All it takes is a croissant, a packaged ice cream and a few seconds to transform a simple snack into the hit food of summer 2026. The Magnum croissant is all the rage on social media, a seemingly unlikely combination that is conquering TikTok and Instagram users.
The procedure is elementary: you make an opening in the croissant, insert the ice cream still on the stick and then delicately remove the stick. The result is a dessert that combines crunchy puff pastry, cold ice cream and chocolate coating, also creating that visual contrast that on social media seems made to go viral.
What makes this trend special is not so much the recipe, but rather its extreme ease of replication. No mixers, oven, special ingredients or pastry chef skills are needed. Anyone who has access to a croissant and ice cream can try to make it again at home and record their own video.
And this is precisely one of the mechanisms that fuel TikTok’s gastronomic catchphrases: the simpler an idea is to copy, the more easily it can turn into a collective challenge. Among other things, Magnum also didn’t miss the chance to launch it on its social profile.
@magnum_icecream I’ve never been one to limit myself x #icecreamcroissant #magnumicecream #magnumcroissant
♬ Venus and Flower – Austin Farwell
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@mergellinabakery_ The most viral Magnum croissant on the web has arrived #croissant #foodtok #recipes #magnum #croissant
♬ Dai Dai – Shakira & Burna Boy
And it also exists in a vegan version.
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But is it really new?
The answer is no, at least if by novelty we mean the idea of putting ice cream inside a brioche. And we in Italy know this well. In Sicily, for example, brioche with tuppo accompanied by granita or ice cream is a consolidated summer habit.
Even the trend we see on social media today didn’t come out of nowhere. The idea of inserting packaged ice cream into a baked product was already circulating online, while in 2024 Magnum had already proposed a content dedicated to its Viral Magnum Croissant Hack in India. In 2026 the idea circulated again on social media in a new version, to the point of literally becoming popular on TikTok and Instagram.
The real new element, therefore, is above all the form that this old combination has taken on social media: a very recognizable product, an easily available croissant and a very simple gesture to replicate in front of the camera.
And perhaps this is precisely the strength of the trend, because you don’t need to invent something completely new to go viral. Sometimes you just need to take two classics, put them together in an unexpected way and let the algorithm do the rest.
For now one thing is certain: the croissant, once again, has found a way to reinvent itself. And this time he did it with the help of an ice cream.
