‘Christmas cake’ ice cream

The great thing about this dessert is that you get all the taste of a Christmas cake without any of the heaviness that follows, making it the perfect finale to your meal. It’s an ‘adults’ ice-cream but you can omit the brandy if required. This needs to be made up to a day in advance so you will need to pre-plan if making this for Christmas. If you want to be even more indulgent pair it with my salted caramel ice cream recipe – it’s just toooooo good.

Serves: 8

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 1.5 hrs (plus overnight)

Ingredients

300ml full fat milk
300 ml double cream
6 egg yolks
125g light brown muscovado sugar
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
6 tbsps brandy
25g crystallised ginger
50g traditional dried mixed fruit
1 tsp ground all spice
8 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
½ tsp grated nutmeg
½ orange, zest only

Hints and Tips

Ice cream machine

This recipe calls for an ice cream maker. I picked mine up really cheaply from amazon, under £40, and I honestly wouldn’t do without it. It turns anything into the most amazing frozen treats in less then 30 mins.

However if you can’t get your hands on one you can equally do this in the freezer. Prepare the ingredients as per the recipe and pour into a large tupperware box, with a lid, that will fit in your freezer. You will need to keep stirring the mixture vigorously every 20 – 30 mins until it freezes to prevent ice crystals forming (approx. 3 – 4 hours).

‘Christmas cake’ ice cream

Method

Place all the ingredients for the ice-cream into a saucepan, with the exception of the egg yolks and sugar. Bring everything to simmering point and then remove from the heat and leave to cool. Transfer to a container with a lid and leave in the fridge for 12 – 24 hours to infuse.
When ready to make the ice cream add the egg yolks and sugar to bowl and whisk together. Strain your infused cream mix through a sieve; set the dry ingredients to one side for later, and whisk the infused cream in with the eggs and sugar.
Transfer to a saucepan on a medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to thicken. Do not let it boil. You will know when it is ready as it will coat the back of spoon (after approx. 8 minutes).
Cool the ice-cream mixture in the fridge before adding to your ice-cream maker (if using) and churn as per manufacturer’s instructions. If you are making the ice-cream by hand see hints and tips.
Once at the soft churn stage, chop the reserved dry ingredients (remove the cinnamon stick, cloves and vanilla pod first) and stir into the ice-cream.
Pop into a Tupperware container and keep in the freezer until ready to serve.
Try it with my salted caramel ice cream recipe for a really indulgent treat!

christmas_icecream

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