This easy ice cream sundae charcuterie dessert board is perfect for entertaining. We made it in the shape of an ice cream cone, and it has everything you need for the perfect ice cream sundae including cones, sauces, nuts, candy, brownies, and a cherry for the top!
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Why You Will Love Recipe
- I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! Who doesn't love ice cream?
- It makes for easy entertaining where guests can help themselves.
- It looks amazing and brings the wow factor. How cute is it that we made it in the shape of an ice cream cone?
- You can prep it all ahead of time and just add ice cream right before serving.
Charcuterie?
Strictly speaking, this isn't actually charcuterie. Charcuterie actually means cured meats, but over the years it's become so popular, and come to include cheese and crackers and all sorts of additions to that. And eventually, people started using the word for any kind of food that's gathered together on a board.
Our ice cream sundae charcuterie board doesn't include any cured meats, so you might want to refer to it as an ice cream board, or desert board. Basically, we gathered together all our favourite ice cream sundae toppings and sweet treats, and created a beautiful board out of them. This the perfect way to serve a crowd the easy way, and would be a very welcome addition to your next get together. It is the easiest dessert for a large group because guests can serve themselves and cater to their own taste buds adding all their favorite things to their sundaes or cones.
Choosing a Board
When making your own dessert charcuterie board, you will want to start with a large board. We thought it would be so much fun to make our ice cream sundae board in the shape of an ice cream cone, so I used my largest marble board as the base. I arranged the cones in the shape of the ice cream cone, and then put the rest of the toppings in the shape of the ice cream. Start arranging with your largest toppings, and work the smaller ones in and around them. A large wooden board would work great as the base too. We used a few small bowls and pitchers to hold some of the toppings. I think it came out really cute.
Ingredients
- Ice Cream Cones
We started out by forming the ice cream cone portion at the bottom. I used a combination of our favourite ice cream cones, including sugar cones, waffle bowls, and chocolate dipped ice cream cones. Waffle cones would be a great addition too. We also added a few round hazelnut wafer cookies.
- Baked Goods
Any baked goods workout great on your fun dessert board. We included some chocolate brownies on ours. Any cookies or mini cupcakes are a great choice to include.
Chocolate chip cookies would be great to include too. Not a baker? Feel free to include store-bought items.
- Ice Cream Sauces
You can't have an ice cream sundae without some yummy sauces. Our favourite is homemade hot fudge sauce -find our full recipe here. This is the best chocolate sauce ever, and worth the trouble to make from scratch, but if you're short on time pick some up at the grocery store.
We also made some caramel sauce -find our recipe here.
You could also include some strawberry sauce, or a dark chocolate version of the chocolate sauce.
- Nuts
Nuts are a classic addition to an ice cream sundae. We added chopped peanuts, walnuts, and sliced almonds to our board. We also included some toasted coconut chips for all the coconut lovers.
- Fresh Fruit
Lots of people love fresh fruit with their ice cream. We included classic bananas with ours. To help keep the bananas from turning brown, sprinkle them with a little lemon juice.
Strawberries, or any berry would also be great to include.
- Candy
A great way to add some fun to your gorgeous dessert charcuterie board is to add in some candy.
We started with some chocolate treats for all the chocolate lovers. We added chocolate-covered pretzels. They're a favourite around here -that sweet and salty combination. We also had to include some mini reese's peanut butter cups. Any of your favourite chocolate bars cut up into candy pieces would be great to include. Chocolate chips would be a great addition too.
We also added some gummy bears -one of our favorite sweets for a make your own ice cream sundae bar. Gummy worms would be great too.
And lastly we also included some mini candies that are like mini m&ms. The different colors are a nice addition to the board.
- More Tasty Treats
What's an ice cream sundae without sprinkles? We included some fun rainbow sprinkles. Chocolate sprinkles would be great too.
We also added a small bowl of homemade whipped cream. You could also include a can of whipped topping instead.
And lastly we had to add a cherry on top. We put some maraschino cherries in a small bowl and positioned it at the top of our ice cream cone shape for the perfect finishing touch.
- Ice Cream
We went with classic vanilla ice cream, and chocolate ice cream. We liked to keep it classic and let guests add flavors with the toppings, but you could also include different flavors of your favorite ice cream flavors.
For the best way to disguise our ice cream container for serving, we tied a tea towel around it.
Serving Pieces
Be sure to add some spoons and tongs and an ice cream scoop, so that guests can help themselves to everything. And of course you'll need some bowls for anyone wanting to make a sundae rather than an ice cream cone.
Make Ahead
We added our ice cream on the side. This means we could prep the ice cream charcuterie board ahead of time without worrying about the ice cream melting. Store your whipped cream in the refridgerator until serving too, and slice your bananas at the end. Just bring out your pints of ice cream when it's time to serve.
This is the perfect dessert for entertaining. It's such an easy and fun way to serve dessert, since guests can serve themselves and add all their favorite toppings to their ice cream. Use this idea for your next ice cream party, or birthday party celebration. Or it would be great as a movie night candy board, or snack board, or even for Valentine's Day if you love ice cream.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, add your sliced bananas at the last minute so they don't turn brown, and keep your whipped cream in the fridge and ice cream in the freezer until serving time. Make the rest and wrap with plastic wrap until you're ready to serve.
Yes, try adding fresh berries like strawberries, raspberries or blueberries, and pineapple as a great addition to the bananas.
We love shopping for small quantities like these at the bulk store where you can a small amount of lots of different things for a great price.
More Ice Cream Inspiration
If you try this Ice Cream Sundae Charcuterie Board Recipe or any other recipe on my blog please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!
Recipe
Ice Cream Sundae Charcuterie Dessert Board
Ingredients
- ½ cup maraschino cherries
- ¼ cup rainbow sprinkles
- ¼ cup mini m&ms
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- ¼ cup chopped peanuts
- ½ cup slivered almonds
- ⅓ cup toasted coconut chips
- ½ cup chocolate covered pretzels
- ½ cup mini peanut butter cups
- 2 banana, sliced long ways
- 8 chocolate brownies
- ½ cup whipped cream
- ½ cup chocolate sauce
- ½ cup caramel sauce
- 6 sugar cones
- 6 chocolate dipped ice cream cones
- 4 waffle bowls
- 6 hazelnut rolled wafer cookies
- 1.5 quart vanilla ice cream
- 1.5 quart chocolate ice cream
Instructions
- Arrange the cones and waffers in a triangle at the bottom of a large board to resemble the shape of a ice cream cone. Then arrange the rest of the toppings as the top of the ice cream cones shape.
- Serve with ice cream and let choose their favorite toppings to create their own ice cream sundaes.
Notes
Nutrition
With an ice cream charcuterie dessert board, life really is a party!
Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist says
This easy board is the perfect crowd pleaser that your guests will love!