Red White and Blue, Berry Ice Cream

I'm still on the 4th of July theme and all the wonderful fresh berries that are in season, so wanted to try a berry ice cream.  I kept the berries in pieces instead of pureeing because I wanted to retain some white in the ice cream for the "white" in red white and blue.  This came nice this way, with frozen chunks of fruit.  I bet it would taste great too if you pureed the fruit.  This is a refreshing ice cream, chock full of fruit.

Recipe:
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
3/4 cup whipping cream
3 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups mixed red and blue fresh berries - I used blueberries cut in 1/2, strawberries cut into small chunks, and raspberries cut in 1/2
Whisk together 1st 4 ingredients in a medium bowl.  Then toss in the berries.  Transfer mixture to a 9 X 5 loaf pan lined with aluminum foil and cover with aluminum foil.  Freeze at least over night until completely frozen.  Every few hours turn the mixture with a fork or spoon to help it evenly freeze.

Enjoy!

Lemon Cakes with Fresh Berries and Cream

 

I made these little cakes for this 4th of July because I was looking for a colorful, fresh fruity and not too much work dessert.  These fit the bill and turned out so pretty and festive.  The lemon cake has a nice moist and tender texture, it is sweet and just a little tart.  The fresh cream and mixed berries are the perfect complement for it.  

Ingredients 
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fresh lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tbsps unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1 lg egg, room temp
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup raspberries
1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries, sliced
3 Tbsp sugar
1 cup chilled heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 6 compartment fancy bundt or brioche mold pan generously with baking spray.  
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and zest, set aside.
Beat together the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on med speed about 2 minutes till fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Add milk and beat just until combined - scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed.  On low speed slowly add in flour and beat until combined.  Divide batter between molds about 3/4 full, this filled 5  of the molds for me.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool cakes in pan for about 5 minutes, then turn out onto rack to finish cooling.
While the cakes cool use 1 cup of a combination of the berries and put in a food processor with 1 Tbsp sugar and pulse just a few times until fruit is just crushed.  Cover and chill.
Beat cream with remaining 2 Tbsp sugar using whisk attachment on a stand mixer at med-high until it just forms soft peaks.  Chill until ready to use.
Arrange cakes upside down on plates and top each with about 2 Tbsp whipped cream and 1 Tbsp crushed berries.  Scatter remaining berries over top and sides.  Serve remaining crushed berries on the side.
Recipe adapted from Gourmet July 2005

I used this pan, available here:

http://astore.amazon.com/rosscoubak-20/detail/B00006JSUM

 

Happy 4th of July!