Champagne Ice Cream Floats

champagne ice cream floats

Summertime = hot = ice cream = cold bubbly.

Understand my logic?

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer! My summer is shaping up to be really fun. Fun and humid and sweaty. So sweaty. My hair’s at its puffiest and the glow that I envision on my skin is closer to a sheen, but I’m not complaining. Because my summer has been filled with ice cream. And lots of champagne. Together.

ice cream float champagne

Okay so the sparkling wine that I used is not technically champagne, it’s cava. True champagne comes from the Champagne region of France, but similar methods are used in making prosecco (Italian sparkling wine) and cava (Spanish sparkling wine).

The method is called methode champenois and if you’re wondering where you recently heard that, girl friend, I guess we both now have to admit that we’re still watching The Real Housewives on Bravo (and their champs queen, Heather).

cava ice cream float

I recently received a bottle of Freixenet’s Cordon Negro Brut, a crisp and refreshing cava known around the world as the Black Bottle Bubbly. I was originally going to make mimosas with it but decided to make an adult dessert instead.

I’ve made a couple of alcoholic ice cream floats before, but usually beer-based like these Raspberry Beer Floats and Chocolate Guinness Beer Floats. This time I upped the sophistication factor by using bubbly, added even more liquor in the form of chambord (raspberry liqueur) plus a couple globes of my latest obsession: luxardo cherries.

ice cream float ingredients

Let’s break it down again: a sparkling wine with notes of apple, pear, and bright citrus flavors + creamy vanilla ice cream from Batch, one of my favorite local ice cream makers + sweet raspberry liquor + and dark and intensely flavored maraschino cherries = PERFECTION.

The cava was light and crisp, contrasting nicely with the pure vanilla flavors of the ice cream. A little bit of chambord adds some warmth, and the luxardo cherries cap it all of nicely. Those cherries are nothing like the bright red and candy-tasting maraschino cherries I’ve been used to; instead they are dark red, almost purple, dense and chewy, with an sweet-tart flavor. They’re fantastic.

I made these Champagne Ice Cream Floats on a hot, sticky summer afternoon, but I wouldn’t mind these as an after-dinner treat, too. I also wouldn’t mind eating these during the colder months, because ice cream and bubbly do not choose seasons.

champagne float

Yield: serves 2

Champagne Ice Cream Floats

Ingredients

1 cup (or 2 scoops) vanilla ice cream
8 oz champagne, prosecco, or cava (I used Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut)
2 tablespoons Chambord or raspberry liqueur
Luxardo maraschino cherries for garnish

Directions

  1. Divide ice cream equally and scoop into glasses.
  2. Pour chambord over ice cream, and then pour bubbly in.
  3. Top with one or two cherries each glass. Enjoy!

Take note that this recipe makes 2 servings.

champagne ice cream

What’s your favorite kind of bubbly? I love all kinds of sparkling wine, and now resolving to always have cava at home!

   

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