Spumoni Ice Cream Terrine
When I asked my Chief Culinary Consultant last week if he had any ideas for new ice cream flavors since I still had two more Fridays left for celebrating July’s National Ice Cream Month, he offered up quite a few great ones, but the one we both got excited about was spumoni. I haven’t had spumoni since I was much younger, and was excited to tackle this traditional Italian frozen dessert. Little did I know when I decided to make this that in addition to another baking project I would also be tackling a research project. There was much to learn about spumoni! I wanted to make it as authentic as possible, so I went about reading everything I could find both online and in the cookbooks I own. Spumoni, known in Italy as Spumone, is a molded Italian ice cream made with layers of different colors and flavors, and containing a variety of fruits and nuts. The most traditional flavors are chocolate, pistachio and cherry with various nuts and fruit. In mine I chose to use hazelnuts with the chocolate layer, left pistachio as-is, and after reading much about the cherry layer finally settled on maraschino cherries, pineapple and almonds.
Traditionally, spumoni is made in a mold that results in a bomb-like dessert with the cherry layer in the center, followed by pistachio, and then covered by chocolate. Since I didn’t have a mold and wasn’t even able to find one online, I decided to go the terrine route and layer the flavors in a loaf pan, and then serve it in slices. This worked really well and since my ice cream bowl needs to freeze for at least 15 hours between batches, it gave each layer plenty of time to freeze before adding another one on top. The recipes below yield more than the 3 cups called for, but extra ice cream is never really a bad thing. As you can see, the edges of the slices aren’t perfect because it’s wrapped in plastic wrap. You could always trim the edges for a more perfect presentation, but you’d be wasting ice cream. And since when is an imperfect looking spoonful of ice cream anything but perfect?
I have entered this ice cream in the Ice Cream Social Challenge being hosted by ScottySnacks, SavortheThyme and Tangled Noodle. If you’ve made ice cream this month head on over and take part in the social to celebrate National Ice Cream Month!
Don’t forget! If you’re dying to make homemade ice cream and cursing yourself for not having an ice cream maker, head straight to this tutorial on how to make homemade ice cream without an ice cream maker!
What’s your flavor?
Classic Vanilla
Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Tin Roof Ice Cream
Butter Pecan
Spumoni Ice Cream Terrine
Ingredients
- 3 cups (396 g) Chocolate Ice Cream
- 3 cups (396 g) Pistachio Ice Cream
- 3 cups (396 g) Spumoni Cherry Ice Cream
Chocolate Ice Cream
- 2 cups (476 ml) heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 5 ounces (141.75 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
- 1 cup (244 ml) whole milk
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (90 g) hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
Pistachio Ice Cream
- 1 â…“ cups (164 g) shelled pistachio nuts
- ¾ cup (150 g) sugar
- 2 cups (476 ml) heavy cream
- 1 cup (244 ml) whole milk
- Pinch of salt
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) almond extract
- ¾ cup (92.25 g) pistachios, coarsely chopped
Spumoni Cherry Ice Cream
- 1½ cups (207 g) pitted ripe sweet cherries, from about 3/4 lb cherries
- ¾ cup (183 ml) whole milk
- 1¾ cups (416.5 ml) heavy cream
- ½ cup (100 g) sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons Amaretto, cherry liqueur, or rum (optional)
- ¼ cup (1.25 g) chopped maraschino cherries, patted completely dry
- ¼ cup (141.5 g) pineapple chunks, coarsely chopped and patted completely dry
- ¼ cup (35.75 g) coarsely chopped almonds
Instructions
- Line a large loaf pan or piece of tupperware with overlapping pieces of plastic wrap, leaving overhang on all edges.
- Spread 3 cups of softened chocolate ice cream into the bottom of the loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for about 30 minutes or until slightly hardened. Repeat with pistachio and cherry ice cream. Freeze entire loaf for at least 30 minutes.
- To serve, run a sharp knife under hot water, then wipe dry. Cut into slices.
- 1. To make the Chocolate Ice Cream: Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl.
- 2. Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
- 3. Stir the mixture constantly over the medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula (170°F on an instant-read thermometer). Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.
- 4. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.) Once churned, fold in the hazelnuts with a rubber spatula.
- 1. To make the Pistachio Ice Cream: Grind the 1 1/3 cups of pistachios in a food processor until finely ground, but not to a paste. Set aside.
- 2. In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the ground nuts. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep for at least 30 minutes.
- 3. Strain the warm nut mixture, pressing on the nuts to extract as much liquid as possible, and discard the solids. Return the milk and cream mixture to the saucepan. Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
- 4. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Add the vanilla extract and almond extract and stir until combined.
- 5. Refrigerate until cold. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions. Once finished churning, fold in the ¾ cup pistachios with a rubber spatula.
- **You'll notice this pistachio isn't bright green like you find in stores. I didn't use any food coloring, so this is all natural, but you can add a couple drops of green food coloring if you're looking for a deeper green shade.
- 1. To make the Spumoni Cherry Ice Cream: Put cherries, milk, one cup of the cream, sugar, and salt into a medium saucepan. Heat on medium heat until the mixture is steamy, then lower the heat to warm and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring with a rubber spatula and scraping the bottom of the pan. Cover and let steep for at least 30 minutes. Pour mixture into a blender or food processor, or use an immersion blender, and carefully purée. (Careful because you are dealing with a hot liquid. Make sure you hold the cap down on the top of the blender while puréeing.)
