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Christmas Spiced Semifreddo Recipe

Servings: 6 people (Double this recipe and fill a 24cm cake tin perfectly)

Ingredients

  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 whole egg
  • 90 ml rice malt syrup (you can use maple syrup or honey if you like)
  • 300 ml your choice of additive free cream or coconut cream for a non dairy version.
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
  • 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

For Topping

  • handful pitted chopped cherries ( when out of season, why not fine dice some pear and sautee in a pan with a little butter and splash of your syrup of choice, then cool it in the fridge and have ready to top the semifreddo.)
  • handful macadamias or pecans
  • 4 tbsp rice malt syrup or maple / honey
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • fresh nutmeg to grate at the very end
  • mini dried tea roses (optional ) I had some, so I couldn’t resist!

Instructions

  • Line a 24cm cake tin or 1 litre loaf tin with parchment paper (scrunch well first and then spread, so it moulds and ‘stays’ better. I do a criss cross of two strips so there’s plenty coming up the edges and to fold over the top
  • Heat some water in a saucepan and bring it to a gentle simmer.
  • While the water’s coming up to a simmer, grab a large metal bowl and put in the 4 egg yolks, whole egg, rice syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla bean powder.
  • Place bowl over the simmering water and beat with electric beaters until pale, creamy and frothy. Remove bowl from the saucepan and set aside.
  • In a separate deep bowl, put your cream of choice and whip until thickened. Then, fold in gently both the cream and the sweet eggy mixture.
  • Then, pour the whole mixture into your lined tin, cover it and then put into the freezer for 3 hours, or as I did, overnight and served the next day.

To assemble – The topping

  • Chop up your cherries and nuts, separately.
  • Pop nuts into a saucepan and toast for 3-4 minutes. Then add your topping syrup with an extra tablespoon of water to thin the syrup just a little. Warm for 2 minutes with the nuts and switch off the heat.
  • Then pull semifreddo out of the freezer and put onto a plate or cake stand, once parchment has been removed. DO NOT PANIC if the parchment sticks. Just leave it a couple of minutes for the semifreddo to soften, and it will peel off super easily!
  • Scatter nuts over the top with a spoon, then the cherries.
  • Drizzle remaining syrup from the pan, over the top with a spoon and finally, scatter little roses and grate the nutmeg over the top.
  • Tell me their jaws won’t drop with delight as you bring this into the room. Their tongues will sing the song of a thousand doves! Hehe. Who needs a gluten, sugar, sulphite packed dried fruit, laden Christmas pudding (yes, I just blasphemed, but many of you now know, Christmas pudding is just not my thing not to mention a liver’s worst nightmare! )