mango + passionfruit ice-cream cake

My girls have informed me that it’s only 37 days till Christmas. So what better time to start thinking about what you’ll be eating, cooking and taking along to your gatherings this year.

It’s a good idea to be organised in advance – get in first when the whatsapp message comes through, everyone delegating among family members.

You can make this show stopper of an ice-cream cake today. Pop it in the freezer and forget about it until Christmas Day where you just dollop some whipped cream and fresh fruit over the top.

Using store bought ingredients, it’s easy to make, tastes absolutely delicious, can be made using any type of sorbet, ice cream and fruit that tickles your fancy and will be sure to impress your guests.

It’s important to note that I was inspired to make this thanks to my five year old nephew and budding young chef, Charlie, the king of ice-cream cakes.

Can’t wait to catch up at Christmas Charlie Bear and see what you think of Aunty Lo’s version.

mango + passionfruit ice-cream cake

This makes for a totally show stopping dessert, perfect for a hot Aussie christmas. The quantities below make a large round cake but you can easily alter the ingredients depending on how big you want to make it and what type and size of tin you decide to use.

Make sure you take the ice cream and sorbet out of the freezer about an hour before you start making the cake so that it’s soft enough to spread easily.

Also, use whatever flavoured ice-cream, sorbet and fruit that you like. Think raspberry, lemon, blueberry, strawberry or chocolate. Be creative!

3 x litres (or thereabouts) of store bought vanilla ice-cream (or ice-cream flavour of your choice)
1 x litre of store bought mango sorbet (or sorbet of your choice)
1 x packet of store bought meringue nests (approximately 10)
1 x 400 gram packet of frozen passionfruit pulp, defrosted
Freshly whipped cream, to serve
Fresh passionfruit and mango, to serve

To make the whipped cream – simply whip 300 ml of thickened cream, 1 x teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 x dessertspoon of icing sugar together until nicely whipped.

• Line a large round springform cake tin with plenty of glap-wrap, leaving a large amount on the sides so that you’re able to fold it over the top of the cake once made. You don’t want to skimp out here, I do a couple of layers.
• Simply spread the entire contents of the mango sorbet container in the bottom of the tin and smooth it out with the back of a spoon.
• Crush four of the meringue nests using your hands and sprinkle it over the top of the sorbet layer.
• Now go in with a layer of the vanilla ice cream, smoothing it out like you did with the sorbet.
• Add half of the passionfruit pulp and spread to the edge of the cake.
• Continue with the layering process, crushing four more meringues over the top.
• Finish with another layer of ice-cream.
• Now fold in the glad-wrap to tuck the cake in all nice and tight and pop in the freezer to set.
• Once completely frozen, bring out of the freezer, turning the cake out on to a large serving platter.
• Decorate with lashings of whipped cream, the extra passionfruit pulp, some fresh passionfruit, finely sliced mangoes and the leftover crushed up meringues.
• Serve immediately.