Recipe Roundup | Frozen Showstoppers

In retrospect, the Showstoppers theme for Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream was perhaps a little intimidating. The implied requirement for fiddliness, extra effort and fancy presentation didn’t sit well with the demands on our time that are an inevitable part of the season of merriment (aka hustle and bustle). Still, the entries from those who joined in are beautiful, delicious and inspiring. And they don’t all need enormous time, effort or skill!

I love the contradiction inherent Vanesther of Banger & Mash’ decision to make this incredible Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake; while she was diligently performing her morning exercises as part of her get-healthy-lose-weight kick, she was also watching cookery programmes on the telly at the same time, which tempted her to make something sweet. Inspired by a Lorraine Pascale recipe, the beauty of this rather fancy-looking dome of tastiness is that it makes use of ready-made Swiss role, a little rum, brandy or apple juice and ready-made ice cream of your choice. Doesn’t it look fantastic?!

My own effort – Lemongrass & Coconut Ice Cream with Dried Chilli Pineapple Flowers – was partly inspired by a dessert we enjoyed at a Japanese restaurant and partly by Pinterest images of dried pineapple flowers. In the end, the extremely simplified dish I made wasn’t quite the extravagant showstopper I originally envisaged, but I was chuffed to bits with how both elements turned out and added a little indoors sparkler for extra bling. I trialled a few different recipes for the ice cream and have shared a vegan version and a non-vegan no-churn version.

Like me, Jo from Jo’s Kitchen is a fan of making delicious treats quickly and easily, and also of incorporating leftovers. Here she puts some leftover mincemeat to great use by mixing it into vanilla ice cream and making Mini Mincemeat Ice Cream Bombes. Jo points you at the recipe she uses to make vanilla ice cream, but also advises that you can use good quality shop bought. I imagine the mince meat would also work well mixed into shop-bought vanilla custard and churned from scratch. These are formed in individual moulds, so you could play around with the shape of your mould for extra impact.

Helen has become the queen of styling, creating really evocative images, particularly her seasonal ones, such as this beautiful Christmas Pudding Ice Cream Bombe. Helen’s inspiration was the thought of what she might serve for Christmas celebrated in warmer climes, though with modern central heating, I think it would go down a treat here too, especially after a traditional and rather heavy Christmas roast! For this bombe she uses a classic no-churn recipe and adds orange zest, brandy and mince meat for flavour and texture.

Monica from Smarter Fitter has pulled together four beautiful elements to create her showstopper Bourbon and Spiced Pecan Ice Cream – spiced pecans, which she’s since made again to serve on their own, vanilla ice cream, bourbon and home made waffle cones. Having made a bourbon ice cream myself earlier this year (mine with burnt apple rather than spiced pecan) I can say with confidence that bourbon in ice cream is heavenly. Am salivating for this spiced pecan version!