I am very fortunate to have a close extended family that gets together every few weeks for family dinner. I usually bring dessert, one because I love to bake, and two I get to test out new recipes without having tons of leftovers tempting us at home. I’m sure my family doesn’t mind being guinea pigs!
This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving a week early and instead of the traditional pumpkin pie I decided to make a pumpkin ice cream cake. Don’t get me wrong I love pumpkin pie; there is something so comforting about pumpkin combined with warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger. This ice cream cake has all of these traditional flavours but the addition of ice cream and a gingersnap crust makes for a refreshing finish to your Thanksgiving meal.
It comes together easily, requires no baking, and can be made days in advance. I recommend making it at least a day ahead so it has time to freeze. Make sure you look for 100% pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling, and a good quality ice cream. When ready to serve simply take out of the freezer for about 15 minutes then slice with a sharp knife, running knife under warm water between slices.
So what are you making for Thanksgiving this weekend? May I suggest this super simple pumpkin ice cream cake?
- 2 cups of gingersnap crumbs
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 – 796ml can pure pumpkin puree
- 1.65L container vanilla ice cream, softened
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup chopped pecans, plus extra for garnish
- 1 cup slightly crushed gingersnap cookies
- Take ice cream out of the freezer and leave at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or until softened but not completed melted.
- Lin a 10-inch springform pan with parchment or wax paper. To make the crust combine gingersnap crumbs, melted butter and sugar, press into a 10-inch spring form pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl mix together pumpkin puree, spices and brown sugar. Once ice cream is soft enough stir into pumpkin mixture until well combined.
- Add ½ of the pumpkin ice cream on top of the gingersnap crust and then sprinkle with crushed cookies and chopped pecans. Top with remaining pumpkin ice cream.
- Garnish with pecans and cover with tin foil. Freeze for at least 24 hours.
- Take out ice cream cake 15 minutes before serving and run knife under warm water between slices.
6 Comments
This looks delicious! What a great Thanksgiving idea!
It was truly delicious! I only wish I had room for a bigger slice!
Oh, and my dad added that the gingersnap crust was even better than a graham cracker crust, which he loves!
Pumpkin and ice cream – two on my favourite things!! Can’t wait to try this.
YUMMY!!