TV chef unveils record breaking ice cream in Gloucester Park

TV CHEF Heston Blumenthal performed his latest madcap stunt in front of hundreds of ice cream fans at Gloucester Park on Saturday.

The real-life Willy Wonka was hoping his giant ice cream would be a new world record – and his four metre effort complete with Flake and sprinkles smashed the previous record by 1.5 metres.

A ton of vanilla ice cream was craned onto a cone made of Coca-Cola flavoured waffles.

Excited children were then plucked from the watching crowd to fire sprinkles and strawberry sauce at the giant 99 from laser-guided canons. It will be shown on Channel Four later this year in his new series where he mixes culinary skills with science to recreate food memories.

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Barnwood-based ice cream manufacturers Wall's was drafted in to offer expert advice to ensure the project went off without a hitch – despite warm sunshine and a flock of seagulls threatening to derail the amazing effort.

Dave Baker, Wall's project manager, said: "It has been a much bigger challenge than we expected, mainly because it was so hard to freeze it through the middle. We did a trial of a smaller one and it took us a while to get it right. I was so nervous to see it up there as it took 10 weeks of research and practice to get the right recipe."

He said the exact ingredients were "a closely guarded secret".

Colin Vear, 49, of Winstones Cotswold Ice Cream, from Stroud, also helped with the experiment, ensuring the vanilla flavour was just right.

Heston said: "Wall's has done an amazing job to get the ice cream in that size and it has been a nerve-wracking experience.

"We were a bit worried about the seagulls so we covered the cone with a white tarpaulin cover."