Christmas Cake Ice-Cream

Icing the cake is getting more and more complicated every year - and more competitive, as people post perfectly smooth and detailed cakes on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. I attempted a Snow Globe and it didn't work very well. I think I bit off more than I can chew. Still, while I am no icing queen, I do know how to bake a flavoursome, moist and boozy Christmas cake and it does taste a lot better than it looks!

And I do know a bit about basic icing techniques. One of the first things to do is to level off the top of the fruit cake once it has cooled/is ready out of the cupboard, by taking a sharp knife - I use a bread knife - to create a flat base for the marzipan and icing.

This left me with the equivalent of a large slice of fruit cake from the top of the cake. Did I jettison this leftover? Did this anti-waste campaigner throw it away? Mais Non! I kept it to one side. And today I finally did something with the crumbly goodness: Christmas Cake Ice-Cream.

I followed the same recipe that I posted earlier this year - 600g of whipped cream, 1 tin of condensed milk (with a bit of spoon and finger-licking when nobody was watching) and once this was mixed, I crumbled the cake into the mixture. It was enough to permeate the whole ice-cream so that every scoopful, once it has set (approximately 8 hours), will be full of cakey deliciousness.

Of course not everyone has the time or the patience to make their own fruitcake, so I would suggest this is a good way to get rid of the last one or two slices of the shop-bought Christmas cake, rather than throw it out once 1 Jan and its 'good intentions' come in. After all, ice-cream can be stored in the freezer for a few months.

Oh and here's the strange-looking cake... links to my Instagram page

I scream for Ice Cream!

Left-over Blueberry Crumble Icecream. Photo credit: SimoneySunday

Ice cream should be a food group all by itself. I absolutely love it, but I do not love the fuss and expense of an ice cream maker. Too many kitchens have too many unused gadgets and, according to friends who do have and use their ice-cream makers, they have to put so many ingredients in, and it takes time.

Personally, I love this recipe for ice-cream using just two base ingredients and whatever you choose for the flavouring. All you need is a bowl and a hand-held blender (or infinite patience with an old-fashioned whisk).

This ice-cream takes 10 minutes maximum to make with a blender and freezes within eight hours - perfect for an evening meal or to prepare several days before a big dinner with friends and family.

How To: 
Simply buy 500g of whipping cream and 1 300g tin of condensed milk (get the normal one as the light version crystallises too much and takes longer to set).

Whip the cream in a cool bowl (I put mine in the fridge for a few mins beforehand so it is not room temperature). Once the cream is thickly whipped into stiff peaks, fold in the condensed milk. Stir it together (do not worry if the mixture starts to look a little runny). Then add your chosen flavouring.

Fold your flavour into the cream - do not completely mix it in but allow for veins and chunks and swirls of flavour throughout. Then freeze and forget about it for eight hours.

To serve, just let it stand at room temperature for about five minutes, scoop and enjoy. My problem is I am too impatient to let it stand for 5 minutes, so I whack it about with a knife, hence the slightly square-ish image in the above photo.

My favourite flavours so far are:

• Honey and honeycomb pieces (see my hack on how to liquefy honey that is crystallising in your cupboard)
• Left-over blueberry crumble (as pictured)
• Strawberries and cream.

For the strawberry flavour, I simply washed and de-greened the tops off some strawberries I had frozen a few weeks earlier, defrosted them slightly in the microwave for two minutes and then blitzed into a sorbet with the blender.

However you can make what you want: chocolate, cookies 'n' cream, raspberry swirl, apple and cinnamon - the list could be endless!