Monday 23 December 2019

Black Forest Ice Cream Cake

Here we go - one last post before the Christmas break!  It's cherry season (phew! and are they expensive!!) so I had to include a few in this dessert I'm making for Christmas dinner.  I got the idea from Delicious magazine, with a recipe which calls for three litres of store-bought ice cream.  I decided to work a little bit harder (what? yes, crazy gal!), and make some of my own no-churn ice cream for one of the layers.

I suggest making this a couple of days before Christmas.  I reckon we will all have enough to do on Christmas Eve already:-)  Yep on Christmas Eve, I'm making Dutch potato salad, baking a small turkey breast, and prepping onion and garlic puddings for Christmas Day.  Eek!  Happily for me, Mr P. and our housemate M. will be shoving the four kilo Christmas bird into our oven at the crack of, on the actual morning.  Phew!  We will then transport the monster to our mates' place round the corner, to enjoy the festive feast.  Best wishes to you one and all for your own festivities.


ingredients:


ice cream:


100g. (70%) dark chocolate

400 mLs thickened cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp Frangelico or liqueur of your choice (optional)

1 tsp coffee powder (optional)

50g. icing sugar/icing mixture

200g. tube of condensed milk


Cake:


150g. dark (70%) chocolate, chopped

60 mLs (1/4 cup) thin (pure) cream

approx. 210g. savoiardi sponge fingers (about half a 400g. packet)

30g. (2 UK/US tbs) cocoa powder

1 store-bought frozen chocolate fudge brownie (350g.) - (I used Sara Lee)

300 mLs French vanilla ice cream from the store, softened

120g. pitted cherries - fresh or frozen, and chopped


To decorate:

200g. fresh or frozen (thawed) pitted cherries

50g. chocolate shards (from the 150g. above)


Method:


First make your ice cream: - melt the chocolate in the microwave for about eighty seconds or so, and let it cool for a few minutes

Whip the cream, vanilla extract, Frangelico, coffee powder (if using) and icing sugar together till softly whipped, then add the condensed milk and melted chocolate - whip again till you have soft peaks

Pour into a metal cake tin, and place in the freezer while you put the cake together

Line the base of a 22cm. springform pan with clingfilm or baking paper

Put 100g. (of the 150g.) dark chocolate in a microwave-proof bowl along with the thin (pure) cream

Melt in the microwave for about sixty seconds

Stir well, and cool for a couple of minutes

Trim off the top third of the savoiardi (keep the smaller pieces for something else)

Dust the larger pieces of savoiardi on both sides with the cocoa - I placed them on a baking sheet and dusted them using a small strainer

Then lightly dip one side of a savoiardi finger into the chocolate/cream mixture, and place upright around the sides of the pan (not flat against the pan, but so it sticks out into the pan) - check the photo if you're confused:-)  

Keep going till you have completely lined the pan, dipping each finger and pressing gently against the one before it

Now press the brownie into the base of the pan - or get Mr P. to do it for you, so he gets the gooby chocolate hands:-)

Stir the chopped cherries into the softened vanilla ice cream, and spread it over the brownie base

Place into the freezer for ten minutes to firm up

Then scoop the chocolate ice cream out of the tin, and spread it over the vanilla layer

Back into the freezer for five hours (or overnight)

When serving, take the cake out of the springform tin, place the fresh cherries over the top of the cake, and scatter the other 50g. of dark chocolate (chopped or grated into shards) over the top


Notes:

Buy two different ice cream flavours if you wish, rather than making one (or any)

Grab a packet brownie mix, and bake it up to use in this cake - if you fancy the extra effort!




first make your chocolate ice cream


place the mixture into a metal tin then into the freezer


get Mr P. to cut off the top third of the fingers (not his, tee hee)


dust the fingers with cocoa powder


line the base of the tin with clingfilm, then place the fingers around the edge


smooth on the vanilla ice cream and cherry layer


spread the chocolate ice cream over the vanilla layer


beautiful layers after being frozen overnight


how to fit this in after Christmas dinner? tee hee 


Have a wonderful Christmas/festive break, dear friends.  See you in the New Year; a year of change and new beginnings apparently!  May the '20s be marvellous for all.




 artwork © Sherry's Pickings

28 comments:

  1. What a nice recipe, I'm all into black forest (actually I've made one into a yule-log shape for Xmas)! I'm drooling ;)

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    1. thanks so much. in fact, there was an episode of Heston tonight on tv, and he was making a real black forest cake. it looked so delicious! thanks for dropping by.

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  2. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ☺

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  3. Tell me about the onion and garlic puddings! They interested me more than the cake!

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    1. they're just onion and garlic with sourdough bread chunks, topped with an eggy custard and baked in a muffin tin. Instead of stuffing the turkey:-) quite tasty!

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  4. This sounds like it doesn’t take long to make!It looks delicious, pretty and easy.

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    1. thank you K V. I think we will all enjoy it at christmas dinner. cheers!

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  5. Every element of your cake sounds delicious on its own as well as in the mix.

    Have a wonderful Christmas!

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. thanks muchly Mae. the chocolate ice cream was soooo delicious as is! have a fab festive season! xx

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  6. Definitely a cake for the celebration and it must have tasted amazing! Wish you and yours a happy holiday season, Sherry!

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    1. thanks very much angie. and the same to you and yours! merry christmas! x

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  7. A lovely dessert for the Christmas feast. Have a wonderful Christmas and safe holidays.

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    1. thanks muchly ron. have a wonderful festive season yourself. cheers sherry x

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  8. Love your cake - perfect for the holidays!

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  9. I received your post and Romain’s post within a few minutes of each other… Great minds must think a like! You present your ice cream cake very similarly to the way I present my tiramisu. It’s quite pretty isn’t it? Lucky you that is cherry season there, even if they’re expensive. It’ll be a long time before we see cherries here in the United States! Christmas to you and Mr. P, Sherry, and all the best for the new year!

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    1. somehow black forest cake was in the ether, david! your tiramisu must be beautiful. the cherries have been in short supply due to floods, bushfires and droughts. we have it all here in Oz at the moment. hope your christmas day was fab!

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  10. That looks seriously impressive. I did not know you got Sara Lee anywhere other than the USA! Hope you all had an amazing Christmas :)

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    1. thanks tandy. we had a splendid christmas; lunch with friends and dinner with family. oh my! we were soooo full. hope yours was excellent too. cheers! S

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  11. Yum! This looks fabulously decadent. Hope you had a great Christmas, and wishing you and your family a happy 2020.

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    1. thank you very much cakelaw:) hope yours was fabulous too. all the best for 2020!

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  12. This looks wonderful, Sherry - saving this recipe as I am currently in cherry overload over here!

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    1. Hi katerina
      That’s a happy thing - cherry overload. How lucky!

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  13. What a delicious looking cake, Sherry! It's funny looking at an ice cream cake as I peek around my computer monitor and see snow covering the front yard. (I know the seasons are opposite...but it still catches me every time!) I know Christmas dinner must have been tasty with this cake waiting at the end! I hope you and the family all had a wonderful holiday. And speaking of holiday, Happy early New Year, too! :-)

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    1. thanks so much david. we had a fairly cool day for Christmas - only 29C or so, and it was a bit great. we even had a bit of rain on Xmas Eve which was wonderful. You may have heard about the drought and terrible bushfires here so any rain is very welcome. happy new year to you!

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  14. I saw your trifle on IG and it looked amaze. I love that it uses ice cream which is just perfect to cool down for a hot Aussie Christmas. I love cherries but they're so exxy this year - they're almost gold plated! Hope you had the happiest of holidays!

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