Xmas Candy Cane Ice Cream Cake

Yes indeed, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. It’s party season in my corner of the world – how about yours?

I dreamt up this Christmas themed ice cream cake on one hot summer afternoon recently in Melbourne. It followed a rather trying attempt at shoe shopping in middle of the Christmas rush. I know, I’m not really sure what I was thinking but I lasted exactly one hour before it all got too much and I left without buying said shoes.

However, somewhere between the shoe shops and exit doors, I found myself floating through Santa’s Magic Land. Whole aisles made of candy cane mountains, gold chocolate coins and giant tubs of nutella where the screams of Santa’s Little Helpers and Christmas carols on repeat loop didn’t quite seem so loud as before. Candy cane ice cream naturally seemed the perfect idea for a Christmas themed dessert.

Following my own recipe from a couple years back on this blog which you can see here, I decided on raspberry, candy cane and toasted coconut layers. These three flavours marry together very well but as you can see, the pink candy cane layer was quick to melt. I think this had something to do with the high density of sugar in the candy cane which makes the layer a little unstable, so for this recipe I’ve reduced the amount of candy cane to pop into the ice cream cake.

The mini meringues are store bought and easily found at your local supermarket. If you can’t find any, you could also crumble up meringue nests or a meringue base for the same effect. Try different flavours if you prefer. Each layer will take about 2-3 hours to set, so if you’re intending to make this for a get-together I suggest starting the first layer the night before.

This dessert looks beautiful sliced and plated up and is perfect for those hot summer afternoons – pull it out of the freezer just before it’s ready to serve.

Merry Christmas xo

Xmas Candy Cane Ice Cream Cake

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 can condensed milk (400ml)

150ml thickened cream

3 cups of fresh or frozen raspberries

1/3 cup crushed candy cane

1/2 cup toasted desiccated coconut

1/2 cup coconut cream

2 Tblsp caster sugar

Juice 1/2 lemon

Method

1. Whip cream for 5 minutes until slightly whipped then add condensed milk and whip for another couple of minutes. Divide the mixture into three separate bowls and place in the fridge.
2. Line cake tin with plastic wrap. For the first layer, place raspberries into a saucepan with one tablespoon of sugar and gently simmer until the sugar has dissolved and then set aside to cool. When cool, mix raspberry sauce into the first bowl of mixture. Pour into the tin, then place in the freezer to set ( 2-3 hours)
3. For the 2nd layer, crush candy cane with a rolling pin or in a blender then pour into the ice cream mixture and pour on top of the first layer then set again.
4. For the 3rd layer, gently toast desiccated coconut then add to the ice cream mixture along with coconut cream. Pour over the last layer and set again.
5. While the cake is setting, make the raspberry coulis with 1 cup of raspberries 1 tablespoon of sugar and lemon juice. Blend and then drzzle over the top. Place mini meringue over the top of the coulis and serve in slices.

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