No ice cream machine? No problem! This creamy cherry and rose ice cream is easy and deliciously delightful. 

With the use of condensed milk, you avoid the need for constant churning while still achieving a smooth and creamy texture. Its sugar content and structure help prevent the formation of large ice crystals, while the smooth, creamy, aerated texture mimics the lightness of traditionally churned ice cream. 

This recipe is inspired by The Ritual of Sakura. Edible Japanese cherry blossom (Sakura) is difficult to get or very expensive here, but luckily there’s a tasty way to create a similar aroma. The trick is to blend cherry jam with rose water into a smooth coulis that tastes both fresh, flowery and sweet. Hinting to the rice milk in much loved collection, I added ricotta to give this ice cream a soft, milky flavour. 

This ice cream recipe is so easy that once you get the hang of it (which won’t take long) you can experiment with other flavour combinations – go wild and have fun. The wonderful thing about having homemade ice cream in the freezer is that you always have a little treat for (unexpected) guests.  

Cooking time: 15 min (+ 4 hours of waiting) 

Serves: 6 

Ingredients:  

- 150 g cherry jam 

- Splash of rose water 

- 250 ml heavy cream (cold) 

- 250 g ricotta cheese 

- 200 ml sweetened condensed milk 

- 3 tbsp rose petals (optional) 

Steps:  

1. Blend the cherry jam together with a splash of rose water in a blender until smooth and without any lumps. Set aside. 
2. Place the cream, ricotta and condensed milk in the bowl of a food processor and beat with the balloon whisk until stiff peaks form. This takes around 5-7 minutes. (If you don’t have a food processor it will take around 15-20 minutes with a whisk by hand).
3. Add half of the pureed jam to the mixing bowl and use a spatula to distribute the flavorings into the cream mixture, trying not to apply pressure so that everything remains fluffy.
4. Pour the mixture into an airtight container or a metal loaf pan. Pour the rest of the mixed cherry jam over it and marble it in with a butter knife. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap to prevent ice crystals from forming.
5. Place in the freezer for at least 6 hours, or preferably overnight, until fully set. For the softest scoops, let the ice cream defrost slightly at room temperature (around 15 minutes on warm days and around half an hour on colder days). Are you the lucky owner of an ice cream maker? If so, mix the ingredients before freezing them and churn the mixture after at least 24 hours. For a next-level presentation, you can transfer the ice cream to a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe it into a glass, just like soft serve.