99 Flake by the Seaside
Soft-serve vanilla ice cream served in a cone, topped with a flaky chocolate stick planted in it. The simple, slightly kitschy happiness of Sundays by the sea.
Soft-serve vanilla ice cream served in a cone, topped with a flaky chocolate stick planted in it. The simple, slightly kitschy happiness of Sundays by the sea.
When I planted my rotten theme park in Weston-super-Mare, I kept one thing sacred: the soft-serve with the chocolate stick. You can mock everything — banks, kings, tourists — but not the 99 Flake dripping down your fingers facing a grey sea. It's sad, it's sweet, it's perfect. The only sandcastle that never collapses is the one in your belly.
- •Whole milk — enough (ice cream base)
- •Cream — generously (creaminess)
- •Sugar — as desired (sweetness)
- •Vanilla — 1 pod (signature flavour)
- •Waffle cone — 1 (holder)
- •Flaky chocolate stick — 1 (iconic garnish)
99 Flake by the Seaside
Soft-serve vanilla ice cream served in a cone, topped with a flaky chocolate stick planted in it. The simple, slightly kitschy happiness of Sundays by the sea.
Why this dish? In 2015, Banksy turned the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare into a dystopian theme park, 'Dismaland'. The 99 Flake — soft-serve vanilla ice cream with a chocolate stick poked in — is THE regressive pleasure of English beaches, a symbol of popular leisure he loved to subvert with irony.
When I planted my rotten theme park in Weston-super-Mare, I kept one thing sacred: the soft-serve with the chocolate stick. You can mock everything — banks, kings, tourists — but not the 99 Flake dripping down your fingers facing a grey sea. It's sad, it's sweet, it's perfect. The only sandcastle that never collapses is the one in your belly.
Ingredients (period version)
- Whole milk — enough (ice cream base)
- Cream — generously (creaminess)
- Sugar — as desired (sweetness)
- Vanilla — 1 pod (signature flavour)
- Waffle cone — 1 (holder)
- Flaky chocolate stick — 1 (iconic garnish)
Ingredients
- Whole milk — 300 ml (base)
- Heavy cream — 300 ml (creaminess)
- Sugar — 100 g (sweetness)
- Vanilla — 1 pod or 1 tsp extract (flavour)
- Egg yolks — 3 (optional, for ice cream) (thickener)
- Waffle cones — 4 (holder)
- Flaky chocolate bars (e.g. Flake) — 4 (iconic garnish)
Method
- Heat the milk, cream and split vanilla pod without boiling.
- For ice cream: whisk yolks with sugar, pour hot milk over, cook to 82°C (nappe), then cool.
- For quick version: mix whipped cream, milk and sugar, then churn.
- Freeze in an ice cream maker until soft-serve consistency.
- Swirl into a cone and stick a flaky chocolate bar in it.
- Serve immediately, ideally facing the sea.
How it was made : Soft-serve ice cream spread in the UK in the 1950s thanks to vans, and the '99', topped with a Flake chocolate stick, became the emblem of English beaches. Its exact origin is debated, but it embodies 20th-century seaside popular leisure.
The contemporary twist : Serve the cone upside down, 'fallen' into a bowl, like a Dismaland artwork — the failed party still delicious. Call it 'Perishable Joy'.
Banksy · Charactorium