Lemon meringue ice cream cake (gluten-free)

Overhead view of lemon meringue ice cream cake

Overhead side view of lemon meringue cake

Hi everyone !

Summer means ice cream cakes in our house and this one is with a favorite flavor : lemon meringue.

To start, when I have too many egg whites I make a dacquoise (like a large macaron). I made one of these a few weeks back and put it in the freezer especially for this kind of occasion. So that means I only had to add a lemon cake layer and ice cream. As luck would have it, I just so happened to have found a delicious lemon meringue ice cream at the supermarket. If you can't find one, no worries, a lemon sorbet or sherbert, or lemon ice cream will do just fine.

What you'll need : about a half a litre of ice cream, the 2 cake layers (recipes to follow), some lemon curd or marmalade, a cream cheese frosting, as well as some meringues, macarons or candied lemon to decorate.

I made the lemon almond bar layer as follows :

50 g almond flour

70 g sugar

Juice from 1 lemon

Rind from 1/4 lemon

2 eggs

30 g butter, softened

2 heaping tablespoons of flour (or cornstarch if you want a gluten free version)

Preheat oven 350° F / 180° C. Prepare your pan or mold that you will use to make the ice cream cake. I used a 7-inch or 16 cm round spring-form pan. Line with parchment paper. In a bowl, cream eggs, sugar and butter, then mix in all other ingredients. Pour into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the middle is firm. Set aside to cool.

Here is how to make the dacquoise layer :

3 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

75 g almond flour

75 g confectioners sugar

10 g granulated sugar

1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

End result of dacquoise or meringue layer

Preheat oven 225° F / 110° C. Beat egg whites in a bowl until they form stiff peaks. Fold in confectioners sugar, then almond flour. Add other ingredients. Use a pastry bag to pipe a concentric circle or make a circular disk the same size as your pan with a spatula like I did. Bake 35-40 minutes + 15 minutes with heat off and oven door ajar, or until exterior is crunchy.

Make cream cheese frosting :

Whipped cream frosting

1 cup whipping cream

18 oz softened cream cheesse
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (up to 1 cup if you like it sweeter) confectioners sugar

Whip the cream in a bowl until you have soft peaks. Add the softened cream cheese until well blended, then the sugar and vanilla. Refrigerate until you are ready to pipe on the cake.

Once all layers are cooled and ready to layer with ice cream, prepare your spring form pan again, lined this time with a baker's plastic film sheet along the inside of the walls, and parchment paper on the bottom. Take the ice cream from the freezer and allow to thaw slightly (about 10-12 minutes) to be able to work quickly. Place the dacquoise layer on the bottom of the pan. Spoon in a 1-1/2" layer of ice cream on top and spread evenly. Take about a 1/4 cup of marmalade or lemon curd and layer on top of the ice cream. Then add the layer of lemon bar on top. Add a thin layer of frosting and put in the freezer for 3-4 hours or overnight. Refrigerate the frosting as well.

Remove the cake from the freezer. Remove the plastic film. To decorate : pipe the cream frosting on top, I used two different types of piping tips to vary texture. Decorate with edible flowers, meringue, macarons or candied lemon bits. On a side note, I had initially put morning glory flowers from the garden but upon refrigerating, they didnt survive for the photo.