Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream
I told you things were going to get red and pink and sprinkle-y around here!
I also seem to have developed a sliiiiiight addiction to all things red velvet in the past month. It started with these cupcakes.
Now, I’ve moved on to ice cream, but don’t think for a second that it ends here. Oh no. I have at least 2 more red velvety recipes for you coming up…realistically, probably 3…
I can’t help it. You know when I get a flavor into my head, it’s crazy hard for me to shake it. We’ve been there with lavender, pumpkin, and probably some other things I can’t recall right now.
But let’s talk about this ice cream!
The base basically tastes like cheesecake, or cream cheese frosting. It’s insanely delicious. It’s a mixture of Neufchatel cream cheese (the 1/3 less-fat variety), creme fraiche, fresh lemon juice, sugar, and heavy cream—YUM.
Then, while it’s churning away in the ice cream maker, I added in a bunch of red velvet cake crumbles. I used some of my Red Velvet Cupcakes, without the frosting. You could use any kind of red velvet cake you have (even store-bought will work!). Try not to include the frosting, but a little won’t hurt (actually, it would probably be delectable, haha).
The cake crumbles kind of meld with the ice cream, with a big chunk every once in a while. It’s creamy, rich, and kinda perfect for Valentine’s Day, no? Naturally, I had to add some heart sprinkles over the top, just to up the cuteness factor a bit.
I imagine that you could use the exact same base for this ice cream, but crumble in carrot cake, for an amazing carrot cake ice cream. Since both carrot cake and red velvet have cream cheese frosting, it’d be perfect! I SO have to try that next!
PrintRed Velvet Cake Ice Cream
Yield: roughly 2 quarts
Ingredients:
- 8-ounce package Neufchatel cream cheese
- 3/4 cup creme fraiche
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- pinch of kosher salt
- 3 tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice
- 1 and 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups red velvet cake crumbles (without the frosting, if possible)
Directions:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese and creme fraiche. Add in the sugar and beat for 5 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved. Add in the vanilla, salt, lemon juice, and cream, and mix until combined. Chill the mixture for 4 hours, or overnight.
- Stir the mixture well with a rubber spatula before pouring into your ice cream maker and churning according to your manufacturer's directions (mine churned about 20 minutes in all). In the last 2 minutes of churning, add in the cake crumbles.
- Serve the ice cream right away, or put in freezer and freeze overnight. Allow the ice cream to soften in the fridge for 35 minutes prior to serving.
base adapted from here
