Our Shop is OPEN!

We've been receiving a ton of phone calls about our shop hours so, just in case you're looking here for information...well, here they are!  Until further notice you can enjoy a cone or one of our artisan sundaes:



Sunday 12-9
Monday 1-9
Tuesday 1-9
Wednesday 1-9
Thursday 1-9
Friday 1-9
Saturday 12-9

We wish everyone a wonderful summer season, and thank you for stopping out!

Jason and Erik

New flavors coming!

Hi Everyone!

We spent the summer at the shop experimenting with new flavor combinations, improving our old ones and taking traditional flavors and making them better than ever!

We have totally revamped our pints, retired a few flavors and added 5 new ones! We are now carrying 13 flavors in stores with plans to bring out seasonal and limited editions flavors as well!

Here is our complete line of available pints…

NEW! Angry Orange Sherbet

- We decided to take this traditional favorite and rile it up a bit! How do you do that you ask? Add more real oranges, a bit more tart, and what you get is our now infamous and delicious, Angry Orange Sherbet!

NEW! Peanut Butter Epiphany

- When we decide to make a peanut butter ice cream, you had better believe that it is the best you’ll ever have! Rich and creamy peanut butter ice cream with chunks of chocolate and chopped peanut throughout!

NEW! Silver Cloud Estates Vanilla

- Silver Cloud Estates vanilla beans are responsibly grown exclusively in the beautiful Nilgiri, or Blue Mountains of Southern India. We use these beans to bring you this outstanding vanilla ice cream.

NEW! Big Wayne’s Cake Batter

- Just ask yourself... Are you one of those people who like to lick the bowl after making a cake? Boy... is this flavor for you! Your going to love this creamy and supremely decadent yellow cake batter ice cream.

NEW! Candy Apple

- One of our favorite things about fall in our area is the huge apple harvest and the candy apples that come from it! This inspired our crisp Granny Smith candy apple ice cream blended with cinnamon candy pieces!

Salty Caramel

- Our award-winning, sweet and salty masterpiece! With just a pinch of pure sea salt, this decadent caramel ice cream is unlike anything you have ever experienced. Rich, unique, and absolutely unbelievable.

Frozen Hot Chocolate

- Get ready for a truly unique ice cream experience! This is not just any chocolate... it’s frozen hot chocolate! To achieve your total hot chocolate satisfaction, we added mini marshmallows on top!

Loganberry

- There are many great, unique things in Western New York, loganberry is definitely one of them! Our amazing loganberry ice cream will take you back to the days of Crystal Beach and riding on the Comet!

Chocolate Therapy

- Our amazing Omanhene African fair trade chocolate ice cream, blended with three kinds of gourmet chocolate pieces, finally topped with locally produced DiCamillo’s chocolate biscotti di Prato.

Banana Pancakes

- Early morning happiness all wrapped up into a frosty treat. We use locally produced New York State dark maple syrup, blended with fresh 100% banana puree and slow roasted pecans to create this unique flavor!

Cinnamon Toast

- Fair trade and organic vanilla, cinnamon, and a hint of nutmeg create a nostalgic taste that you will love. We added placek crumbles from Buffalo’s own E.M. Chrusciki Bakery as an added treat!

A Date at the Zoo

- This flavor is straight from the deepest rainforest! Our wine reduced dates and coconut mix so perfectly it creates an entirely new flavor. Dark chocolate pieces and Brazil nuts finish this exotic ice cream.

Ellicottville Chocolate Stout

- A local stout beer combined with ice cream? Oh yeah! Ellicottville Brewing Company’s Blackjack Oatmeal Stout blended with chopped milk chocolate pieces makes this ice cream an instant classic!

The new flavors start shipping Friday November 25th! Watch for them, they are definitely going to go fast!!

Thanks for everyones support!

Jason and Erik

And now for something completely different…

We are now officially open for business!

12-9 Tuesday to Sunday!

Lake Effect ice cream after many late nights, a ton of elbow grease, huge amounts of family support, and a desire to do something “completely different” we are very happy to introduce Lake Effect Ice Cream’s new scoop shop!

We are now open at 20 Lock Street, Lockport NY (about 100 yards from the historic flight of five locks in downtown Lockport).

We will be offering locally made artisan ice cream in flavors such as Salty Caramel, Frozen Hot Chocolate, A Date at the Zoo, Banana Pancakes, Cinnamon Toast, Ellicottville Stout, Green Tea, Irish Cream, Loganberry, Love Potion #9, Mint Chip, Mocha Cappuccino, Nickel City Heat, Omanhene African Chocolate, Queen City Roller Girls Rocky Road, and Silver Cloud Vanilla.

