WHO cares if it’s freezing outside?

There’s nothing better for lifting the spirits than treating yourself to something icy cold – as long as it’s covered in warm chocolate sauce, whipped cream, fruit, wafers, chopped nuts, sprinkles...

Every day is sundae at Morelli’s ice cream parlour in Selfridges, Birmingham. And if you’re hankering for summer sunshine, don’t worry. Just ask chief gelato-maker Arturo Tristano and he’ll plant a tropical umbrella on top of your cocktail.

Arturo, from Genoa, Italy, and his brother Christian are responsible for creating the irresistible ice creams at the city’s outlet of Morelli’s, one of only four in the country. (The others are at Harrods, where there are two, and the original shop in Broadstairs, Kent.)

Although the sundaes look a picture, great splashes of colour in fabulous old-fashioned seaside-style dishes, they are the products of an awful lot of hard work. Arturo is at work at 6.30 each morning to ensure customers have fresh ice cream every day. It takes three hours to make the 16 regular flavours, which include caramel, strawberry and fruits of the forest. Then there are the four daily specials, which could be just about anything, including actress Billie Piper’s favourite, jammy dodger ice cream.

Morelli’s reckons it can come up with just about any taste combination as long as its experts are given notice. Previous one-off requests have included Brussels sprout and Arbroath Smokie ice creams, both for whacky dinner parties.

We didn’t fancy anything quite so, well, yukky so we threw down the gauntlet and challenged Arturo to come up with two concoctions – banoffee pie and lemon meringue. Needless to say, both were delicious and the banoffee in particular, suggested by one of my wide-eyed daughters, looked like it was the best seller of the morning.

Sales of ice cream have been robust despite, or possibly because of, the recession. With the value of the pound collapsing and jobs under threat, comfort eating has never seemed more appealing. In one week, Morelli’s Birmingham sells 200 litres of ice cream, the equivalent to 400 standard tubs of ice cream.

“Eating ice cream is a good way of cheering yourself up,” says Arturo, who must have one of the happiest faces in the business.

“I eat a lot of ice cream. I never get bored with it. My favourite is stracciatella because I always had it when I was little.”

Stracciatella is a vanilla ice cream with chocolate streaks and it would have been rude to have turned down the offer of a tasting, or the suggestion that we try a sundae.

The Knickerbocker Glory remains the queen of the sundaes for sweet-toothed Brummies, the perennial favourite comprising vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream served with mango and raspberry coulis, seasonal fruit and fresh whipped cream.

Next up in the popularity stakes is the Bacio, which is a chocoholic’s idea of heaven. Arturo says “bacio” means kiss but in the case of this lavish sundae it is the name of the truffle that sits atop this mass of chocolateyness.

If neither of these tickle your palate, there are more than 20 other sundaes on the menu – or just about any combination you can dream up. Sweet-hearts might want to pop in on Valentine’s Day tomorrow and share an Amore, or Lovers Cup for 2. One cup is heavy on chocolate flavours while the second is a fruity combo, including strawberries dipped in chocolate and baby meringues.

Or for something lighter and warming – but in a cold way – there are sorbetto cocktails, such as kir royal (a glass of Prosecco with wildberry sorbet) or limone (a double shot of Absolut vodka blended with lemon sorbet).

Then again, you may have planned a romantic night in, feeding each other ice cream in front of a roaring fire. That’s covered, too. Litres of ice cream can be made to takeaway for £10.95 per litre. Simply choose any flavour, allow 24 hours notice and let your imagination run riot.