Barbecued Ice Cream

By far the most requested barbecued dessert I do is Barbecued Ice Cream. Just the name causes most people to peer at me in wonder and ask, “Do you really barbecue ice cream?” And as you’ll see here, the answer is yes, with a bit of culinary trickery.

Ingredients

1 Giant-sized Sara Lee pound cake, cold but not frozen
3 Klondike chocolate covered ice cream bars
12-16 egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 wooden plank, 12” x 8” by 1-inch thick
Heavy duty aluminum foil to wrap the plank
1 8-ounce jar of raspberry jam
1 8-ounce jar of chocolate fudge sauce

Instructions

Get a good hot fire going in a kettle grill, gas barbecue, or smoker (at least 700 degrees F). If you use charcoal in a kettle grill, mound it in two piles on either side of the cooker, leaving the middle of the grill open. If using a gas grill, turn on all burners to high.

Whip the egg whites, cream of tartar, and sugar into a stiff meringue so that when you pull the  beaters away, sharp points stand up in the meringue. Cover and put meringue in the refrigerator. Wrap the plank in the foil.  

Cut the pound cake in half as if you were making a large (and decadent) sandwich.

Generously spread all of the raspberry jam on the bottom of the cake. Place 3 ice cream bars (without wrappers) on top of the jam on the bottom layer and cover with the top layer.Put the assembled ice cream cake in the freezer for 10 minutes.

While the ice cream cake is hardening, warm 1 jar of hot fudge sauce in a pot of hot water and keep warm.

Place the cake on a foil-covered board and completely cover the cake on all sides with meringue, being sure to bring the meringue all the way down to touch the foil all around cake.  If you leave any gaps the ice cream may melt and spoil the dessert.

Place the plank on the center of the grill in your very hot barbecue. Check after 2 minutes, and as soon as you see the peaks of meringue become brown, remove the dessert from the cooker. This will only take a few minutes with a very hot fire.

Bring the plank and cake to the table and place on a large serving platter. Cut vertical slices through the meringue, cake and ice cream with an ELECTRIC KNIFE, and put on plates onto which you have spooned a generous pool of the chocolate sauce.