Ice Cream Experimentation

This week started my final lab of the year, hot and cold desserts! So far we have learned the basics to icecream bases, both french and american. And to anyone who knows anything about icecream, they know french is best...

French style, is made from a custard like base, consisting of egg yolks, cream, milk, sugar and flavorings.

For the first day, we just made both American and French style (just plain vanilla bean) as well as chocolate/caramel sauce and used them the next day to make sundaes (or as the french call them "coupes").

Then it got fun. My group and I had to make gelato and french style any flavor we desired. And that's when the creativity got flowing. For our french style we added praline paste (sweet hazelnut butter type product, very good) while still hot and then when it came out of the machine we swirled in our homemade chocolate sauce and slivered almonds.

Praline Almond Fudge Swirl

Gelato is Italian style ice cream and it typically is made with a higher ratio of egg yolks, no cream and is churned more slowly. So for our gelato we decided to just add mix ins. So I combined butter and marshmallows and microwaved until melted i tossed in some rice krispies and yes, why yes, I made rice krispie treats. and then crumbled them into the freshly churned icecream. They didn't get tough or anything. I can't wait to recreate this one!

Rice Krispie Treat Gelato

Baked Alaska

This dessert, a dome of ice cream that is covered with covered with cake and then covered with meringue and torched. The contrasting temperatures lends the dessert it's name.

To begin, line the dome mold with a thin piece of cake.

Lined Mold

We then made our french style ice cream, my group choose chocolate. To make chocolate ice cream, melt the chocolate and slowly add the hot base into warmed chocolate. We then folded in chocolate chunks.

Once it is freshly churned and still at soft serve texture, it is added to the cake lined molds and leveled off. Another cake round is added on top. We left them to freeze over night. To be finished...

Bombes

These are basically the same thing as baked alaska minus the cake lining. The freshly churned ice cream is added to the unlined dome mold and then leveled off. It is then topped with a cookie or cake round to create the base, be sure to press this into the ice cream so there will be no space when frozen solid.

Souffle Glace

This frozen dessert is served in a ramekin to replicate its hot cousin, the souffle. To begin this, the eggs and sugar are heated over a double boiler. Once they reach 145 F, they are whipped in a mixer until thick, cooled mostly and paler in color (near cake batter consistency). While this is happening whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Flavor the egg mixture as desired (we folded in a bit of orange compound). Fold the whipped cream into the egg mixture in two parts until no streaks are left.

Prepare the ramekins with a piece of parchment paper or thin plastic so it creates a support that reaches over an inch taller than the rim of the dish (see below). Make sure this is secured tightly so there are no gaps.

Pour the mixture into the bottom half of the ramekin, place a little round of cake on top, if desired. Layer some more mixture on top and then another cake round towards the top of the ramekin. Keep layering the mixture until you reach the top of the plastic so it's about an inch over the top of the ramekin. Freeze overnight or until very firm.

Souffle Glace Procedure

Of course, we made sundaes too. Which to be fair, was just an excuse to eat our ice cream. Chef demoed his with fresh fruit, sauces, fresh granola and vanilla frozen yoghurt.

Chef's Sundae

When I have good ice cream, i don't need a lot of toppings, I like to let the ice cream shine. So my sundae consisted of a little chocolate sauce on the bottom and then each kind of ice cream we made the day before....and then a few more scoops after.

My "Sundae"