We will also be introducing our Artisan Sundaes created with the help of other local artisan bakers. Some of the sundaes offered will be:

The Banana Maple Stack
A dark maple soaked Zillycakes banana cupcake with Banana Pancakes ice cream drizzled with local maple, and topped with pecans, whipped cream and a cupcake top.

The Chocolate Smore-cupine
A pile of Frozen Hot Chocolate ice cream, covered with fire toasted mini marshmallows, chocolate sauce, real whipped cream, and stuck with honey graham sticks.

The Morning Commute
Mocha Cappuccino ice cream surrounded by chunks of Paula’s peanut donut bites. Topped with real whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and plenty of chopped nuts.

The French Caramel Macaron
Award winning Salty Caramel ice cream covered in hot caramel sauce, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and nuts, topped with an unbelievable Sarah Walley macaron.

The Chocolate Therapy Volcano
Omanhene African Chocolate ice cream, hollowed out and filled with rich hot fudge, topped with DiCamillo biscotti pieces, a plume of whipped cream, and chocolate sauce.

The Honey Bear
Silver Cloud Estates Vanilla Bean ice cream drizzled with local wildflower honey, then topped with Chrusciki Bakery butter crumbles and real whipped cream.

Our shop also has cones, milkshakes, floats, pints, and beverages. Ourt weekly specials will be local fruit of the week, ice cream of the week, homemade whipped cream of the week (starting with chocolate whipped cream), and cereal topping of the week. We now have a permanent home, you can visit (and taste) it Tuesday through Sunday 12-9pm.

-We really appreciate anyone who got the Monty Python reference above :)

Stop down for a great summer day!

Jason and Erik

Honest hard work = Artisan

What makes our ice cream special? We have people ask us that question all of the time. (Usually before they taste it :) ) We always seem to answer the same way. Our ice cream has a high butterfat and low overrun that makes it much creamier than your standard ice cream. (Low overrun means that there is less air blended into the ice cream)

We also say that our flavors are unique, we strive to create flavors that no one else makes, flavors that make people interested in ice cream again. Don’t get us wrong, all of these things are true, very true. As our business grows we think that we are starting to see what really makes something artisan. It’s a combination of hard work, attention to detail, and craftsmanship. Let us explain…

Hard Work- Our ice cream is handmade in small batches. Let us take a second to qualify this. We make about 45 pints a batch. Other companies qualify a small batch as 10,000 containers at a time, or more. I guess it depends on what you see as small. We do everything by hand, from designing and stickering the containers, to cooking and blending ingredients, to sometimes adding an extra touch to the top of each of our pints.

Attention to Detail- We never, never stop improving our ice cream recipes. Every time we re-evaluate the process, re-evaluate ingredients and listen to what you say. Since we make batches so small we can make those small adjustments and never miss a beat. Our recipes then evolve into something less mass-produced, more artisan. We frequently do the little things that big companies can’t do like make a custom flavor for an event, team up with small local companies and incorporate their strengths into our ice cream, or even something as simple as adding crushed biscotti or marshmallows on top of each container. We don’t have to put hearts on the top of Love Potion #9, but we do it because quite simply, we think it looks cool.

Craftsmanship- As our company evolves so does our product. We are doubling our efforts to provide the highest quality ingredients to give you the best product that we can. We spend huge amounts of time researching local ingredients, talking with experts in everything from chocolate to nutmeg. Thus making sure that whatever ingredients we use that aren’t locally produced are responsibly grown and absolutely the best quality. This is really the fun part. We will spend the extra money on a quality ingredient and since we started selling retail, our wholesale price has remained the same even though we increased our container size by 33%. We have some great artisan experiences to share with you, and we have only just begun.

If our manufacturing process could match speed with our creative process we would have 50 plus flavors on the market. So what that tells you is there is a lot more to come from Lake Effect Ice Cream. So keep an eye out because you never know whats next!

Good things.

We now know it's true... Good things come to those who wait... We started making ice cream for festivals in the summer of 2008. Man... does that seem like a long time ago.

We now have our own awesome kitchen with unlimited room for expansion and soon our own scoop shop this summer!

Growing up in Lockport we never thought that we would own a business in our city, let alone one that is just a stones throw away from the iconic "Flight of Five" locks. Let us tell you, it's a pretty cool feeling.