- 2. Strain mixture into a large bowl. Stir in the remaining 3/4 cup of heavy cream. Chill for several hours in the refrigerator until completely cold. Place the chopped maraschino cherries and pineapple chunks on a plate on a single layer and put in the freezer until ice cream is done churning.
- 3. Before putting the mixture into your ice cream maker, stir in the lemon juice and the Amaretto or other liqueur if you are using. Note that you can skip the alcohol if you want, but the addition of it will help the ice cream from getting too icy, and the amaretto can add a nice flavor boost to the ice cream. Churn the ice cream in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Once finished churning, stir in the cherries, pineapple and almonds with a rubber spatula.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Why does the cherry ice cream not have eggs like the other two?
I’m refreshing my Spumoni Ice Cream recipe and see that yours is from 2009. Have you done any updates or is this a “golden oldie” with no updated needed? Your recipes are always great and I use many of them. Thank you.
So this was amazing, and my New York born and bred Italian husband loved it. The only things he would have changed was to cut back on the nuts.
I followed the recipe exactly except for adding Ghiradelli mini chocolate chips to the chocolate part.
The chocolate was probably the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever had, let alone made! Next time I would leave the nuts out of all of the layers except for the pistachio. Other than just a few too many nuts, this was simply amazing! Thank you for sharing!
I’ve been looking at this recipe for several years, but it looked like a lot of work, and I didn’t have the time. But growing up in the Bronx, spumoni and tortoni were a real treat when we ate out, so I kept saying I was going to try it. I finally bit the bullet and made it, exactly as written. While spumoni might not sound very July 4th-like, it was perfect for our Independence Day cook out. The spumoni was three incredibly delicious ice creams. Unbelievable!! The best ice cream I have ever tasted. About nine hours work, but it was awesome. Truly unique. Thanks.
Spumoni! Growing up in the SF Bay Area in the 50s, my family would buy it from an Italian restaurant-supply place for special occasions. Yummmm!!!! My mom made a version she called “The Ice Cream Bomb” or “Bombe,” and since she lacked the traditional molds she used nesting stainless steel mixing bowls, ending up with a single huge hemisphere. She added a different liqueur to each layer of ice cream mixed with whipped cream — vanilla with Tuaca (an Italian vanilla liqueur), strawberry with Curacao or Grand Marnier, and chocolate with Kahlua or a chocolate-min liqueur. Not true Spumoni, but still verrrrrry yummy.
Oooh I love your mom’s version with liquor in each layer!
The ice cream was terrific – quite lovely. My husband has already asked that I make it again, it will become a staple.
However, in my mind it didn’t have that particular taste that makes spumoni spumoni. I have no idea what to call that taste, but what ever it is, it is present in all three of the flavors.
Thanks,
Dee
I CAN NOT FIND CLARET SAUCE ANYWHERE. WHERE DO YOU BUY IT???
Hi Heidi, You can make your own claret sauce (lots of recipes online) using claret, which is a variety of red wine.
Every Thankgiving and Christmas I serve Spumoni with Claret sauce. Claret sauce is hard to find yet worth the efford.
What a wonderful recipe to share, thank you so much! i grew up with spumoni ice cream every time my family ate at our favorite italian restaurant. It’s hard to find (good quality) in the stores and since I have homemade pistachio ice cream in my freezer now, I only have two more types of ice cream to make before I can have my own spumoni, too. Thanks again!
Aw you are welcome! What great memories! I hope you enjoy this!
I’ve made this spumoni several times and everyone LOVES it!! It’s absolutely delicious and worth all the time and effort! It’s INCREDIBLE and everyone must try it!!! Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Thank you for the great review, Kat! So thrilled to hear you’ve been loving this so much!
mmmmm…..we’re gonna make it(:
Veronika – Would love to hear about any spumoni secrets you come across while in Italy!
Gorgeous!I can’t wait to try this!
I LOVE Spumoni! I can’t believe how do-able it is to make this ice-cream. I’ll definitely be making it. And since I will be visiting Italy in October, I’ll be picking my hosts brain on the history of spumoni and any possible secrets they may have.
Thanks for sharing!
That’s it, the least I’m going to do is buy an ice cream maker.
I love spumoni and this looks great!
Gorgeous! I don’t think I’ve ever had spumoni but it sounds yummy!
This is a very well written recipe. The photographs speak for themself. Are you serving this?
So pretty and I love all the flavors you used :)
So, so pretty!!!
What a fun dessert! This looks delicious!
This is incredible! SOOOOO cute too!!! the vibrant colors!!! Ive never made homemade, Im so excited to try!
will have to try this, my husband loves spumoni. it looks fabulous!
Impressive! I don’t know anyone who’s ever made homemade spumoni!
It’s been a zillion years since I’ve had spumoni. My maiden name was Pomone and I used to get called spumoni. (it does rhyme).
Now I will be craving any one of those flavors all day.
I don’t know how I can call myself a self-respecting foodie when I’ve never had spumoni ice cream. It may be time to remedy that. This looks great!!
Ooh, awesome. I’ve never had spumoni and it sure looks like a lot of work with all the different flavors. But it looks de-lish!
Looks heavenly….! Great treat for summer!
Today is the last day of National Ice Cream month! Splurge!!
I love spumoni! I was thinking about it as well, and wondered how to make it at home.
That looks amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever had spumoni ice cream but now I want to.