TWD: Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

Katrina of Baking and Boys picked Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream on page 430.

I have only recently gotten to 'know' Katrina online through TWD. On top of having a great blog with dependable recipes, she's a sweetheart. I wish I lived near her so we could have baking parties! She is one of those bloggers I wish I knew in real life. I'm in awe of this woman - mother to 4 boys. Oh my goodness. I have only ONE boy and I'm exhausted!



Confession: Not a lot of this recipe actually made it to the ice cream maker. I had to fight off hungry straws wanting to sip it up - milkshake style. I also used milk chocolate because I'm a milk chocolate kinda gal!

DB: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.



For a PDF of this month's challenge including the recipe, click here.





*My Changes*
I have a very small freezer and do not have the luxury of having a deep freezer, so I have to constantly calculate and plan ahead to allocate freezer space. For this reason, I only made a fraction of the recipe. My finished product was assembled in a 1.5 quart bowl! I think there was no more than 2 cups of ice cream in my cake. With this small amount of ice cream I didn't bother doing chocolate and vanilla. I did all vanilla with a layer of chocolate syrup in the middle. It was just right for 4 servings and no leftovers.

I made and baked the cake on a swiss roll pan just like how you make normal swiss rolls. When it is baked, I divided the whole sheet into thirds then filled and rolled as usual, thus making mini swiss rolls. I loved how easy the sponge cake was to roll up. I have never made a swiss roll before and it always seemed quite daunting. Now, I'm all ready to experiment with different fillings and sizes. I'm now on the lookout for a not too sweet filling that will hold well at room temperature so I can save on fridge/freezer space :)

TWD: Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

This is the first ice-cream recipe I have made this year. My Cuisinart ice-cream maker is one appliance that I feel guilty for owning. I have way too many appliances and kitchen gadgets and with the weather here in B.C. this one sits unused in the back of my storage cabinet for 3/4 of the year. However, every time I get THISCLOSE to giving it away or selling it, a wonderful recipe like this one presents itself and makes me think that I just can't live without it.

It tastes unique but in a familiar and comforting way. Creamy, sweet and delicious. It was homey, dreamy caramel ice-cream with a twist. This recipe (p. 432) from Baking: From My Home to Yours was chosen by Becky of Project Domestication. The recipe can be found on her blog.

I'm already thinking about the next time I make these. I will add one or all of these mix-ins: Rolo pieces, Heath bar bits... perhaps a swirl of dulce de leche.

TWD: Vanilla (Strawberry) Ice-Cream

Yes, I deviated from the recipe and added 2 cups of pureed sweetened strawberries. Unlike the last time I made ice cream, this time my machine froze properly and I actually got 'ice cream' instead of 'milkshake'. I think the trick was leaving the freezer bowl in the freezer for 1/2 week instead of just 24 hrs. This ice cream was super creamy, refreshing but surprisingly not too rich. Dorie does it again and impresses me with the simple perfectionism of her recipes. They just have that 'wow' factor. This was the perfect treat for our superhot weather.

Ice-Cream Cake

I'm a total daddy's girl. My dad is awesome. He's a quiet, soft-spoken guy who will do anything for his family. While my mom and I go head to head and battle it out, my dad and I rarely fight. To me, fighting with him would be like kicking a puppy because he's such a nice guy. It's funny how Mother's day seems like a much bigger deal than Father's day. I would guess that people probably spend more on their moms than on their dads, maybe because dads are more easygoing. I know my mother would get really upset if Ii don't make the day feel special enough for her, but my dad is just happy to go out for dinner as a family and have some cake.

For Father's Day I made a heart shaped ice-cream cake. The base is made out of chocolate chip cookie. The layers are: Rolo ice cream, mini Rolo candy pieces, a thin layer of vanilla ice cream followed by another layer of Rolo ice cream.The whole thing was so easy to throw together. The only thing I would change next time is to make a brownie crust or an Oreo cookie crumb crust because the chocolate chip cookie was a little difficult to cut through after being frozen.

I also made these super-cute sugar spirals. They are similar to spun sugar but less messy and easier to work with and keep.

Caramel Sugar Decorations

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Directions:

1. Dissolve sugar in water. Bring to a boil. Stir in cream of tartar. Brush side of pot with cold water occasionally to clean sugar crystals from building up. Continue to heat sugar to 312 degrees F or to desired caramel stage. Immediately plunge bottom of pot in ice water to stop the cooking.

2. Decorations are made by drizzling caramel sugar onto parchment paper in a decorative fashion. Let cool. Reserve. Spun sugar is made by drizzling sugar with a fork over a wooden spoon handle.

TWD: Honey Peach Ice Cream

The finished product - creamy, smooth, fresh and summery!

I was really not looking forward to making this ice cream. I bought a Cuisinart ice-cream maker about 10 years ago and used it only a handful of times before giving up and stowing it away. I don't know why I bought it in the first place since I don't eat much ice cream - maybe the novelty of it intrigued me. My memories of ice cream making involve too eggy tasting slushily disgusting concoctions, hence my hesitation towards this week's recipe. Maybe it's due to Dorie's awesome recipe, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Peaches simmering with honey.

Even after 24+ hours of chilling the ice cream maker bowl, I couldn't get the ice cream to be much firmer than a milkshake. At least my 2.5 year old son enjoyed drinking the milkshake before it froze into ice cream. I ended up using the machine for 20 minutes then putting the whole bowl in the freezer where I scraped the sides down every 1/2 hour.

I didn't remember to buy fresh peaches so I used 2 cans of peaches - all pureed instead of 1/2 pureed and 1/2 chopped. I think this gave it a nicer texture and stronger peach taste without icy chunks of frozen peaches scattered throughout.

The result was so delicious and impressive that I'm now hooked on making ice cream! I hope to try these flavors: coffee, lychee, mango and maybe a caramel or dulce de leche. I just wouldn't depend on my Cuisinart maker for it. I'll stick with making it the old fashioned way.