Guinness Gingerbread with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

I've made this Guinness Gingerbread, from Nigella Lawson's latest cookbook Kitchen, twice in the past week and with good reason. It's fantastic! Sweet, but not too sweet, with lots of spice and a wonderfully moist texture. It's a perfect dessert for the holidays, but I've been having it with my morning coffee at work. Decadent, I suppose, but that's what the Christmas season is for, right?

It's also gloriously easy to make -- simply melt and mix the butter, sugar, Guinness, and spices on the stove, mix in the dry ingredients, then add some sour cream and eggs, pour into a 9-inch pan, and bake!

With my parents over for dinner this weekend, I knew I wanted to make the gingerbread, and I thought some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream would be a welcome addition. I pondered going out and buying a pint of Haagen-Dazs, but given that my sister bought me the ice cream maker attachment for my new stand mixer, why wait to make a batch of homemade?