baileys ice cream

Last year before the Holidays, Bailey's sent me a beautiful bottle of their delicious Irish cream, and it was delicious just added to our coffee at Christmas. We also made use of it on New Years Eve, when I decided to make ice cream with it! 

I loosely used this recipe, except that I modified the amounts (I used 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup whole milk, 3/4 cup Bailey's, and 3 egg yolks), but the technique was the same.

It turned out super delicious, and I amped it up even more by drizzling Bailey's directly over the ice cream just before serving!

I may have to make it again this year!

Here's to Happy New Year!!!

iron man birthday ice cream cake

My oldest baby Matthew is turning SEVEN next week! How did seven years go by just like that?!

Speaking of how fast time flies, it's been a year since his last birthday and I never got around to posting the cake I made him! In the past I've made him a Spiderman cake, as well as a Superman cake, and last year he had insisted on having an Iron Man cake! We ended up having just a small family get-together, so I made him a cookies-n-cream ice cream cake, with Iron Man piped on the top. Not my best work, but he still loved it!

The entire ice-cream cake recipe can be found in my new book (look for the Badtz-Maru ice cream cake), so I'll just do a quick summary of the steps. It started with homemade cookies-n-cream ice cream, which I churned in advance and then poured into an 8-inch round cake pan that I had lined with plastic wrap, before letting it set in the freezer. (You may have a little ice cream left over, but no worries you can eat it like soft-serve right away!)

Closer to the date of the get-together, I made the chocolate cake layer. Once it was cooled (you may want to stick it in the freezer for a bit so that it's nice and cold and won't melt the ice cream layer), I unwrapped my ice cream layer and placed it on top of the cake layer. Then I used an offset spatula to smoothout the sides where the two layers meet, and then let it chill in the freezer while I made my whipped cream frosting.

Once my whipped cream was ready, I set aside about a cup of it, and to the rest I added cocoa powder to make it chocolate whipped cream. Then I quickly frosted the top and sides of the cake, working as fast as I could so the ice cream wouldn't melt.

Next I filled my piping bag (fitted with a Wilton #21 star tip) with the chocolate whipped cream, then piped a shell border on the top and bottom of the cake. Then back into the freezer it went.

With the frosting that I had set aside, I divided it and colored it black, red, and yellow, leaving just a tiny portion of white. Then I piped my Iron Man face, filling it in with piped stars using a Wilton #16 tip. Then i added some rainbow sprinkles around the edges of the cake to make it look more festive.

When I was done it still didn't look complete. Something looked wrong with Iron Man's face. So I added some vertical lines to make him look more Iron-Man-y.

Hmm .. it still didn't look right, but oh well, I was out of time. Good thing 6-year olds aren't too picky about minor details!

Here's a shot of the inside ...

And here's the birthday boy and his cake :) He was so happy!

Stay tuned for details on this years's upcoming birthday cake!

maple bacon-brittle ice cream

A couple of months ago while my husbands parents were in town visiting from Hawaii, my mom decided to have a lunch so that we could all get together. I offered to make dessert, but my mom said she was already making apple cake. So I told her I would make ice cream to go with it!

At first I was just going to make vanilla ice cream, but then I thought maybe a maple flavored ice cream would compliment her apple cake well. Then the thought of maple ice cream reminded me of this amazing maple and candied bacon ice cream I had at Ici one time (my favorite ice cream place), and then I knew I HAD to make something similar! So I loosely followed this recipe.

But first I decided to reduce my maple syrup slightly to concentrate the maple flavor. I placed a cup of grade B maple syrup in a saucepan, and simmered it on low until it had reduced slightly. Then I set it aside while I made the ice cream custard base - I heated up heavy cream and milk on the stove, tempered my egg yolks and sugar with it, and then mixed it all together and cooked it on medium heat until the mixture turned thick. Then I strained it, added in the maple syrup reduction, and covered it with plastic wrap before chilling it in the fridge.

While my custard was chilling, I started on making the candied bacon. I fried my chopped bacon on high heat until it was browned and crispy, and then let it drain on a paper towel and set it aside. For the brittle, I cooked granulated sugar on the stove until it melted, then added butter, baking soda, and the cooled bacon. Then I poured the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with a silpat and spread it out into a thin layer. Once cooled, I broke the brittle into shards, and then chopped up about a cup of it and set it aside.

When it was time to churn my ice cream, I let it go for about 25 minutes before adding the chopped bacon brittle. Then I let it churn for another 5 minutes before pouring it into a container and placing it in the fridge to set overnight.

