Easy Passion Fruit Cheesecake Ice Cream {No Churn}

If there is ONE ingredient that perfectly sums up the flavour of summer it would be passion fruit right? (side note: we call it granadilla here in South Africa and I'd love to be able to tell you a funny, quirky story as to why we do but frankly the internet let me down on this one!) And if there is ONE dish that perfectly sums up the feeling of summer, it's of course, ice cream. Put them together and you're basically eating a summer holiday! My kinda food.

Also, incase you haven't noticed yet, there are TWO desserts in ONE here. Bonus! Cheesecake and ice cream are always a good idea. 

Put them together and you have a damn good idea! 

This ice cream is for those days when someone asks you, would you like cheesecake or ice cream? And your answer? Just say 'YES!'

Now if you're not a passion fruit person (are you even human?!) then imagine this frozen creamy cheesecakey goodness swirled with strawberries, or blueberries, 

or mango - no pineapple! 

I crumbled in my favourite Eet Sum Mores (appropriately named, yet innappropriately spelled) but you could use Oreos or gingersnaps or chocolate chips, throw in some caramel swirl or lemon curd, or crushed up meringue! 

*sigh* I love my job. 

No Churn Passion Fruit Cheesecake Ice Cream

Makes 1L

225g full fat cream cheese

1 tin (400g) sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups cream, whipped to stiff peaks

230g passion fruit pulp

5-8 shortbread biscuits, crumbled

Beat cream cheese until smooth then add in the condensed milk and mix until creamy.

Fold in the whipped cream gently and lightly to retain the air.

Pour a third of the mixture into a freezer-proof container (a metal loaf tin works well), swirl 1/3 of the passion fruit into the mix then crumble over some of the shortbread.

Repeat with the rest of the mix, swirling and scattering in between each layer.

Freeze until firm (about 4 hours). To serve, remove from the freezer for 10 minutes then serve scoops with extra passion fruit pulp and crushed shortbread, if desired.

TIP: Swop out the passion fruit pulp for any fruit puree of your choice - think mango, pineapple, strawberries or blueberries!

No-Churn Amarula Ice Cream Cake with Malted Chocolate Balls

Maltesers, Whispers, Whoppers - malted chocolate puff balls have many names, but I have a special place for the ones we call Chuckles here in South Africa. Mainly because the 40g suggested portion size Woolies has placed on the packet makes me LOL. Do you know how much 40g is?! Not enough. 

This no-churn ice cream is AMAZING - what's not to love about it? 
It's got condensed milk - YES, Amarula - YES! Chocolate sauce - Yes! 
Chuckles - A million times yes! 

The most difficult part of making this cake is chopping the malty chocolate balls in half. Warning: they do NOT like being chopped - I had quite a few runners who tried to escape the wrath of my knife. They of course didn't escape the wrath of being eaten though! Mwahaha. 

Note: I give an amount of malty chocolate balls in the ingredient list, but of course, you need to buy double - if you need to know why, then we can't be friends.

You may also leave out the Amarula; I would replace it with some Milo or hot chocolate powder (Nesquik!) dissolved in a bit of milk. I poured my ice cream mix into a fancy silicone bundt mould, but let's be honest here, no one will actually care what it looks like once they taste it because all you REALLY need is a spoon!

No-Churn Amarula Ice Cream Cake with Malted Chocolate Balls

Serves 6-8

600ml fresh cream

60ml (1/4 cup) Amarula (optional: use Milo or Hot Chocolate mixed in 60ml milk)

1/2 (400g) tin condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g dark chocolate, melted and cooled

100g malted chocolate puffs, halved plus extra to decorate 

Amarula Chocolate Sauce

55g dark chocolate, chopped

60ml cream

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp Amarula

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip the cream until stiff peaks then add the Amarula and whip until combined.

Fold the condensed milk, vanilla and chocolate into the whipped cream. 

Pour into a lined cake tin or silicone mould, sprinkling in the halved chocolate malt puffs as you go. Freeze for 4-5 hours (or overnight) until firm. 

To make the sauce, place all the ingredients in a jug and microwave until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly. 

Unmould the ice ceam cake by briefly dipping into water and unmould it onto a chilled plate. Serve drizzled with the sauce and sprinkled with the malt puffs. 

MORE FROZEN DELICIOUS THINGS:

Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake                              

 Peppermint Crisp Ice Cream Sandwiches

Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake

They say you can't buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream. And that's sort of the same thing isn't it?! Well how about buying the ingredients to create this spectacular show-stopper of a beauty guaranteed to bring you happiness. This ice cream cake is so ridiculous easy to make I should be embarrassed for even sharing it. But I'm not. 

This recipe combines two of my childhood memories; I'm sure I'm not the only one to remember licking melted dribbles of artificially-flavoured strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream off my fingers. And of course, the ice cream had to be served in those hideous pink cones! 

The other childhood memory is trips to Milky Lane for soft serve - which meant an award for best parents for mom and dad!  I would sit and swoon over the intricate ice cream cakes that were made to order - if you managed to score a Milky Lane ice cream cake for your birthday party then you were the luckiest kid ever. 

 Despite the kitsch-ness that we associate with Neopolitan ice cream, it actually has a far more dignified history. Invented in Italy (Naples to be exact) it was apparently first made up of the colours of the Italian flag - pistachio, vanilla and cherry! Over time, pistachio and cherry (sadly!) got ditched for the more popular chocolate and strawberry. I've subbed the chocolate layer for a brownie base but if that's too much effort, then go for chocolate cake, crushed chocolate biscuits or even just good ol' chocolate ice cream!

Neapolitan Ice cream Cake

Serves 10-12

300g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

150g unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla
150g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
75g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt

1L vanilla ice cream, softened

1L raspberry, strawberry or mixed berry sorbet, softened

Chocolate sauce, to decorate

Fresh raspberries, frozen, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Line a 20cm spring form cake tin with baking paper.

For the brownie base, melt 200g chopped chocolate, butter and vanilla together in a heatproof bowl, set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the surface of the water does not touch the bowl. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, then leave to cool for a few minutes.

Beat in the eggs, then sift in the flour, cocoa and salt and fold in until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Stir in the remaining chocolate. 

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the top starts to crack but the centre remains gooey.

Turn off the oven and leave the brownies inside for a further 5 minutes before removing.

Leave to cool completely in the tin. Loosen with a palette knife, clean the tin and place the brownie base back in the cake tin.

Spread over the softened sorbet and place in the freezer to set.

Top with softened vanilla ice cream and and freeze until set.

Remove from the mould, top with chocolate sauce and decorate with raspberries.