What is spumoni gelato and how does it differ from ice cream?

What is spumoni?

Spumoni comes from the Italian word “spuma,” which means “foam,” and this is probably because of its airy texture, which has been loved since the late 19th century.  

It’s a moulded three-layer cake that's frozen for a few hours and served in slices rather than scoops like ice cream. Each layer blends gelato with whipped cream, and the flavours are typically pistachio, cherry, and chocolate.  

The extra ingredients that are mixed into each layer of gelato are what keep most people coming back for another slice. Candied fruits, nuts, and chocolate chips are speckled throughout the dessert, adding texture, gourmet flavour, and delicious surprises.  

 

The traditional 3 flavours in spumoni 

Traditionally, it’s created from pistachio, cherry, and chocolate gelato flavours. Although now, you can also find the chocolate swapped for vanilla or almond gelato, paying tribute to the green, red and white colours of the Italian flag.  

 

How is spumoni different from ice cream? 

Spumoni and ice cream are both ideal summertime sweets hailing from Italy, but they’re definitely not the same, and we’ll share their differences below.   

While spumoni and ice cream may both be exceptionally delicious dairy treats, one is a finished dessert all on its own (ice cream), while spumoni requires quite a complex set of steps to be created, and its base is gelato.   

The main star of spumoni is gelato. There is an important difference between ice cream and gelato, especially when it comes to their ingredient list. Gelato usually doesn’t contain eggs and uses generous amounts of milk, much more than ice cream. In comparison, ice cream is heavy on cream and eggs, which increases its calories and fat content.  

The cream in spumoni is whipped into the finished gelato to give this dessert an irresistible fluffiness. Even though cream is a key ingredient in ice cream, it is added while the ice cream is being made and combined with all the other ingredients.  

Gelato is churned at a slower speed, which means that less air is added to the mixture, giving it a richer and silkier texture compared to ice cream—this makes the final spumoni denser and more indulgent. In contrast, the priority when making ice cream is to infuse lots of air into it. 

Sometimes, you’ll find extras in ice cream, but with spumoni, it’s a certainty—there must be maraschino cherries, nuts, and chocolate bits mixed into the gelato layers.  

 

What's the difference between Neapolitan and spumoni? 

Let’s start with the similarities first because there are more of them, and they’re quite simple to spot. Both Neapolitan and spumoni feature 3 different flavours of ice cream side-by-side, creating a pretty rainbow of colour and taste. Both feature chocolate gelato, and for both, the blending of colours is a big no-no.  

Neapolitan can be called the American version of spumoni, which was popularised here by Italian immigrants in the late 1900s. It’s a 3-in-1 flavoured ice cream with a soft texture that melts in the mouth and is served on its own without toppings. Chocolate ice cream is always included, and then spumoni’s pistachio and cherry are traded for strawberry and vanilla.  

Spumoni is more of a dessert rather than an ice cream. The toppings and mix-in ingredients are a critical part of its recipe, and in between its layers hide delicious surprises such as pistachios, maraschino cherries, and chocolate chunks.