Last night we put in a late night working to finish the shop. Leaving the building, we took a moment in the cold before we got in our trucks and for a few seconds we looked back on our new kitchen. It was one of those moments when the speed of life slows for just long enough for you to truly take a moment in. Sobering to say the least.

Every big step we take seems like a brand new beginning. It feels like we're starting all over again. Sometimes that realization can be stressful and the sheer amount of work ahead of you can sometimes make you pause.

But... we know that every time we take a new step we have more and more friends with us for the adventure. It is then that the daunting prospect of "starting over again" changes to a feeling that I know from all of the hiking I have done in the past. It's the feeling that you get on the start of a new trail that you have never been on before. Staring at the small hole the path makes into the huge forest, you aren't nervous. The danger seems a distant second to the curiosity you feel and all you want to do is see where that trail leads.

What is around the next corner eclipses the trepidation of getting there. So... off we go again!

We are glad to bring you along.

Jason and Erik

Our Kitchen is in the Works!

Lately we've been telling our friends about our new kitchen and how at night you can hear the waters of the historic Erie Canal rushing over the old "Flight of Five." Well, to give those of you NOT from Lockport an idea of where our new kitchen is going to be, here are a couple pictures!
Ok, ok, so the place looks boarded up and the remnants of the billiards hall are still visible but with a bit more work, a few more twisted wires, and some elbow grease, Lake Effect's tasty concoctions will be coming to you-better than ever from our new home!

Until then,

Erik and Jason

Another Great Challenge!

Just thought everyone would like to see our spooky Nickel City Cake Challenge poster! We promise that no Frankenstein's were hurt during the making of this advertisement :)

We had a great time at the Cake Challenge and the cakes were amazing! We gave out a ton of ice cream and hope everyone enjoyed their Lake Effect during the event. We met lots of new people would like to send a thank you out to Christa for another great event!

My family is still eating all of the cake I brought home -Thanks, Dessert Deli and Zilly's!!

Jason and Erik

Ready for the Niagara Celtic Heritage Festival & Highland Games!

We love ending our festival season with this great event! If you are looking for a great time with a ton of things to do, watch, eat and buy, this is the festival for you! The Niagara Celtic Festival is one our favorite of the year and we will definitely have some Celtic flavors on hand. We make our special Irish Cream for this event and will definitely bring our famous Ellicottville Chocolate Stout for all of the die hards! Last year we had a ton of people coming up to us, buying a Stout ice cream and dropping it in their tankard of Guinness. What is better than a stout float! The festival is Saturday Sept. 18th from 10am to 10 pm and Sunday Sept. 19th from 10am to 6pm. Don't forget to bring your appetite... and your kilt!

See you there!

Jason and Erik

Updates for Lake Effect! Twitter too!

We have been working hard on a few new things for Lake Effect Ice Cream!

First of all our main web page located at lakeeffecticecream.com had been revamped, cleaned up and streamlined. We now have a twitter page accessible from both our webpage and also our facebook page. Follow us for discounts, free giveaways at festivals, and other assorted mayhem.

We are also almost finished with our online store and that should be up and running next week! We hope that this makes things easier for everyone and hope you all like the updates!

Have a great day!

Jason and Erik

We are now in Coasters!

If you're looking for an old school feel at a new place or need to get an ice cream fix and a healthy serving of sweets in the same visit, check out Keith Kaluzny's Coaster's Ice Cream Parlor on Niagara Falls Boulevard!

Keith is now carrying Lake Effect pints for those of you on the Amherst / Tonawanda border. Please patronize this new, locally owned business and consider stopping in for lunch, too!

Andrew Galarneau Helps Demystify Homemade Ice Cream!

A big thank you goes out to Buffalo News food writer Andrew Galarneau and photograher Bill Wippert who posted a great article about us in today's "TASTE" section!

You can read the article here.

It includes a recipe that demystifies making ice cream in your kitchen. If you're looking for a lower fat version, try using 2% milk instead of half and half.

Most importantly...HAVE FUN!!!

-Erik and Jason

Hey, We're in Artvoice!

The other day Geoff Kelly-Editor of Buffalo magazine Artvoice -sent us five questions that he felt he just needed to know about Lake Effect Ice Cream. Interested in knowing what he was curious about? Interested in knowing what we said? Check out the link below...

5 Questions With...Erik Bernardi & Jason Wulf: Ice Cream Makers

Thanks for checking us out today!

Erik and Jason