Fried ice cream

Fried ice cream or tempura ice cream is a dessert made of a scoop of ice cream that is frozen hard, then breaded or coated in a batter before being quickly deep-fried, creating a warm, crispy shell around the still-cold ice cream. It is common in Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican cuisine. There are conflicting stories about the dessert's origin. Some claim that it was first served during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where the ice cream sundae was also invented. Though in 1894, a Philadelphia company was given credit for its invention describing: "A small, solid [cake] of the ice cream is enveloped in a thin sheet of pie crust and then dipped into boiling lard or butter to cook the outside to a crisp. Served immediately, the ice cream is found to be as solidly frozen as it was first prepared." A third claim, beginning in the 1960s, proposes that fried ice cream was invented in a process similar to Japanese tempura. It may be derived in part from Baked Alaska, originating in the 18th century, which puts ice cream under a quickly broiled meringue.

Source: Wikipedia