Festive RecipesChristmas Nice Cream Cake

A Christmas Nice Cream made with frozen bananas, optional boozy raisins and crunchy nuts – guaranteed to knock the socks off regular ice-cream.

The addition of the boozy brandy soaked raisins is optional, but they add a gorgeous Christmas taste to the cake and also the alcohol slows down the freezing process which helps with the overall texture stopping it from going icy.

Serve with a slice of Christmas pudding or cake or just have the whole dish to yourself!!!

Ingredients

10 large ripe bananas
2 cups organic raisins
1 cup brandy -optional (alcohol also helps the cake to freeze and not ice)
zest of 1 large orange
1/4 cup tahini
160ml coconut cream
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tbsp coconut oil

Method

Peel the bananas, break them up into about 3cm chunks and freeze them laying flat overnight in a ziplock bag.
If using, soak the raisins in brandy overnight (can also be longer).
Using a food processor, empty half of the bag of bananas and half of the coconut cream and blend until smooth, creamy and a soft serve ice-cream consistency – remember to scrape the sides down regularly.
Transfer to a large bowl and place in the freezer.
Repeat the process with the second batch of bananas and cream.
Remove the first batch from the freezer and combine both batches together in the processor.
Add the orange zest and tahini, and blend again until well mixed.
Stir through the hazelnuts and raisins including the brandy.
Pour into a bundt tin or loaf tin and freeze overnight.
Remove from the freezer when properly set and hold for a few minutes in a sink of warm water (the water must only come up where the line of the nice-cream is, not over the edge of the tin).
Keep an eye on the edges they will start to look a little runny and softened.
Place a plate on top of the tin and quickly turn the tin over, you may need to jiggle it few times to release the nice-cream (if it does not come out then return to the basin of water for a few more second, then try again)
Once released clean up any melted nice-cream and return to the freezer until ready to serve.
Melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil together and pour over the top of the cake either before serving or whilst serving.

It takes a good couple of hours to freeze, if making it in a bundt cake tin or a bread loaf tin, so I’d suggest making it the day before allowing it time to set.  Once it has set firmly, then I’d suggest removing it from the tin, covering it and refreezing it to reduce the stress of doing this whilst having guests hungrily wait for their pudding.  It can always be taken out of the freezer about 10 min before serving to allow it to soften slightly (obviously depending on the outside temperature).