This is the MOST delicious ice cream you will ever eat! Ahhhhh, homemade ice cream and summertime…could there be a better combination? I have early memories of homemade ice cream growing up. My mom would mix up a batch of her vanilla custard, stirring the steamy concoction on the stove while sweet vanilla wafted through the air.

Whatever fruit was ready got puréed and added to the custard. Sometimes it was peach, other times strawberry or plain vanilla or chocolate. We knew we were in for a treat when my dad pulled out the old blue painted metal ice cream maker out of the garage. Out came the ice cream salt with its large clear crystals and a bag of ice. The cooled custard was poured into the metal cylindar and ice and salt were packed all around it. Dad inserted the wooden paddle and lined up us kids to each take a turn churning it by hand. Normally we would have been opposed to such manual labor but this job held a promise of a sweet reward at the end. Later we got an electric ice cream maker and these days I make my ice cream in a KitchenAid.

I have the frozen bowl attachment (you can get one for about $40) and absolutely love it! I put the bowl into the freezer the night before I want to make a batch of ice cream. This works well because you also need to refridgerate the custard before attempting to make ice cream out of it, so I put the KitchenAid bowl in the freezer then make my custard. Both will be ready the next day for the frozen concoction. The base ice cream I make for this has yellow cake mix in it because it is DELICIOUS!!!! I came up with this recipe because when the first cherry pie of the cherry season was ready for eating, my mom had also made a fresh cheesecake, so we had a slice of each AND a dollop of vanilla ice cream! Oh wow! Was that AMAZING!!! So I stuck a couple of slices of cheesecake in the freezer in anticipation of this recipe leaping out of my imagination and onto my bowl!

Homemade Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Cake Batter Ice Cream Base:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup yellow cake mix* (just keep the remaining box in the pantry you will want to make this again so you can use the rest of it then)

2 eggs, separated

3 cups of whole milk

1 cup of heavy cream (reserve until later, this will go in with the custard when you go to churn it)

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon amaretto (almond liqueur)*

Stir the sugar and cake mix together in a sauce pan, slowly stir in 1/2 cup of milk until a thin paste is formed and all is incorporated. Add the rest of the milk, stirring. Separate the eggs, yolks from the whites. I keep the whites in my refridgerator and when I have gathered enough, I make a Pavlova, or you can use them in your omelette tomorrow morning. Add the egg yolks to the milk mixture in the pan and cook over medium high heat stirring constantly until it thickens and starts to form a few bubbles. Remove from heat and allow to cool, add the vanilla and Amaretto enjoying the fabulous smells as they waft up from the pot and fill your kitchen with your own sweet memories. Pour into a glass container and put in the refrigerator to cool over night.

Cherry Sauce (aka Cherry Pie filling)

2 cups pitted cherries

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup Corn starch

4 tablespoons water

Stir sugar and corn starch together, toss together with the pitted cherries in a sauce pan. Add water, cook on medium high heat until the cherries are cooked through and the sauce has thickened. This also needs to be cooled overnight. If this seems too daunting, I’m sure you could substitute canned cherry pie filling, how can I judge you for that if I’m putting cake mix into my custard?

Cheesecake Stir-In:

One generous slice of cheese cake, frozen. I had the good fortune of my mom having just made a fresh cheesecake so I stuck two slices in the freezer, waiting for this moment.

On the happy Ice Cream Churning Day:

Pour the cake batter ice cream base into the ice cream maker along with the one cup of heavy cream and churn! While that is churning get out your freezer containers, I like to use personal size cups because this ice cream is so rich you don’t need much! Get the Cherry Sauce out of the fridge (even if you use canned it should be cold). Get the frozen cheesecake slice out and chop it up in little bite size pieces.

When the ice cream is finished churning it should look like soft serve ice cream. Stir in 1 cup of Cherry sauce, I stir it lightly because I like it to look a little swirled.

Spoon some ice cream into the bottom of the personal cups (about half full), spoon a little extra cherry sauce in, sprinkle a few cheesecake chunks in to the cup then repeat with more ice cream. Put the lids on and freeze.

*note, if you are really turned off by the cake mix you can substitute 1/3 cup of flour or even rice flour if you are gluten intolerant.

