On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Printable recipe at the bottom of the post!

A Brownie Bombe with a chocolate brownie shell, three kinds of ice cream, layers of dark chocolate ganache, and a whipped cream icing.

Hey. Sometimes I just crave ice cream!

When Amy from Crumbs in My Mustachio came up with the brilliant idea to post a Christmas cake each day made by twelve different bloggers, I jumped right in. I may have even muscled other people aside in my enthusiasm. What a blast! I dithered over this to a ridiculous degree, considering and discarding all different kinds of recipes. And even though my final choice wasn’t technically a cake, it’s a refreshing and crowd-pleasing dessert for any time of the year! I used pistachio-almond, vanilla, and peppermint ice cream for a traditional Christmas color scheme. You may use any flavor or color that appeals to you, of course.

I also put ganache between the ice cream layers because…well…because I love ganache! This is optional. It’s one more step, but I love the way it delineates the colors.

It isn’t a hard dessert to make, but you do have to give yourself a lot of time. Like at least a day ahead of the occasion, because it gets popped in and out of the freezer countless times. This was made in a 4 quart mixing bowl, so it’s huge. I’m guessing it will serve 16-18 people. Scale it down if you’d like. You’ll need:

• 3 half-gallons of ice cream. (I know…they aren’t half gallons any more. Do they really think we haven’t noticed this???)
• 2 batches of brownies. Guard them with your life; you will need ALL of the brownies. Trust me on this – I had to make a third batch because I let the guys “test” them.
• 10 ounces of dark chocolate. Good dark chocolate, not chips!
• 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
• A large tub of non-dairy topping. I usually avoid this stuff like the plague, but it holds up so much better than whipping cream that I caved it this time.

Begin by baking the brownies. Chewy or cake brownies? Doesn’t really matter. Cool them thoroughly. Line a bowl with foil, smoothing it out as much as possible. Don’t lose any sleep over this; the weight of the brownies and ice cream will flatten out most of the little ridges.

Line bowl with foil.

Firmly press large brownies all over the bowl, covering the foil completely, and bringing all the way to the top of the bowl. Save enough to cover the top when you’re done!

Press brownies along sides and bottom of bowl.

Stick the bowl in the freezer for an hour. This is the perfect time to make your ganache if you’re using it.

• Chop 10 ounces of dark chocolate and put it in a medium bowl.
• Heat 1 1/4 cups heavy cream until it’s beginning to bubble but not boil.
• Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then stir gently until it is blended. Cover and set aside to cool. Give it a stir occasionally.

When the hour is almost up, bring out your first carton of ice cream and allow it to soften. I can tell you through experience that you don’t want to try to flatten lumps of frozen ice cream. Let it soften, and maybe stir it around in a bowl first. It will make the next step a LOT easier! Press the ice cream (yes, the whole carton) over the brownie layer, bringing it almost to the top. Leave a generous 1/2″ at the top, because there will be a brownie “cover” added at the end. Smooth the ice cream as much as possible with a spoon, rubber spatula, or (brrr) your fingers. Return the bowl to the freezer.

Add ice cream flavor #1.

When the ice cream layer is firm, pour enough ganache into the bowl to coat the ice cream. Tip and rotate the bowl to spread the ganache, or use a pastry brush. Work quickly so the ice cream doesn’t melt! Return to the freezer.

Add ganache.

Soften the second tub of ice cream. Spread over the hardened ganache in the bowl and (you guessed it) return it to the freezer. When firm, repeat the ganache layer and freeze again. Fill with the remaining ice cream. (You’ll have a little left over. Grab a spoon; you know what to do with it, right?) Return the bowl to the freezer. Cover the ice cream with the remaining brownies, pressing firmly. Cover the bowl with foil, and freeze until solid. (Overnight is best.) When you’re ready to serve, remove the foil from the top, cover the top of the bowl with your platter, and flip it over. Peel the foil off of the bombe and frost it with whipped topping.

Frost it with whipped topping.

Sprinkle with sparkly edible glitter, add chocolate shapes, cookies…whatever is appropriate for your theme, or just leave it a beautiful fluffy white. Slice and serve! Use a knife that’s been dipped in warm water if your bombe is hard to cut. If you have any left over, put it in the freezer until the whipped topping is firm, and then cover well with heavy foil.

Here are the links to the first five cakes. I’ll add a link for each new cake, so make sure you come back and visit each day!

December 1st: Lemony Thyme’s Chocolate Truffle Pirouette Cake December 2nd: Cooking From a SAHM’s Strawberry ‘n Cream Cake December 3rd: Moore or Less Cooking Blog’s Coconut Tres Leches Cake December 4th: 365 Days of Baking’s S’mores Cake
December 5th: it’s yummi’s Pomegranate Lime Bundt Cake
December 6th: My Brownie Bombe.
December 7th: Hun What’s for Dinner’s Chocolate Roll with candy cane whipped cream.
December 8th: Chocolate, Chocolate and More’s Eggnog Pound Cake.
December 9th: Manila Spoon’s No-Bake White Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake.
December 10th: Baking in a Tornado’s White Chocolate Peppermint Cake.
December 11th: Crumbs in My Mustachio’s Hot Cocoalicious Cake.
December 12th: Tampa Cake Girl’s Red Velvet White Chocolate Cheesecake.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our twelve cakes as much as we enjoyed presenting them!