Super creamy strawberry ice cream with delicious pieces of cake swirled in to make the ultimate strawberry shortcake dessert for summer! This is hands down one of my favorite ice cream recipes ever. Who doesn’t love a fistful of sweet, juicy strawberries in summer! Here in Ontario, summer strawberries are deep red, super sweet, and smell divine. It’s also the only time of the year where I truly enjoy eating strawberries. With the abundance of strawberries I can get my hands on every summer, I wanted to make more than just strawberry jam or healthy strawberry smoothie or a strawberry tart or a strawberry galette. I wanted something out of the box. So I came up with this classic strawberry shortcake in ice cream form! An incredibly creamy, intense strawberry ice cream that epitomized summer (imagine a pairing of this ice cream with a scrumptious Maine lobster roll?). I guarantee this homemade ice cream is unlike anything you’ve tasted before! 🙂
Why I love this recipe
One of my favorite summer desserts is light, fluffy sponge cakes with strawberries and whipped cream. This creamy strawberry shortcake ice cream is the frozen dessert version of that! It’s easier, and tastes better than strawberry shortcake bars, especially with REAL strawberries AND cake in the ice cream! The strawberries are roasted first to make them even sweeter, which helps to add even more strawberry flavor to the ice cream. This ice cream has a whopping 1 lb of strawberries unlike regular strawberry ice creams. Even without the addition of cake, you will have a simple, roasted strawberry ice cream, so the recipe is easily adaptable. But the cake truly elevates this ice cream with the addition of that lovely texture.
Ingredients
Strawberries – You can use ANY kind of fresh strawberry you like. Strawberries that have a sweet smell and are bright red are best. However, you can still use whatever strawberries you have. If the strawberries are not as sweet, you can increase the amount of sugar when roasting the strawberries. Freeze dried strawberries are also fine. Sugar – Sugar is for the ice cream base and to roast the strawberries. Lemon juice – This helps perk up the flavor of the strawberries. Milk and heavy cream – Used to make the ice cream base. Egg yolks – Adds a delicious creaminess and richness to the ice cream. Vanilla cake – You can use a small store-bought sponge cake. Or use any type of leftover vanilla cake or sponge cake for this.
How to make strawberry shortcake ice cream
Special equipment
This strawberry shortcake ice cream is made in an ice cream machine. This produces the best results. However, there is a way to make this ice cream WITHOUT an ice cream maker, but it won’t be as creamy and light.
Roasted strawberries
The first step is to make the roasted strawberries. You can do this several days before making the ice cream base. To get a nice concentrated strawberry mix, I like to roast the strawberries for about 40 minutes. The slightly longer cook time makes the strawberries softer, and results in more syrup. Half of the strawberries are reserved to add to the ice cream at the end. The rest of the strawberries and all the syrup are added to the ice cream base for a sweet and intense strawberry flavor.
Making the roasted strawberry ice cream base
Many strawberry ice cream recipes are made without eggs. But I find ice cream made without eggs to be more icy in texture without that emulsifier in the custard base. So I prefer to use a classic vanilla ice cream base with egg yolks that will act as an emulsifier to give the ice cream a smooth, creamy texture. This is especially important since we will be using a total of 1 lb of strawberries in the ice cream and we want to add richness and creaminess while reducing the amount of milk to compensate for the strawberries. With the added texture from the cake pieces to make an incredible roasted strawberry shortcake ice cream! First, mix the milk, egg yolks, sugar and cream together, and heat it to 170 F. This slightly thickens the custard for the ice cream. Next, blend half of the strawberries and all or most of the syrup together and stir it into the ice cream base. Chill this overnight before churning.
Churning and freezing
The next day, churn ice cream base according to manufacturer’s directions. While the ice cream is churning, cut up the sponge cake into small cubes. You don’t need a lot of cake since too much will make it hard to scoop the ice cream. You’ll be surprised at how little cake is needed to make this strawberry shortcake ice cream! Don’t make the mistake I did on my first try at this ice cream and add shortcake into the ice cream mix. This is a good idea in theory, but it’ll crush the cake pieces and also it’ll be too much ice cream for your machine to handle! Once the ice cream is churned, transfer the roasted strawberry ice cream into a freezer friendly dish. Make sure to alternate the strawberry ice cream layer with the other half of roasted strawberries and cake pieces and swirl them in as you go. Finally, cover the pan with a lid or plastic wrap and transfer the ice cream into the freezer and let it freeze completely (at least 4 hours). Once frozen, the homemade ice cream can be served!
Tips for perfecting this homemade strawberry shortcake ice cream
The roasted strawberries and the ice cream base can be made on the same day. This is a great recipe to use leftover cake scraps (I’ve made this a few times with my vanilla cake and mulled wine sponge cake), so you don’t have to buy a cake specifically for this recipe! However, a small, plain store-bought cake (sponge cake or vanilla cake) will work well in this recipe too. Allow the ice cream base to chill in the fridge overnight because this will help churn the ice cream better. Instead of a strawberry shortcake ice cream recipe, you can leave out the cake and just make a roasted strawberry ice cream too. So it’s very adaptable. Don’t over-fill the ice cream with cake. Less is more in this case. The more cake you add, the harder it will be to get creamy scoops of ice cream. This recipe can be made with freeze dried strawberries as well. Replace the fresh strawberries with 50 – 60 g of freeze dried strawberries, and increase the milk amount to 1 1/4 cup.