*note, the Ameretto or any other liquor will keep the ice cream from freezing as solid, you want as soft as an ice cream as you can make.

Individual serving cups of Cherry Cheesecake Ice creamTry these other great recipes from our Archives:

Buttery Flaky Pie Crust

Cherry Pie (published May 20, 2017)

Homemade Berry Pie (published July 23, 2017)

Whole Wheat Waffles (published August 12, 2017)

Almond Roca (published February 22, 2018)

Homemade Banana Cream Pie (published May 10, 2018)

Cannoli (published August 3, 2017)

Easy Authentic Tiramasu (published May 3, 2018)

Ooey Gooey Blonde Brownies (published August 11, 2018)

Old Fashioned Peach Crisp (published August 1, 2018

Classic Canned Peaches (published August 8, 2018)

Dutch Babies (published May 30, 2018)

Noyaux (Almond Extract made from stone fruit pits

For More “Homestead” Articles see our Archive stories:

The Beginning of a Blog (Published May 18, 2017)

The Cherry Tree (Published May 20, 2017)

How to Roast Your Own Coffee Beans (Published May 22, 2017)

Successful Square Foot Gardening (Published May 23, 2017)

Yosemite (Published June 7, 2017)

My Tiny House (Published June 15, 2017)

Making Noyaux (French Bitter Almond Extract from Stone fruit pits) Published August 7, 2017)

Sweet & Spicy Pickles (Published July 21, 2017

Classic Canned Peaches (Published August 6, 2018)

Recipe Index:

Breakfast:

Whole Wheat Waffles (published August 12, 2017)

Dutch Babies (published May 30, 2018)

Dinner Ideas from Around the World:

Babaganush (Middle Eastern Roasted Eggplant Dip) Published July 29, 2017

Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce (Published August 18, 2017)

Saltimbocca (Roman Style Veal Scallopini) (Published February 18, 2018)

Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef Salad (Bun Bo Xoa) Published March 12, 2018)

Spiced Chickpea Salad with Roasted Cauliflower (Published April 22, 2018)

Steamed Mussels and Fettuccine (Cozze e Fettuccine) Published May 4, 2019)

Shrimp Risotto (Risotto alla Gamberi) Published June 2, 2018)

Pasta Carbonara (Published May 12, 2018)

Arancini (Italian Fried Rice Balls) Published June 4, 2018)

Ossobuco alla Milanese (Milan Style Veal Shanks & Saffron Risotto) Published June 20, 2018)

Lasagna Bolognese (Published Aug 3, 2018)

Kung Pao Chicken (Published August 23, 2018)

Eggplant Parmesan (Published August 29, 2018)

Gyoza (Potstickers or Chinese Dumplings) Published August 27,2018)

Cacio e Pepe (Published August 28, 2018)

Southern Fried Chicken (published September 11, 2018)

Side DIshes:

Festive Pineapple Sesame Coleslaw (published September 14, 2018)

Italian Roasted Vegetable Platter (published September 13, 2018)

Canning and Preserving:

Noyaux (French bitter almond extract from stone fruit) (Published Aug 7, 2017)

Sweet & Spicy Pickles (Published July 6, 2017)

Canned Peaches (Published August 23, 2018)

Ricotta from Powdered Milk (Published Aug 5, 2017)

Candied Orange Peel (Published September 12, 2018)

For other great travel articles about living in Italy try one from our Archives:

A Morning Run in Nettuno (Published September 10, 2017)

A Visit to Castelli Romani (Published September 13, 2017)

Dinner for Six (Published October 1, 2017)

Italian Cooking School (Published October 8, 2017)

Culinary Tour of Napoli (Published November 17, 2017)

Changing Seasons in Italy (Published November 25, 2017)

Our Trip to Englands Cotswolds (Published January 12, 2018)

Cooking with Pasquale (Published January 28, 2018)

A Tour of the Garden of Ninfa (Published May 7, 2018)

A Trip to Montefiascone (Published May 17, 2018)

San Gimignano, a visit to a Tuscan Hill Town (Published June 9, 2018)

Tuscan Hot Springs of San Filippo & Saturnia (Published June 13, 2018)

August in Sperlonga (Published August 30, 2018)