Tuesday, July 27, 2010

July Daring Bakers Challenge-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.
This challenge was a lot of fun, challenging but not too challenging.  I had no idea you could make ice cream without an ice cream maker and I had never even thought of making my own hot fudge!  I decided to mix things up a little and do different flavors of ice cream than the traditional chocolate and vanilla that Sunita did.  I chose to do mint chocolate chip and cherry, coconut ice cream.

For the mint chocolate chip, I used Sunita's recipe below but added a couple drops of mint extract before freezing. I finished the ice cream completely before adding the chips.  When I thawed the ice cream a little to put in the bombe, I mixed in some Andes baking chips.

The vanilla ice cream-
Preparation time-5 minutes+freezing
I have made the ice cream without an ice cream maker.
Ingredients-
2 and ½ C / 625 ml / 20 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp/ 5 ml/ .15 fl oz vanilla extract
½ C / 115gms/ 4 oz of granulated sugar
Method-
Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla –sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.
Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

I got the idea and the recipe for the Cherry Coconut ice cream from Tartlette.  Her recipe calls for rose infused cherry coconut ice cream, but for convenience I omitted the rose.  For this recipe too I waited to mix in the cherries and their juice until I had thawed the ice cream a little to put it in the bombe.

After I finished making the two ice creams I worked on the Swiss Roll.  That was the most challenging part for me.  My first attempt cracked, and stuck.  But, after some wonderfully helpful tips from Audax (see black italics added to recipe) my second attempt was a success!

Swiss roll ice cream cake (inspired by the recipe of the same name from the Taste of Home website)
The Swiss rolls-
Preparation time- 10 minutes
Baking time- 10-12 minutes
Rolling and cooling time- at least 30 minutes
Filling-5-8 minutes
Filling and rolling- 5-10 minutes
Ingredients-
6 medium sized eggs (I separated the eggs, let them come to room temperature for 20 minutes, then whipped the eggs separately)
1 C / 225 gms caster sugar /8 oz+ extra for rolling
6 tblsp / 45gms/ a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour (I used cake flour) + 5 tblsp/40gm /a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
2 tblsp /30ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans
For the filling-
2C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
5 tblsp / 70gms/2.5oz of caster sugar
Method-
  1. Pre heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the 2 baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches) (I used 1 12x15 cookie pan with high sides, cooking all the dough in one pan at the same time) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, add the egg yolks and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.  Whip the egg whites in a separate bowl, then mix the two egg mixtures together.
      3. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
      4. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
      5. Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
      6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little lot of caster sugar over it.
      7. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
      8. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down (about 20 minutes).
      9. Repeat the same for the next cake as well. 
      Filling
1. Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
2. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
3. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
4. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine).
5.Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.
 
The Hot fudge sauce- I made this just after adding the first layer of ice cream.
Preparation time-2 minutes
Cooking time-10 minutes
Ingredients-
1 C / 230gms/ 8 oz of caster sugar
3 tblsp / 24gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tblsp /15gms/ 1 oz of cornflour/cornstarch
1 and ½ C /355ml /12 fl oz of water
1 tblsp /14gms/ 1 oz butter
1 tsp/5 ml / .15 fl oz vanilla extract
Method-
  1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.
  2. Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
  3. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .

Assembly
1. Cut the swiss roll into slices as thin as possible (~2 cms--20 slices).
2. Line the inside of your bowl with plastic wrap.
3. Line the bowl with the swiss roll slices.
4.Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, soften one of the ice creams. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm (at least 1 hour). I would suggest at least 2 hours
6.  Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm. (at least an hour)
7. Soften the second ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set.  Mine took more like 8 hours.
8. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily. put serving dish and plates in freezer for at least 5 minutes before so bottom ice cream layer doesn't melt too quickly.
9. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water. 


Yum!  This cake was definitely delicious, it was another successful Daring Bakers challenge that I learned a lot from.
The dish was definitely a success!  The Cherry, coconut and mint flavors went together quite nicely!