Southern Living’s Easy Berry Ice Cream Cake

Perfect for Summer!

For whatever reason, I don’t usually make the recipe featured on the front cover of a magazine. I’m not sure why, I guess I just usually find even more interesting recipes buried inside the magazine. That was not the case with Southern Living’s July issue. Right on the front cover was a blurb advertising “Berry Ice Cream Cake.” It immediately got my attention. (The pasta salads pictured on the cover were also delicious – I’ve made one of those recipes and still have to try the others.)

I made the Berry Ice Cream Cake (officially called Red, White, and Blue Ice Cream Cake) for, what else, the Fourth of July. It was so yummy! It was really easy too.

I did make a few modifications. Even though frozen pound cake would be easy, I had the time to make my own. I halved the Joy of Cooking recipe, and even then had plenty of pound cake left over. Hooray for extra cake! I also made the raspberry sauce in advance – it was an easy thing to get out of the way. You can see from the picture that we didn’t skimp on adding the raspberry sauce.

I debated skipping the raspberry preserves step. Adding raspberry preserves to raspberry sorbet seemed to be just too much, but in the end I’m glad I did it. In the carton the raspberry sorbet is more of a pale pink color, and the raspberry preserves really gave it a richer red.

As with any ice cream cake, it needs to be eaten quickly! Luckily it was, and there were hardly any leftovers!

I’m Back with Graham Cracker Ice Cream

Hi! I had to take some time off to tend to things in my personal life, but all’s well and I’m back to baking and blogging! (I never stopped baking – I just ran out of time to talk about it!)

One of my go-to special occasion treats is Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, which I purchase either at my local wine store or Whole Foods. Here’s where to buy Jeni’s in your area. I also love making Jeni’s at home, which is why I was super excited when her second cookbook came out. The first recipe I tried from the second book? Graham Cracker Ice Cream.

It was great! I used crushed Trader Joe’s Honey Graham Crackers. The recipe only used a few, so there were plenty left for serving as a garnish (or munching while the ice cream churned).

Jeni’s suggestion to serve the ice cream with sliced bananas was spot-on. I also added homemade chocolate sauce and a dollop of whipped cream. I think it would also be nice with sliced peaches.

It was definitely a sweet treat, and perfect for those hot summer evenings when turning on the oven is too much.

Tip of the Cap

It might be a bit late in the summer to be posting a graduation party idea, since school is starting up again, but this is an easy crowd pleaser to file away for the next time you have a special graduate in your life. You’ll need the following: Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – you […]

Need to Lock Your Ice Cream?

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Blueberries are Back!

This past week marked the first appearance of reasonably-priced blueberries in my local supermarket.  They were actually on special – 2 pints for $5.  They had a pretty good flavor, certainly better than the tiny berries from South America that you can get over the winter for an exorbitant sum. These berries were a good […]

Classic Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

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Oops! Cornmeal Confusion

I was expecting guests last week and decided to make a Southern Living recipe that I cut from a back issue for Blackberry Cornbread Muffins.  I thought they’d make a tasty accompaniment to omelettes for brunch. Now, I’m not from the South, and didn’t grown up making cornbread from scratch (if we ever made it, […]

The Saga of Making a “Better Nutter”

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Chocolate Chip Biscotti

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Goodbye Twinkies!

With today’s announcement by Hostess Brands that they are closing their plants and the absence of a new buyer, millions of Americans will have to stay goodbye to Twinkies, Ho Hos, Wonder Bread, and other Hostess and Drake’s treats – staples of childhood lunchboxes for decades. Fortunately, the Internet is full of make-your-own recipes, which […]