Peachy Ice Cream Crown Cake

This is the dessert that ends a summer dinner party with applause. Ladyfingers ring the inside of a springform pan like a little crown, vanilla ice cream layers up between them, and the whole thing freezes solid into a cake you can slice clean.

The wine sauce is what lifts this from a simple ice cream cake into something a little grown-up. Dry white wine cooked with sugar and cornstarch reduces into a glossy syrup, with one mashed peach stirred in for fruit body. Spooned warm over the cold cake, the temperature contrast is what makes the dessert sing.

Lining the pan with plastic wrap is the move that lets you unmold the cake intact. Skip it and the ladyfingers stick to the springform sides.

Pro Tips

• Soften the ice cream just enough to spread without melting fully. Stiff ice cream tears the ladyfingers, soup ice cream loses air and texture.
• Trim the bottoms of the ladyfingers if needed so they stand even with the pan height for a clean top edge.
• Freeze the cake at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Underfrozen cakes collapse the moment you slice.
• Cool the wine sauce fully before serving, hot syrup melts the cake on contact and ruins the contrast.
• Slice with a knife dipped in hot water and wiped between cuts for clean wedges.

Variations

• Use strawberries and rose wine in place of peaches and white wine for a pink summer version.
• Substitute peach ice cream for vanilla and dial up the fruit factor.
• Swap ladyfingers for chocolate wafer cookies and use cherries with red wine sauce for a Black Forest lean.