It’s nearly Christmas! I LOVE this time of year! spending time with family and friends, celebrating, catching up, plenty of time at the beach, sharing food and presents – isn’t it just the best!
Traditionally my family all bring a dish along for Christmas lunch and I usually get assigned dessert. Last year I made this amazing no-bake Salted Date Caramel Chocolate Pie from Vegan Richa with hazelnut meal crust instead of almond. It was awesome as it’s a frozen dessert and living in Australia, cold desserts and dishes you can make ahead are a win-win in my opinion.
That brings me to this week’s recipe: 5 Ingredient Cherry Chocolate Almond Ice-Cream Christmas Cake. This recipe is super easy but the end result is fancy as f**k!
I love the combination of roast almonds, black cherries and chocolate in this dish. To me, when you see those big boxes of cherries for sale at the shops, you know Christmas is just around the corner, and this dessert captures that tradition.
Now this isn’t paleo, primal or gluten free* (I can’t guarantee there is no gluten in the store-bought ice-cream); but it is easy, cheap, no-bake, can be made a few days ahead, is lovely and cool for those hot Christmas days, and the flavour combination definitely screams holidays!
*Substitute regular ice-cream for homemade or coconut ice-cream to transform this dish into a gluten-free / dairy-free dessert.
To start, take the ice-cream container out of the freezer and leave it out on the kitchen bench for about 30 minutes or until it starts to defrost and the ice-cream is soft enough to be easily mixed.
While you are waiting for it to defrost, roughly chop your roast almonds. Open the can of black cherries and drain the syrup into a small pot. Using your fingers, pull apart all of the cherries into halves or thirds and set them aside.
Line a 23cm wide (9 inches) spring-form cake tin with plastic wrap and make sure there is enough room and a flat surface in your freezer for the cake to go into later.
When the ice-cream is soft, scoop out about a cup and a half and place this aside to further defrost.
To the rest of the ice-cream; transfer it to a bowl, add in the vanilla, chopped roast almonds and cherries. Using a fork, mix all the ingredients together so that they are evenly distributed.
Quickly transfer the ice-cream to the cake tin. Smooth out with a spatula and place it into the freezer.
Finely chop up the whole block of chocolate and place 1/3 of the block into the pot with the leftover cherry syrup. Heat the syrup and chocolate together on low stirring frequently until the chocolate is fully melted. Be careful not to overheat the mixture otherwise you’ll end up with grainy chocolate.
Take the mixture off the stove and stir in the leftover chocolate until it’s also fully melted. Add in the leftover melted ice-cream to the chocolate mixture and mix until smooth. YAY! Cherry chocolate ganache! This mixture will stay soft enough so that the cake will be easy to slice straight out of the freezer.
Take the cake out of the freezer and pour the ganache over the top. Place the cake back into the freezer and freeze overnight.
When you are ready to serve, take the cake out of the freezer, carefully open the spring form pan and remove the ring. Using the plastic wrap, lift the cake off the bottom of the cake tin and as you transfer it to a serving plate (freezer safe), pull the plastic wrap off. Top with fresh cherries and some more extra roast almonds.
Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!
5 Ingredient Cherry Chocolate Almond Ice-Cream Christmas Cake
Ingredients
- 2 Litres vanilla ice-cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- ½ cup roast almonds
- 100 g dark chocolate
- 415 g can black stoneless cherries in syrup
Instructions
- Take the ice-cream container out of the freezer and leave it out on the kitchen bench for about 30 minutes or until it starts to defrost and the ice-cream is soft enough to be easily mixed
- While you are waiting for it to defrost, roughly chop your roast almonds
- Open the can of black cherries and drain the syrup into a small pot. Using your fingers, pull apart all of the cherries into halves or thirds
- Line a 23cm wide (9 inches) spring-form cake tin with plastic wrap and make sure there is enough room and a flat surface in your freezer for the cake to go into later
- When the ice-cream is soft, scoop out about a cup and a half and place this aside to further defrost
- To the rest of the ice-cream; transfer it to a bowl, add in the vanilla, chopped roast almonds and cherries. Using a fork, mix all the ingredients together so that they are evenly distributed
- Quickly transfer the ice-cream to the cake tin. Smooth out with a spatula and place it into the freezer
- Finely chop up the whole block of chocolate and place 1/3 of the block into the pot with the leftover cherry syrup. Heat the syrup and chocolate together on low stirring frequently until the chocolate is fully melted. Be careful not to overheat the mixture otherwise you’ll end up with grainy chocolate
- Take the mixture off the stove and stir in the leftover chocolate until it’s also fully melted
- Add in the leftover melted ice-cream to the chocolate mixture and mix until smooth
- Take the cake out of the freezer and pour the ganache over the top. Place the cake back into the freezer and freeze overnight
- When you are ready to serve, take the cake out of the freezer, carefully open the spring form pan and remove the ring. Using the plastic wrap, lift the cake off the bottom of the cake tin and as you transfer it to a serving plate (freezer safe), pull the plastic wrap off. Top with fresh cherries and some extra sliced roast almonds
Notes
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2
Tried and tested 🙂
Let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed.
Nom nom! Glad you liked it 😀