Chocolate Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream Cake

Gotta love it when experiments in the kitchen turn out great. I’ve always wanted to do some sort of ice cream cake. With the chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream recipes featured in this month’s Daring Bakers challenge, I came up with this idea. From top to bottom:

• Flourless chocolate cake moistened with Kirschwasser (German “cherry water” brandy)
• A thin layer of pureed cherry preserves
• Plain vanilla ice cream
• Frozen liquid sablé crust

If the frozen liquid sablé crust sounds weird, that’s because it’s borrowed from the Alinea cookbook. You won’t need to sneak into a laboratory and steal a tank of liquid nitrogen, though. The sablé crust is actually pretty straightforward.

The sandy textured frozen crust starts off as a normal shortbread made with a bit of almond flour. The baked sablé is then blended with oil, poured into a springform pan, and frozen to kickstart the bottom-up cake assembly.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

frozen liquid sablé recipe adapted from Grant Achatz’s Alinea

Chocolate Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream Cake on a Frozen Liquid Sablé Crust

makes one 8-inch ice cream cake

Components:

Flourless Chocolate Cake
Kirschwasser Simple Syrup (optional)
Pureed Cherry Preserves
Vanilla Ice Cream
Frozen Liquid Sablé Crust

Special Equipment:

• 8-inch springform cake pan
• ice cream maker
• weighing scale (optional)
• digital thermometer (optional)

For the Flourless Chocolate Cake:

Ingredients                  Volume          Ounces          Grams
semisweet chocolate, chopped                     16            454
unsalted butter         1/2 cup + 2 tbsp          5            142
whites from large eggs            5
yolks from large eggs             5

Flourless Chocolate Cake Instructions:

Preheat Oven    375ºF / 190ºC

Prepare an 8-inch springform cake pan by greasing with butter and
lining with a parchment circle.

Melt the Chocolate
                Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Set
                over a pan of simmering water and melt while stirring
                often. The bottom of the bowl should not touch the
                water.

Mix             Put the egg yolks and egg whites in separate bowls.

                Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks (do not over-whip or
                the cake will be dry).

                With the same beater, beat the egg yolks together. Add
                the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate and mix with a
                rubber spatula until smooth.

                Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.
                Follow with remaining egg whites and fold gently only
                until the white streaks disappear.

Pan             Pour the cake batter into the prepared springform pan.
                The batter should fill the pan about 3/4 of the way full.
                Place the cake pan on a cookie sheet or sheet pan.

                Level and bake immediately.

Bake            375ºF / 190ºC for 25 minutes, or until a digital
                thermometer reads 140ºF / 60ºC.

                If you do not have a digital thermometer, the top of the
                cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester
                will appear wet.

Cool            Cool the cake on a wire rack for about 10 minutes
                before unmolding.

Baked flourless chocolate cake.

For the Kirschwasser Simple Syrup (optional):

2 tablespoons simple syrup
splash of Kirschwasser

For the Vanilla Ice Cream:

2 cups / 473 ml heavy cream
1 cup / 237 ml whole milk
2/3 cup / 134 grams granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Ice Cream Instructions:

1. In a heavy saucepan, heat the heavy cream, milk, sugar, and salt to a bare simmer over medium-low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract.
3. Cool completely at room temperature. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
4. Churn to a soft consistency after making the frozen liquid sablé crust.

For the Frozen Liquid Sablé Crust:

Ingredients                  Volume          Ounces          Grams
all-purpose flour           1 scant cup           4.1          118
almond flour                      5 tbsp          1.4           39

unsalted butter, at room temp   1/4 cup           2.0           57
granulated sugar                  3 tbsp          1.3           38
salt                            1/4 tsp
egg yolk                          1      

vegetable oil                     6 tbsp          2.8           80

Frozen Liquid Sablé Crust Instructions:

Mix             Sift together the all-purpose and almond flours.

                In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, sugar,
                and salt with a rubber spatula until smooth. Add the
                egg yolk and continue mixing until well-blended.

                Slowly add the flours and continue mixing only until
                a dough is formed. Cover tightly with plastic wrap.

Refrigerate     At least 1 hour

Preheat Oven    350ºF / 175ºC

Prepare a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or silicone.

Roll Out        Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface
                and roll out until about 1/4 inch thick.

Bake            20 minutes, until golden brown

Prepare an 8-inch springform cake pan lined with plastic wrap.

Blend           Break the the baked sablé into small pieces and place
                in a blender along with half of the vegetable oil.
                Blend on high speed while drizzling the remaining
                vegetable oil.

Freeze the Sablé
                Pour the liquefied sablé into the lined springform pan.
                Freeze for at least 1 hour or until thoroughly set.

Liquefied almond shortbread, ready to freeze.

Chocolate Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream Cake Assembly:

Freeze the Ice Cream
                Place the churned ice cream on top of the frozen liquid
                sablé and level. Freeze for at least 1 hour or until
                thoroughly set.

Fill            Unmold the frozen ice cream cake and place on a serving
                plate. Apply a thin layer of pureed cherry preserves,
                about 6 tablespoons.

To Finish       Moisten the flourless chocolate cake by lightly brushing
                with the Kirschwasser simple syrup, if using. Set the
                chocolate cake on top of the ice cream.