Taste of Italy that’s made here in Yorkshire

The ice cream in Vanilla Bean’s intricate gelato cakes is made with an Italian machine, to Italian recipes and with Italian flavours.

But the people behind these creations are not from Rome or Rimini, but Marsden. And the dairy produce they use comes direct from Samuel Brigg and Sons’ farm in Pole Moor, less than two miles from the café.

Janice and Eric Joyce of the Vanilla Bean have been entering, and winning, national ice cream competitions for the last four years. This year they clinched the top prize at the UK’s most important national competition, the National Ice Cream Competition in Harrogate, hosted by trade association the Ice Cream Alliance.

Their entry in the large artistic cake class won them the Dick Coletta Rose Bowl, which was donated by Huddersfield company Coletta’s over 30 years ago. “It’s nice to bring it home,” says Eric.

“We entered five classes,” he adds. “We also got a silver medal in the Honeycomb class and silver in the open flavour class with my Yorkshire Toffee flavour. The judges are top artisan ice cream makers from all over the UK. It’s quite rigorous. We also got two diplomas in our other entries, so we didn’t do bad.”

The couple have come a long way since Janice established Vanilla Bean in 2005 with her friend Liz Voros.

When Liz had to step down due to work commitments, Janice found she was making bigger and bigger amounts of ice cream, and she also found the work was becoming increasingly taxing.

Eric took over the manufacturing side of the business in 2009, after retiring from a 21-year stint with the fire service in Dewsbury. The next year he was in Rimini, studying the art of gelato and attending the world’s biggest ice cream fair.

‘There were 10 halls,’ he says. ‘It was as big as a football pitch.’ The hall that inspired him the most was devoted to gelato cakes. “Every cabinet that you see is full of ice cream cakes. They’re so detailed and imaginative. I’ve always been artistic. I used to paint watercolours and sell them at Holmfirth Art Week. I wanted to have a go.”

It took Eric a while to find the equipment and ingredients he needed. He discovered a bakery in Manchester that imports the sponge base for the cakes. He buys acetate ribbon from a firm in Stockport.

The equipment and moulds come through specialist suppliers or direct from the continent. Eric and Janice struggle to carry home their luggage when they visit Italy.

The flavours Eric uses are Italian, produced by MEC3 and distributed by Antonelli Brothers of Eccles. “They’re the only sugar cone producers in the UK and have been going for over 100 years,” says Eric. “They’ve been very good friends to us and given us a lot of support.”

Local sourcing is very important to both Eric and Janice, and they began using milk and cream from Neil and Jacqui Brigg at Far Worts Hill Farm five years ago.

“It says something about your ice cream and it gives it its flavour,” Eric says. “Some gelato makers use Jersey milk. Neil keeps Friesians.”

To make his ice cream cakes, Eric mixes Brigg milk and cream with egg custard and meringue and the Italian flavourings to make semi freddo. He lines a stainlesss steel ring with acetate ribbon, places a sheet of sponge at the base and pours in the mix at a cold temperature.

He glazes the cakes with farci, a fruit gel, and decorates them with chocolate or sugar work, edible paint and fresh fruit, which is glazed to preserve its flavour and colour.

Each of his creations is different. “I like to do it to order. Customers can tell me what they want, so they have something special and one-off.”

Eric and Janice enjoy telling customers that not only does Vanilla Bean use milk from the Brigg family farm, just up the road, but they also employ one of their daughters, Hannah.

“The best thing is the satisfaction of watching all the people outside the café eating ice cream on a sunny day,” Eric says.

“It’s an Italian style product, made with English milk, and a Yorkshire twist.”