Last week I had to have oral surgery (boo), so to comfort myself I wanted to make something I could eat afterwards that would go down easily and still feel like a special treat. Enter: the ice cream bombe!
I’ve always loved combing a scoop of ice cream with a scoop of sorbet – I can’t believe it took me this long to figure out I could transform that preference into a molded beauty like this! It was SO easy to make, and it just feels more special than some scoops in a bowl. I feel quite like a lady enjoying my elegant bombe, I must say!
As a bonus, it also seems to make the ice cream easier to portion and manage. I don’t know about you, but I kind of hate the whole ice-cream-at-home serving situation. You take it out of the freezer and it’s too hard to scoop, so you let it soften and then it melts halfway, then you put what’s left back in the freezer and it gets icy. Ick! (Or, you just sit on the couch eating it straight out of the carton, and it half melts, and then you put it back in the freezer, spoon marks and all. Not that I would ever do that. But someone might.)
Anyway, the beautiful thing about the ice cream bombe, I discovered, is that it’s much easier to portion out and serve over time. I sliced my bombe into single servings and wrapped them individually so that I can take one and and enjoy it whenever I want. (I also left a big portion of the bombe, maybe 1/3 of it, unsliced – in case I want to serve it to guests.)
The whole thing really took no time at all to make, and almost no effort. The no effort part is because I used store-bought ice cream – you could certainly use home-made, but eh, I wasn’t up for it. It’s August – it’s okay to be lazy.
So whether you’re having oral surgery or a dinner party, I highly recommend an ice cream bombe for a show-stopping dessert that won’t cause you to break a sweat!
RECIPE: How to make an ice cream bombe
Ingredients
- ice cream and sorbet, your flavors of choice, enough to fill the capacity of your mold or bowl. You will need a larger quantity of the flavor you use for the first layer, and smaller quantities for subsequent layers. I used a half-gallon for my first layer and one pint for the other layers; of course, this will all vary for you depending on the capacity of your mold. The flavors shown here are: vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet, mango ice cream, and raspberry sorbet again.
- a round mold or bowl
Instructions
1. Place your first flavor of ice/cream sorbet in the fridge to soften for about 20 minutes. Note: don’t do what I did, which was to think I could skip this step and just soften my ice cream at room temperature faster – that doesn’t work. The outer layer of the ice cream will melt while the center stays hard. In the fridge though, it will soften uniformly and be much easier to spread!
2. Spread your first layer of ice cream into the mold, using the back of a spoon to spread it evenly. You don’t need to worry about making it perfectly smooth and even; some variations in the layers look nice, I think. Place the mold in the freezer and allow this layer to harden; about 10-20 minutes depending on your freezer.
3. Spread the next softened layer over this one, then place it in the freezer to harden before adding the next layer. Simply repeat till the mold is full, softening the ice cream for the next layers in the fridge when you’re ready for them. When the mold is full, cover it with plastic wrap and freeze for several hours or overnight.
4. To unmold, place the mold in a bowl of hot water for several seconds. Remove, dry the outside of the mold, then invert a cake plate or platter over the mold, and in one motion flip both the plate and the mold, so that the mold is now on top. Gently lift the mold away (if the ice cream is still stuck inside, let it sit for a few minutes, or drape a hot towel over the top of the mold). Once unmolded, pop the bombe back in the freezer for about ten minutes to stop any melting that will be occurring on the outer layer (this will be a life-saver in avoiding major drips while serving). Finally, soften the bombe in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, then slice and serve. (If your bombe is difficult to slice, run hot water over your knife before cutting.)
Enjoy!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Very neat! Great job on this.
Sorry you had to have oral surgery. That is NOT fun. I had some late June and still have two more to go in my treatment plan so I feel and hear ya.
this is totally the frozen equivalent of a jello mold.
I know, I was thinking the same thing!
Another tip: If you line the bowl with plastic wrap it’s even easier to get ice cream out of a mold. It does look a bit wrinkly though. I love the colours in your layers. Yum!