What could be better than delicious carrot cake dripping with creamy cream cheese frosting? How about rich velvety cream cheese ice cream studded with big chunks of carrot cake. If you love cream cheese icing then this is the ice cream for you!
In my many years of playing around with recipes, I’ve thought about making a cream cheese ice cream many times. I’ve always been a fan of cheesecake, and carrot cake is one of my ultimate cravings with plenty of rich and decadent cream cheese frosting. The flavor of cream cheese, though subtle, is one I love. The idea of making a cream cheese ice cream naturally came up mixed with pieces of carrot cake as an amazing combination.
This ice cream is pretty easy to make. If you have any leftover carrot cake lying around that is. My carrot cake recipe is very easy and perfect for making this ice cream. Keeping some from a freshly baked cake is the hard part! If you make a carrot cake for some occasion or just because the cravings for it just make you throw one in the oven (hey it happens!) put aside about a cup and a half and just pop it into the freezer.
The key here is to make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature or even slightly warm so it will melt into the custard, creating a smooth and velvety ice cream base. I always add some non fat dry milk to my ice cream base as it helps absorb some of the water from the custard base to get less large crystal formation.
I’m definitely in the category of not afraid of things in my ice cream if you are going to have stuff there should be loads of it. If you like more a smooth ice cream than this is not the recipe for you. Let me know what you think about what else I could make in different ice cream flavors in the comments below.
A rich and velvety cream cheese ice cream studded with chunks of carrot cake.
- 4 large egg yolks
- 2/3 cups sugar
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup non fat milk powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste, or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, or i vanilla bean split wiht the seeds scraped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 8 oz cream cheese, cut into cubes and at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups carrot cake chunks, with frosting or without
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In a medium heat-safe bowl (about 1 ½ quarts) place the chunks of room temperature cream cheese and set aside.
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Have a large bowl full of ice water or a sink filled with ice and water ready.
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In a small bowl whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar. Set aside.
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In a small to medium saucepan heat the milk with the vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste until it comes to a simmer.
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Stir in the nonfat milk powder using a whisk until it has dissolved into the milk.
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Whisking constantly, ladle about 1 cup of the hot milk mixture with the beaten egg yolks.
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Stir the egg yolks into the remaining milk back into the saucepan.
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Continue to cook the custard, stirring constantly, until it reaches 170° to 180°. Try to get as close to 180° as you can. But be careful not to overcook as it will curdle. The custard should coat the back of a spoon.
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Immediately pour the custard through a mesh strainer (if you have one) over the reserved bowl of cream cheese. Stir and then let sit for a minute or so, to let the cheese melt.
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Using an immersion blender or a whisk, blend the custard until very smooth.
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Stir in the heavy cream.
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Place the custard bowl into the ice water bath and stir as it cools to room temperature. It should not take more than a couple of minutes.
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Place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the cooled custard.
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Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight. The custard can chill for up to 3 days before using.
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When ready to make ice cream place a 2-quart container that you want to store your ice cream in into the freezer along with the carrot cake chunks in a separate container. This can be done at the same time as you are chilling the custard or the day of your ice cream making.
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Freeze the Ice cream base according to your ice cream machine’s instructions.
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When your machine has made a very thick ice cream, take out the container and the carrot cake chunks from the freezer.
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Spoon about half of the ice cream mixture into the cold container and then sprinkle the chunks over the layer. Top with the remaining ice cream.
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Quickly stir up the pieces of carrot cake to distribute them evenly throughout.
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Place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the top of the ice cream and smooth out the top making sure there is as little air as possible to prevent crystals forming as it ripens.
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Immediately place the ice cream in the freezer.
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Let the ice cream ripen for at least 3 hours if you want firm ice cream. It can also be served soft if you are desperate!
