This No-Bake Frozen Cherry Chocolate Pie is a luxurious gluten-free summer dessert. So easy to make and very impressive to serve.

Gosh, I am not a fan of this heat. It is making me irritable, giving me headaches and means working in my kitchen is a form of torture. I am definitely cracking under the pressure. I realise I would not have made it as a spy. Place me in a 40 degree kitchen, turn on the oven and ask me to make dinner and I would have sold England straight up the river.

I am also not a fan of those people who admonish me for complaining about the heat. True, complainers are no fun but give me the frozen depths of winter any day. All you need to do is turn on the heating and put on a coat then you’re sorted. There is no getting away from this heat though, except in the car. Oh, never has a trip to Sainsburys felt so luxurious with the air-conditioning cranked up as high as it can go.

My oven seems to have a sixth sense that I don’t really want to be baking cakes at the moment and all my recipes have been failing me. I am either lazily reading through ingredients lists, carelessly putting the oven on too high or just not hearing my timer go off as I’m too busy standing in front of the fan, the noise of it drowning out anything important.

So, salads and no-bake desserts have been the only way to go. I am a particular advocate of this recipe we shall be discussing today. No-Bake Frozen Cherry Chocolate Pie. Is there anything in its name that may cause you hesitation? To me, nothing sounds more inviting. It looks beautiful, is easier than it looks to put together and tastes chillingly refreshing. All you have to really think about is each step has a little freezing time. But that’s great as you can make it well in advance, I’m talking a few days, and is an extremely impressive high summer dessert. In fact, I made each step a couple of days apart as it had to fit in between looking after my tiny humans so it turned out to be even less of a bother than if I had to focus on putting it all together at once. This drove Luke insane though, as each day after work he was disappointed yet again that the pie still wasn’t ready to eat. And then when it was, it had to wait until I had a block of time to photograph it. Turns out photographing ice cream pies with a three year old running amok is quite the challenge. Ice cream doesn’t understand the patience required looking after children and capturing any photographs without it melting away as I tried to chase my son out of the shot for the millionth time was a bit of a triumph.

The No-Bake Frozen Cherry Chocolate Pie has three major components. A biscuit base made out of crushed gluten-free milk chocolate digestives filled with an easy peasy no-churn cherry ice cream made with fresh cherry puree, condensed milk and whipped cream. Then a final silky topping of chocolate ganache which goes kind of chewy when you serve it to really take it to another level. Really, this pie is an absolute dream and when Luke was finally allowed his very own slice he absolutely loved it and has made it very clear none of it is to be given away. To be honest, that thought was far from my mind, ice cream, and in particular this No-Bake Frozen Cherry Chocolate Pie is the only upside to this oppressive July heat.

Print Recipe

No-Bake Frozen Cherry Chocolate Pie {gluten-free}

This No-Bake Frozen Cherry Chocolate Pie is a luxurious gluten-free summer dessert. So easy to make and very impressive to serve.

Course

dessert

Cuisine

British

Keyword

ice cream, pie

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

5 minutes

Servings

16 people

Ingredients

Chocolate Pie Crust

• 300 g gluten-free chocolate digestives
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 75 g unsalted butter melted then cooled
• ½ teaspoon salt

Cherry Ice Cream

• 40 ml caster sugar
• 40 ml water
• 400 g fresh cherries pitted and halved
• 600 ml double cream
• 300 ml condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon cherry brandy
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract

Chocolate Ganache

• 125 g dark chocolate
• 125 g double cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Course dessert Cuisine British Keyword ice cream, pie Prep Time 20 minutes Cook Time 5 minutes Servings 16 people Ingredients Chocolate Pie Crust 300 g gluten-free chocolate digestives 1 tablespoon cocoa powder 75 g unsalted butter melted then cooled ½ teaspoon salt Cherry Ice Cream 40 ml caster sugar 40 ml water 400 g fresh cherries pitted and halved 600 ml double cream 300 ml condensed milk 1 tablespoon cherry brandy ¼ teaspoon almond extract Chocolate Ganache 125 g dark chocolate 125 g double cream 1 tablespoon unsalted butter ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Chocolate Pie Crust

1. Firstly grease a 10 inch pie tin.
2. For the chocolate pie crust, pour the chocolate digestives into a food processor along with the cocoa powder and whizz up until they form fine crumbs.
3. Pour in the cooled melted butter and the salt and mix together until combined.
4. Pour the molten chocolate mixture into the pie tin and press evenly across the bottom and up the sides of the tin. The mixture may still be a little soft because of the melted chocolate to press in evenly so get the mixture roughly where you want it then place in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to harden slightly so the crust is easier to press up the sides. Once the crust is even, then place in the freezer for an hour to firm up.

Cherry Ice Cream

1. Pour caster sugar and water into a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil, simmer for a few minutes until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Pour in the cherries, bring back to the boil, simmer for 5 minutes then turn off the heat and let the cherries cool in the syrup. Once cool, blitz in blender.
3. Whip the double cream until thick and floppy then fold into the condensed milk.
4. Stir in the pureed cherries, the cherry brandy and the almond extract until well combined.
5. Pour the cherry filling into the chocolate pie crust then place in the freezer overnight to set.

Chocolate Ganache

1. Melt the chocolate with the butter and salt in a bain marie or a bowl set over simmering water.
2. Once melted, remove from the heat and pour in the double cream. Stir until well combined.
3. Remove the cherry pie from the freezer. Make sure you can easily remove the pie from the pie tin so that you are not fiddling about with it after you have added the ganache.
4. You can put the pie back into the pie tin or transfer to a freezer friendly plate. Then spread the ganache onto the middle of the pie. Drizzle with extra melted chocolate if you like. Place back in the freezer for an hour to fully firm up.
5. At this point you can serve the pie. Remove from the freezer and cut the pie into the slices you need. Rest for 5-10 minutes before serving the slices.
6. The pie will keep wrapped well in foil in the freezer for a couple of weeks.

SHOP THE RECIPE

I would be nowhere without my Magimix 4200XL Food Processor – Satin for making the crust for this recipe. I have easily had it over ten years and I use it nearly every day for whipping up dips, pestos, nut butters, nut and oat flour and making my breadcrumbs. The Magixmix is an impressive piece of kit which even survived being dropped when we moved into our house (although it did have to have the motor replaced but that wasn’t too expensive). I put all the attachments in the dishwasher and they come out brilliantly clean but it also gives just great results. I love my Magimix and along with my Kitchenaid is the piece of equipment I use most often in my kitchen.

I love the bakeware by Alan Silverwood and for this No-Bake Frozen Cherry Chocolate Pie I used this Fluted Flan Tin 20cm Alan Silverwood. It has a loose bottom so makes it easy to remove the pie. Don’t put it in the dishwasher though as it will ruin the silver anodised finish.

I always use a double boiler or bain marie when melting my chocolate as it’s much easier than finding a bowl that’s the right size that will fit the top of your saucepan and then the boil gets hot and how do you handle it? This KitchenCraft Induction-Safe Stainless Steel Double Boiler Porringer/Bain-Marie Pan, 16 cm (6.5″) is the one I use and is the perfect size. Double boilers are way more useful than you think they are going to be. I use one every time I melt chocolate, make a curd or make swiss meringue.

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