Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
Johannes Gutenberg, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, these are the names that come to mind when we think of the visionary inventors who indisputably shaped the course of history. Joining their ranks today is none other than Tyra Banks, who has come up with the most innovative culinary creation since the icebox: hot ice cream.
Did you not know that Banks has an ice-cream company and now lives in Sydney, Australia? Have you been living under a rock? The company is called Smize and Dream, and has been Banks’s main business focus since 2020. Their flagship store is in Sydney, where the people are apparently ice-cream obsessives. Now that you’re caught up, we can get back to the matter at hand, which is of course hot ice cream.
In an Instagram post, Banks shared that she had created “the world’s first HOT ice cream experience.” And before you ask any questions, Banks has answers. “Not a latte. Not a hot chocolate,” she wrote in her caption, “But your favorite scoops, transformed into liquid. hot. ice cream. Sippable, baby.” So melted ice cream? Let’s see how she explains it.
Banks said in the video that she’s been working on turning the flavor “Tyra’s Favorite” (“salted caramel butter & butter-roasted pecans in our rich salted sweet cream,” per the Smize and Dream website) into a hot liquid for a full year. She then reiterates that this is not a latte or a “flavored hot chocolate,” this is something else. This is hot ice cream. You can believe her because she’s wearing a little chef’s outfit in the video, which tells us that she’s serious about her craft.
The supermodel did not really explain how this is any different from hot chocolate, so I think we just have to believe her. My guess would be that the drink has more of an ice-cream base than a plain milk one, meaning it might be more … custardy? Hot custard? That could be nice. “You’ve licked it cold… now sip it hot,” Banks offered in her caption. And what I’m saying is that, as someone who supports female creators, my heart is open to sipping it hot.