Frozen Butterbeer

Overview

This is the easy, frozen take on Butterbeer: you slush plain cream soda into a soft, scoopable base and crown it with a quick butterscotch whipped-cream foam made separately. No homemade syrup, no thermometer — the whole thing comes together with a slush machine (or a blender) and a hand mixer. The foam is built to scale cleanly, so a bigger crowd is just a bigger batch.

Steps

1. Slush the cream soda

Slush 24 oz of cream soda using whatever you’ve got:

• Ice cream maker (best): Pour the cream soda into a pre-frozen canister and churn 20–25 minutes until slushy and soft-serve thick.
• Ninja Slushi: Run the slush cycle, about 25–30 minutes.
• Blender (fastest): Freeze most of the cream soda in ice-cube trays overnight, then blend the cubes with a small splash of fresh cream soda until slushy.
• No machine: Pour into a shallow metal pan, freeze, and scrape with a fork every 30 minutes until you have a fluffy slush (about 2–3 hours).

Cream soda is sweet enough to slush up smooth on its own. For an even silkier texture or deeper flavor, stir in the optional 1 tbsp sugar and/or 2 tbsp Torani butterscotch syrup before freezing.

Slushing the cream soda — 22 min

2. Whip the foam

In a chilled bowl, combine the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and McCormick Butterbeer Flavor. Whip with a hand mixer (or a whisk and some elbow grease) to medium peaks — glossy and holding a soft peak, not stiff. Make this while the base slushes so it’s fresh when you serve.

3. Assemble and serve

Scoop the slush into chilled mugs and crown each with a generous dollop of the foam. Don’t stir — let it sit on top like a proper Butterbeer head. Serve immediately, while the slush is still soft.

Notes

• No McCormick Butterbeer Flavor? Two ways to fake it in the foam:
  • Extract blend: Swap in butter, vanilla, and caramel extracts totaling the same amount as the McCormick, skewed butter-heavy. For the full 8-serving batch (1 tsp McCormick), use about ½ tsp butter extract + ¼ tsp vanilla + ¼ tsp caramel, scaled to your servings. Start light and taste — butter should clearly lead, and extract strength varies by brand.
  • Torani route: Fold a splash of Torani butterscotch syrup into the cream instead, then add a few drops of whatever’s missing — usually a little butter and/or vanilla extract — to round it out.
• Cream soda choice: A vanilla-forward cream soda like IBC or A&W is ideal — its sugar keeps the slush soft and scoopable. Avoid root beer (wrong flavor).
• Slush too icy? If your cream soda freezes hard (diet or less-sweet brands will), stir in the optional 1 tbsp sugar and/or 2 tbsp Torani butterscotch syrup before freezing — extra sugar keeps the ice crystals small, and the Torani also deepens the base flavor.
• Whip only to medium peaks. Over-whipped cream turns grainy and weeps faster — you want a soft, glossy foam that holds its shape on top of the cold base.
• Serve right away. Frozen drinks soften fast. Crown each mug just before handing it over.
• Scaling: The amounts scale cleanly — bump the servings to 8 and the foam lands on the classic batch (1 cup heavy cream, ¼ cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp Butterbeer flavor).