· Ann McDonald · Christmas , Something Sweet · 3 min read
Pistachio & Raspberry Icecream Cake
Who wouldn't love pistachio icecream sandwiched between layers of almond meringue, topped with raspberries and served with a raspberry sauce ! This is a great make-ahead dessert, best made the day...

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Who wouldn’t love pistachio icecream sandwiched between layers of almond meringue, topped with raspberries and served with a raspberry sauce !
This is a great make-ahead dessert, best made the day before you need it. Adapted from a recipe in a recent Gourmet Traveller magazine. I’ve cheated, and used a really good store-bought vanilla bean icecream instead of making my own.
Ingredients
The meringue
- 3 x 70g eggwhites at room temperature
- 80g caster sugar
- 100g ground almonds
- 100g pure icing sugar, sifted
The icecream
- 2 litres vanilla bean icecream, softened
- 250g shelled pistachio nuts, toasted
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 120g dried cranberries, soaked in a little brandy for 1/2 hour, OPTIONAL
Quick Raspberry Sauce
- 250g frozen raspberries, thawed
- 2 tbs sugar & a little water
- lemon juice
Method
The meringue
- Preheat the oven to 160C and line two oven trays with baking paper onto which, you have drawn 20cm circles.
- Combine the icing sugar and ground almonds and mix well together.
- In an electric mixer, whisk the eggwhites and a pinch of salt until soft peaks form, then, while whisking continuously, gradually add the caster sugar.
- Continue whisking until smooth and glossy.
- Fold in the almond/icing sugar mixture.
- Spread the meringue mixture onto the prepared oven trays, each disk being about 1cm thick.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until meringue is crisp and lightly coloured. Turn the oven off and cool with the oven door slightly open.
- Store until needed in an airtight container.
The icecream
- Preheat oven to 150C. Spread the pistachios onto an oven tray and toast for 20 minutes. Cool, and then chop finely with a knife. Don’t be tempted to use the food processor as the result won’t be as good.
- Line the base of a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper, and grease the sides with almond oil. I prefer to use almond oil for sweet dishes as it’s flavour won’t taint the dish like a vegetable oil can.
- Remove the icecream from the fridge to soften slightly. In a large bowl, place the softened icecream, cranberries, is using, chopped pistachios, leave a small handful aside for serving, and the vanilla bean paste and mix quickly to combine. I find a knife does a better job than a spoon for this.
- Spread into the prepared springform tin, smooth the top, cover with baking paper or Go-Between and freeze.
- Turn the icecream out of the mould and place on one of the meringue disks. Trim the edges carefully with a small fine serrated knife, using a gentle sawing motion. Top with the remaining meringue and trim the edges of that too. Freeze until ready to serve.
To serve
- Bring the cake out of the freezer and into the main fridge for at least half an hour before serving, so that it can be cut more easily.
- Transfer to a serving plate, dust with icing sugar and top with a punnet of raspberries and the remaining handful of roasted pistachios. Serve with raspberry sauce.
Quick Raspberry Sauce
- Put the raspberries, sugar and a little water in a bowl and then microwave on Medium High until the mixture just starts to boil. This pasteurizes the berries to make the coulis last longer, without effecting the delicate fresh taste.
- Add a splash of lemon juice to intensify the taste of the sauce
- Give it a quick whirl in the blender to break up the fruit before you pass it through a sieve to remove the seeds.
- Add a little more water if necessary to make a pouring consistency.
- Cool, then store in the fridge in an airtight container.