So cake batter ice cream is a thing!!
I first discovered this nearly a decade ago now when I was lucky enough to
spend a little bit of time in San Francisco. I generally find it very difficult
to walk past an ice cream parlour…if encountered I am more than likely to
wander inside to sample some delicious frozen treats. This occurred during one
sunny San Franciscan day, and on that occasion I was drawn towards the
birthday cake ice cream. A base of cake batter ice cream (resembling the
uncooked cake mix that clings to the wooden spoon following a baking session
and that is always fought over in my household) with sprinkles and chocolate
chips smooshed in for that extra ‘birthday’ flare. And so a decade later I
decided to make my own, using cake mix powder to add that all important flavour
again with the addition of chocolate and sprinkles to save them having to be
added later. And this delicious, childhood memory inducing treat, packed with
chocolate chips fits perfectly with the Bloggers Scream for Ice Cream theme
this month where Kavey Eats have teamed up with Choclette for some chocolaty
frozen goodness!
INGREDIENTS
100g egg whites (approx. 3 egg
whites)
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
310g caster sugar
100ml water
Seeds scraped from ½ vanilla pod
300ml double cream
100g vanilla cake mix
50g white choc chips
50g dark choc chips
A generous shake of hundreds and
thousands.
A sugar thermometer is also needed
To make the meringue;
Using an electric hand mixer or a
stand mixer whisk the egg whites in a large, clean bowl until they start to
look foamy. At this point add the cream of tartar and continue to whisk until
the egg whites form stiff peaks (this means that if you lift the mixer out of
the mixture a peak should form and it won’t collapse or ‘wilt’ once the
mixer/whisk is removed….check out Delia for
more info!)
Place the sugar and water into a
large saucepan and place over a medium heat. Swirl the saucepan gently (but
don’t actually stir the mixture) until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid is
clear.
Stick your thermometer into the
mixture, raise the heat and allow the mixture bubble rapidly until 112 °C / 234
°F is reached.
Remove the sugar syrup from the heat.
Begin beating the egg white mixture
again and slowly (and very carefully) begin to pour the sugar syrup into the
egg white mix, beating all of the time. Once all of the syrup is added continue
to beat the mixture for another 10 minutes or so until the mixture has cooled
and has a nice glossy finish.
Stop beating and set to one side
(this is the Italian meringue done)
For the birthday cake element;
Scrape the seed from the vanilla pod
and transfer to another large bowl along with the cream.
Beat the mixture with an electric
hand mix until it has doubled in volume and is light and fluffy. Stir in the
cake mixture until fully combined with the cream (if it becomes a little too
thick to stir at this point just add a dash of milk to loosen slightly). Then
fold in the chocolate chips and hundreds and thousands (or other ice cream type
sprinkle).
Add about a third of the cream to the
Italian meringue and gently fold in until well combined. Continue adding the
rest of the cream to the meringue bit by bit until well combined (but try not
to overmix the mixture at the point). Transfer to a freezer proof container and
bung in the freezer overnight (there is no need to churn or mix the ice cream
once in the freezer).
