Fresh Cherry Cola Floats (with Vanilla or Chocolate Ice Cream)

I know cherries are on their way out…

…But let’s squeeze just one more recipe in before we have to declare their season officially over, please? This is a really good one.

I feel like floats are an under appreciated dessert. You never really see them on menus, unless its the occasional root beer float (i.e. root beer + soft serve, or real ice cream if you’re lucky). But, you (or at least I) never see any unique floats.

This was actually my first foray into the uncommon variety of float making, but after doing so, I think they are a dessert of massive untapped potential. This is truly one of the most delicious desserts I’ve tried.

Whiiiich is kinda silly because it takes next to no effort or time. You spend a few minutes making the cherry-vanilla bean syrup, and a couple more if you feel like fresh whipped cream, but that’s not even necessary.

I actually made these floats twice in one week because they are so good. Also, I wanted to try out a few variations. The first time I made these, I kept it simple with vanilla ice cream, the cherry-vanilla bean syrup, all-natural cola, and freshly whipped cream. The second time, I made one vanilla float, and one chocolate float. I added chopped fresh cherries to both, the cherry syrup, and good ol’ Coca Cola (no whipped cream this time). The conclusion I came to was that no matter how you make these, they’re gonna be insanely tasty.

And feel free to experiment yourself with different ice cream and soda flavors!

Sorry for the massive photo overload, but these were just too fun to photograph, and I have a really hard time narrowing down which photos to use. I love the dark purpley-red color of the cherry syrup—totally gorgeous.

This is yet another recipe that I created for my friends over at Food Fanatic, so please check out my post over there as well!

Now, I’m going to go cry about the fact that this is my last fresh cherry recipe of the year :'(