Serving ice cream at a dinner party can be a fun and exciting dessert to serve your guests. Dinner parties are typically fancy, formal, and people expect something more than the norm.
To impress your guests, there are a few ways to serve ice cream for your dinner party.
How to Serve Ice Cream Buffet Style for a Dinner Party
Serving ice cream buffet style is all in the preparation. You need to have a few small bowls for toppings for your ice cream. Select 4-5 toppings for your dinner party. Prepare your toppings in your small bowls before your guests arrive. Pick 1-3 flavors of ice cream for a bit of variety. Let your guests make their own buffet style ice cream.
25 Toppings for ice cream:
- Oreo crumbs
- sprinkles
- caramel sauce
- chocolate sauce
- strawberry sauce
- bananas
- mango
- kiwis
- strawberries
- blueberries
- blackberries
- apples
- pecans
- Rolos
- chocolate chips
- peanut butter cups
- whipped cream
- pretzels
- marshmallows
- salted caramel sauce
- toffee bits
- hot fudge
- slivered almonds
- mint chocolate chips
- brownie pieces
How to Serve Layered Ice Cream for a Dinner Party
Making a layered ice cream for a dinner party should be prepared 1 day in advance to have the ice cream freeze well before serving.
You’ll need:
- as many small half sphere silicone molds as guests coming to your party
- 3 types of ice cream that go well together, or 2 types of ice cream + chocolate ganache that has been frozen
- 1-3 toppings for the ice cream
Decide if you want to do 3 layers of ice cream, or 2 layers of ice cream and 1 inner layer of chocolate ganache. You could make dark chocolate ganache, milk chocolate ganache or white chocolate ganache as your center filling. This should be made the day before you’re preparing your molds, and then frozen so you’re ready to fill your silicone molds the following day.
Begin by selecting the ice cream for your outer layer. Your outer layer will be the one that will have your toppings on it.
Place your ice cream in the silicone mold. Use a metal spoon to press the ice cream around so that all of the sides are covered in ice cream. Try to make it a 1/2 cm in thickness. Place each silicone mold in the freezer in an airtight container as you complete them. They will start to melt very quickly and it will be messy.
Freeze for 30 min – 1 hour. Then you’re ready for your next layer. Select your inner layer of ice cream. Use a fresh metal spoon to put the ice cream in the molds. Press the ice cream into the first layer so it’s completely covered. The thickness isn’t as important for this one, just make sure you leave a bit of space for the center flavor.
Freeze for 30 min – 1 hour. Now you’re ready for your final layer. Use a melon baller or a fresh spoon to scoop your center layer of ice cream or ganache. Chocolate ganache is typically very hard when it comes right out of the freezer, so it’s best if you thaw it out for 5-8 min before trying to scoop it. Press your final layer into your silicone mold. It doesn’t have to be flat by any means, just make sure it’s filled and pressed into your second layer.
Freeze your silicone mold dessert overnight.
When you’re ready to serve your ice cream for your dinner party, first remove the silicone mold from your ice cream. Use your fingers on either side of the silicone mold to peel the outer silicone mold off of the ice cream, with your thumb on the top of the mold pushing the ice cream out. Try to take them out and place them directly onto your serving plate.
Once you have all of your desserts on their serving plates, you can top your ice cream. Use 1-2 toppings for your layered ice cream dessert.
Creating this layered ice cream dessert is called a “Tartufo”.
What is a Tartufo?
A tartufo is an Italian dessert made of 2 or more ice cream flavors. The center is usually fruit filled – raspberry, strawberry or cherry. It’s topped with chocolate, cocoa powder, cinnamon or nuts traditionally.
This is one of the most impressive desserts to serve at a dinner party. It’s fairly simple, but it is time consuming layering the ice cream. Your guests will love pressing their spoon into their dessert and seeing the layers.
