vanilla can be tasted at 3%, why use vanilla bean ice cream? Why not all French Vanilla? Also, Mom mentioned koolada for that cooling affect. I was not big on that at first, but I'm thinking that might be a good idea. A drop of koolada, taken from the VBIC? Ok, let's do it:
VBIC - 10%
Marshmallow - 5%
French Vanilla Deluxe - 4%
Sweetener - 3%
Dulce de Leche - 2%
Koolada - 1%
Surprisingly good!
I guess with that much vanilla and cream, the koolada is very, very subdued. Just a hint. Notice I also dropped the VBIC by another 1% and added 1% more FVD. Now the vanilla is right there. This is a good, solid base. May even be great after Bonding/Steeping. We shall see. There's 5% on the top for the other primary flavorings.
On another note, I did consider vanilla custard in lieu of the marshmallow. But, then, it would be a custard, not an ice cream. I have many custard recipes and I want something new. I think this base is workable. We'll see if it plays nice with TFA's arsenal of primary and supporting flavorings. Will need to be strong flavorings too, with only 5% to play with. However, I don't want to dominate the ice cream base, so I think I'll be ok. See what you guys think?
So many of you have posted ideas about milkshakes over the last few days and I've had a chance to go back and look at them. Many of your ideas are incorporated herein, though, for the most part, I arrived here by simple trial and error as you can see with about ten 100DT's, more than ever before!
Anyway, I wanted to acknowledge that and thank you all for your ideas. This recipe may need to be tweaked once blended/bonded and steeped, so we shall see.
