Make It: Our Favorite Hot Weather Desserts
Summer is nearly here and that means it’s time for backyard parties and outdoor hangs and grill outs and –summer desserts and treats and ice cream cakes! Here are a few of our favorite recipes to make at home. Can’t go wrong with a bottle of low sugar Summer Water rosé, like this magnum right here, either!
Danielle Walker’s Berry Tart with Dairy Free Custard
I’ll never forget how I felt when I learned definitively I had an autoimmune condition and a serious sensitivity to gluten, along with dairy and white sugar. After the elimination diets and blood work all reached the same conclusions, it was clear I couldn’t eat those things ever again. At least not if I wanted my health too.
Knowing this wasn’t a temporary “diet” or something that would magically get better in time, I mourned the change like the loss it was. One life ended that day and a new one began. It was also hard not to feel like even the smallest celebrations would never be the same without any gluten or dairy or white sugar. Summer with no pies or cakes or ice cream or special desserts? What about the holidays?!
There were a few cookbooks and websites that got me through some dark times and Danielle Walker’s Against All Grain books and recipes were one of those. I had to learn to cook and bake all over again, with a whole new host of ingredients, but these were great examples of how it was all possible and I’d get through it – and I did and I never looked back. Her third book Celebrations: A Year of Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Paleo Recipes for Every Occassion is also a favorite and worth having in your gluten and dairy free kitchen arsenal.
This berry topped custard tart was one of the first things I made when I was relearning everything, and it’s a recipe I’ve gone back to countless times. I’ve switched up the nut flours in the tart shell base, changed up the flavors in the coconut vanilla bean custard, used different shaped tart pans (long rectangular ones are personal faves), and topped this with different seasonal fruits instead of berries over the years and it’s never let me down. I hope it serves you well too!
>>> MAKE IT <<<
Find the full recipe and detailed instructions on the AAG website here.
Photo: Jenni Hulet’s My Paleo Patisserie
The Urban Poser’s Grain & Dairy Free Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake
Does anything scream summer (or childhood birthday nostalgia!) like an ice cream cake? A paleo ice cream cake complete with an ice cream cone topper?!
Jenni Hulet aka The Urban Poser has a fantastic recipe filled website, but she also wrote an amazing book called My Paleo Patisserie based on her own experience as a yogi and classically trained pastry chef who was also diagnosed with an autoimmune condition.
Instead of giving up, she developed a tome that approaches paleo baking from a classic patisserie perspective (paleo pâte choux?!) and it’s brilliant. It was such an immediate favorite for me, I bought every food challenged person I knew a copy. If you’re even remotely interested in DIY paleo friendly pastry this book is a must have. It’s s sadly now out of print, so if you see a copy online or somewhere out in the wild, snag it!
Back to that ice cream cake… hers is a layer of chocolate cake, a layer of vanilla ice cream, and a layer of strawberry ice cream, topped with a dripped layer of dark chocolate ganache, rainbow sprinkles and a homemade upside down pizzelle waffle cone for some major wow factor.
Jenni says she usually does this with store bought vanilla ice cream, saving her efforts for the dairy free coconut milk based fresh strawberry cream cheese ice cream, which is definitely worth taking the time to make. Don’t have 6” round chocolate cakes sitting around all the time like I do? No problem. As you can see in the photo here, you can make this one as over the top – or as quick and easy – as you have the time and inclination to.
This one was made in a loaf pan, skipped the cake entirely, used a dairy free store bought vanilla ice cream and was tipped simply with that chocolate ganache and whole fresh strawberries. Next time I’d likely top it with a chocolate and sprinkles dipped store bought gluten free ice cream cone if I had one on hand. Bottom line, ice cream cakes should be fun, not stressful. Work with what you’ve got and have fun with it!
>>> MAKE IT <<<
Find the full recipes and detailed instructions on The Urban Poser site here.
Photo: Danielle Walker’s Against All Grain
Danielle Walker’s S’Mores Ice Cream
Made with a dairy free coconut milk and maple sugar vanilla base, this paleo ice cream is the stuff summer dreams are made of. The liquid smoke addition is also pure genius.
Her recipe uses collagen filled homemade honey based marshmallow and homemade paleo graham style crackers, but in a pinch, you could definitely do this one with store bought gluten free marshmallows and graham crackers.
If you opt to make the homemade marshmallows (they’re worth it!) be sure to save some of the marshmallow “fluff” (the whipped marshmallow before you smooth it into a a pan to set and dust with tapioca starch) in an airtight container – a mason jar works great –and keep it on hand for whenever the mood may strike. Sealed airtight and stored in a cool, dark spot, it should keep for at least a few days.
>>> MAKE IT <<<
Find the full recipe and detailed instructions on the AAG website here.
Love s’mores? Me too. Keep an eye out for a bonfire cake of the week later this summer, complete with a toasted marshmallow top!
