A Splice {Pineapple Lime} Bombe for Australia Day!

The classic Aussie ice block has a new form in this igloo shaped bombe! On the outside is a layer of lime ice, in the centre pineapple ice and in the centre vanilla ice cream. Perfect to serve up on Australia Day in slices! You don't need any specialised equipment apart from three bowls that sit into each other. And let the bombe fun commence!

I'm all about food gifts and gratitude. It is really the only way I know how to contribute anything. And for Australia Day celebrations that are usually gathering between friends and family I usually either bring sausage rolls (my obsession) and dessert of some sort. For ideas I usually enter into the nostalgic part of my brain and think back to my favourite snacks as a child and things pop up like the Splice pineapple and lime ice block bombe.

I wasn't sure if this homemade Splice bombe would work. You can probably see from the pics that it involved sticky tape but I thought that even if it didn't whatever resulted would still taste good. It's essentially two juices: lime and pineapple and a very simple whipped cream vanilla ice cream centre. The quantities are general ones because it all depends on the sizes of your bowls, just make sure that they fit within each other. I will say though that any doubts were erased when this slipped out of the bowl and we cut into it. This Splice bombe is the bombe in terms of being refreshing and delicious. Perfect for the upcoming Australia Day long weekend!

I don't know about you Dear Reader but December was an absolute whirlwind of activity. Just before Christmas I was asked to play Santa for Good Food Gift Cards. We asked people to nominate someone that they thought was deserving of a prize and they would win a dinner out and a food hamper. We picked five deserving winners and one afternoon set off across Sydney to surprise them. They were a mixture of lovely and genuinely surprised - it's amazing how many wonderful people don't know just how wonderful they are and they were so humble and appreciative!

We were doing really well for time and got to the last woman, Kelly a vet that long time NQN reader Wendy nominated. "I can't believe how smoothly it has gone!" we all said as we walked towards the vet surgery in Homebush where she worked.

And then the snag happened...

Our faces fell as we were told that she wasn't there and that she was the St Leonards branch across Sydney. We checked our watches: it was 11am and it would be another 30 minutes there but we would be able to make it before her 12:30 meeting. We rushed to St Leonards and when we arrived the receptionist's brow furrowed. Kelly wasn't there. In fact she had literally just left to go back to Homebush! We might even have passed her going the other way. Her 12:30pm meeting was actually in Homebush!

Determined to see our task through we finally tracked her down at Homebush. Kelly was delightful and that made it all the much better to see it til the end. All of the recipients were nominated for lovely things from supporting their other half through cancer, to looking after someone post surgery, to refusing payment for a job to feeding and looking after friends. It was the most fun day because as they say giving is the best gift of all.

And spending time with friends and family on a public holiday eating giant sized versions of childhood treats? Second best gift of all ;)

So tell me Dear Reader, what were your favourite childhood snacks? Do you still eat them? What was your favourite ice cream? And do you love reading about random acts of kindness (RAOK) as much as I do?

Want more Australia Day treats? Try these recipes from our NEW Australia Day section!

Giant Vegemite Scroll

Raw Lamingtons

Lamington Tiramisu

Iced Vovo Cupcakes

Caramel Lamington Map of Australia

No Knead Cheese & Onion Beer Bread

Tim Tam Bombe

Cheese and Vegemite Sausage Rolls

Carrot Cake Ice Cream

Splice Block Dome

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott/Not Quite Nigella

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Freezing time: 2-3 hours

This is best done the day ahead as it requires freezing time

• Lime cordial mixed with water to make a sweet drink
• Natural green food colouring (if you are using a non coloured lime cordial)
• Up to 3 cups Pineapple juice
• 300ml/10.6fl ozs. Cream
• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• You will also need three nesting bowls (bowls that sit within each other, they don't have to be matching)

Step 1 - Take the largest of the three nesting bowls. Mix the lime cordial with the food colouring and pour 3/4 of an inch of the lime drink in the bottom. Place in the freezer to set hard.

Step 2 - Place the middle bowl on top of this and then pour lime drink to fill the sides. Use sticky tape to secure the bowl so that it doesn't float. Freeze until completely hard.

Step 3 - Remove the middle bowl and pour 3/4 of an inch of pineapple juice into the frozen lime layer. Freeze completely.

Step 4 - Place the smallest bowl on this and then fill the sides with pineapple juice. Use sticky tape to secure the bowl and hold it down. Freeze completely.

Step 5 - Meanwhile, whip 300ml of cream with 1/4 cup of sifted icing sugar and vanilla. Make sure that there is enough to fit into the smallest bowl (your bowls may be different from mine so their capacity might be smaller or larger). Remove the small bowl from the ice and fill with the whipped cream. Freeze completely.

Step 6 - To unmold, run the large bowl briefly under hot water and place a large serving plate on the open side and allow it to slide out. Cut into wedges.