Amazingly Easy Homemade Italian Cream Sodas

Easy homemade Italian Cream Sodas that are perfect for cooling off! These are made with a homemade simple syrup made from juice. 

Thank you to Tampico for making this post possible! 

Growing up, I had a friend whose mother would occasionally make Italian Cream Sodas.

They were always such a yummy and delicious treat – and I was always convinced they had to be hard to make.

Well, imagine my surprise when I realized just how easy they are! I’m not a big soda drinker, but I could have Italian Sodas for days. So good!

Most Italian Sodas I see people making using something like Torani Syrups for the simple syrup at the bottom. Nothing wrong with this – you can get a lot of delicious flavors! However, I don’t like to buy products that I will only use every so often (because even though I could drink them for days, I don’t!) So, I thought it would be nice if I could come up with my own syrup for the bottom.

I saw some recipes that used fresh fruit…which is awesome. But I just don’t have time for that most of the time.

Simple syrup is mainly sugar (so healthy, I know), so I thought, why not use some pre-prepared juice for it? I figured it was worth experimenting with at least.

I thought it would be fun to make this red, white, and blue themed, since Italian cream sodas are perfect for the summer. So, I purchased some Tropical Punch Tampico to make the syrup with.

The syrup takes awhile to make, but it’s so easy. You just put it on a sauce pan . . .

bring it to a boil . . .

and then bring it down to a simmer for about 80 minutes. Then you let it cool for awhile (we just put in the fridge overnight, but you could easily just wait about 30 minutes), and it’s all ready to go!

I was so excited when everything actually turned out. I’ll admit, I was a *little* worried that none of the layers would work out, but they turned out perfectly. Everyone who was there can attest how excited I was. It’s always a good feeling when an experiment turns out.

I highly recommend making it with Tampico or some kind of juice – most of always have juice on hand, and it’s considerably less expensive to use than Torani syrups!

We might these patriotic style by adding some powdered blue drink mix to the club soda, but if you aren’t looking for a red, white, and blue treat, you can easily omit that (or use another color!) Be careful when you add it, though – ours fizzled over the top. It felt like a science experiment.

My measurements weren’t exact – just kind of eyed it. But you just need to fill the glass about 1/2 full with ice:

Put one layer of the simple syrup (probably 2 tablespoons):

One layer of the club soda (about 1/2 cup)

One layer of half and half (about 1/2 cup)

And then pile it high with whipped cream (from a canister or homemade – this homemade whipped cream is to die for!)

Don’t forget the cherry on top!

We all really enjoyed these – my mom kept saying how much she loved it! Oliver was a little sad that he didn’t get any, though.

Forrest was mowing the lawn as we made them, so he was pretty thrilled to have an icy cold beverage waiting for him. The lawn was about two feet tall (we just moved in), so to say he was exhausted is an understatement.

I think these will definitely be a tradition in our family – who knows, maybe I’ll get the reputation as the mom who always made Italian Cream Sodas for her kid’s friends 😉