Using Black Forest flavours to delicious effect, this ice-cream cake is a seasonal treat on
a sunny summer’s day

BLACK CHERRY, CHOCOLATE & MERINGUE ICE-CREAM CAKE

100g dark chocolate
390g jar black cherries in kirsch or 400g tin black cherries in syrup*
250g black cherry conserve or jam
600ml double cream
85g meringue nests (5–6)

TO SERVE
Fresh cherries (with stalks)
A handful chopped pistachios
Icing sugar, to dust

1 Line the base of a 23–24cm springform tin with a square piece of baking paper, leaving the excess sticking out from the sides.
2 Melt the chocolate in a small bowl suspended over a pan of boiling water. Drain the cherries in a sieve set over a small pan, and set aside the kirsch or syrup.
3 With a food mixer, roughly blitz the cherries into a chunky, textured pulp. Stir the conserve or jam in a small bowl to loosen.
4 In a food mixer or large mixing bowl, whip the cream until just beginning to thicken and barely holding its shape – the trick is to under-whip. Pour in the conserve or jam, followed by the meringues, breaking and crumbling into irregular shapes and sizes as you go. Fold into the cream very gently, leaving a ripple effect.
5 Spread a scant third of the mixture into the tin. Top with all the blitzed cherries by spooning on in blobs, then joining the blobs.
* If you’re using tinned cherries, 1 tbsp of cherry brandy of amaretto is a nice addition when reducing the syrup.
Spread over half of the remaining cream using the same technique.
6 Dribble over all but 2–3 tbsp of the chocolate and spread to cover the cream. Finally, blob and spread over the last of the cream. Using a spatula or the back of a spoon, gently push the mixture into the tin to get rid of air pockets.
7 Cover with cling film, directly on the surface of the cake, and freeze until solid (overnight is best).
8 Boil the reserved cherry liquid fast until syrupy and reduced to around 2 tbsp. It will thicken up when cold and, if too thick when cold, loosen with a drop of boiling water.
9 Serve the cake straight from the freezer. Unmould onto a large platter. Warm the set-aside tbsps of chocolate and drizzle from a teaspoon, zigzagging over the cake and platter; repeat with some of the syrup.

Pile the fresh cherries in the middle, scatter with chopped pistachios and dust with icing sugar.

Recipe from The Get-Ahead Cook by Jane Lovett (Apicius Publishing).

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