And then the next day, we had heavenly maple bacon-brittle ice cream. The only thing I would change is to add less maple syrup next time, as it was a tad too sweet. But other than that, it was heavenly!

easy brownie ice cream sandwiches

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to review these silicone baking cups by New York Baking Company, and I immediately knew what I wanted to make with them - ice cream sandwiches! That way I could use them both as a baking cup in the oven, as well as a mold for the ice cream in the freezer! I just love dual-purpose things!

I decided I wanted my ice cream to be sandwiched by chocolatey brownies, so I started by using this brownie recipe from Victoria Beckham I had been eyeing. The recipe sounded so easy and it was simple to divide the recipe in half, as I only wanted to make one dozen. (Although on a side note, these turned out not as chocolatey as I wanted. I think paired with the ice cream it was good, but on it's own I like the brownie recipe in my new book better - much more chocolatey and moist! Sorry, Victoria!)

Anyway,  I whipped a half batch up, lined my cupcake tin with the silicone baking cups (although they seem sturdy enough to be able to be used without a baking tin and just directly on a sheet pan), and divided the batter into my cups (I ended up filling them a litle less than 3/4 full). Then I baked them at 350F for about 20-22 minutes. Once cooled, I was able to pop the brownies right out of the silicone baking cups!

Then I cut each brownie in half horizontally, and popped the bottom layer back into the silicone baking cup.

Next I placed a scoop of softened homemade mint oreo ice cream in each cup (you could of course use store-bought ice cream as a shortcut, but I prefer to use homemade ice cream, mainly because I love making it!), and then used a small offset spatula to smooth out the ice cream.

Finally I placed the top of the brownie on top of the ice cream layer, and put it back in the freezer to set! So easy!

I would recommend serving these the day they are assembled, so that the brownie doesn't get too hard. But if you do leave it for longer than overnight, then before serving just leave them at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes to let the brownie layer soften a bit. Then just pop them out of the silicone cups (I found the easiest way was to turn the cups inside out!)



These turned out delicious and were super easy to make! Now if only New York Baking Company would make these in cute patterns or metallic colors! Fun!

chocolate coconut non-dairy popsicles

I've made these popsicles with two different recipes now, and each time they came out great! Although, both times I didn't start out with the intention to make popsicles :)

The first time I made these, I had meant to make non-dairy chocolate coconut ice cream, from the Bi-Rite book "Sweet Dreams and Sugar Cones". While the resulting ice cream had ended up tasting great, it was rock hard and almost impossible to scoop! Even after letting it thaw a bit, my scoops came out in jagged pieces. So I placed the whole container of ice cream in the refrigerator and let it melt down overnight, before re-freezing the mixture in this awesome popsicle mold.

Yummy!

The second time I made these, I had meant to make a chocolate coconut whipped frosting, for non-dairy cupcakes that I was making for my friend Reggie's daughter (who is allergic to cow's milk). I found this recipe at Oh She Glows, except that I added about 4 tablespoons of good cocoa powder, but even though I had separated the coconut cream from the milk, it still would not whip up stiff enough to be piped as frosting! So instead, I froze the mixture as popsicles, this time using a Hello Kitty popsicle mold that Reggie had bought me for a past birthday. :)

I'm so glad that both times I was able to turn my failed desserts into delicious popsicles!

no churn mint chip ice cream

When making the mint-chocolate Keroppi cake, from my new book "The Hello Kitty Baking Book", you may end up with leftover green minty whipped cream (depends on how thick you layer on the filling and frosting! Plus, I was recipe-testing so I had a bunch left over!). If you do have some left over, here's what you can do with it the leftover whipped cream ... turn it into no-churn mint chip ice cream!

All you need to do is add a few tablespoons of creme de menth liquor (or I suppose you could add any other minty liquor, or even a tasteless one like vodka), and toss in a few handfulls of mini chocolate chips. Then freeze it for a few hours, and you'll get no-churn ice cream!

I'll be the first to admit, the texture of this no-churn ice cream is not quite the same as regular churned ice cream. It's a little harder, and not as creamy, but hey I'm never one to waste leftovers and this is a great way to use them up :) Enjoy!

hello kitty baked alaska ice cream bombe

For my birthday, the past few years I've made myself a Hello Kitty cake of some sort (see here and here). So this year, I decided to make a baked alaska / ice cream bombe, but in the shape of Hello Kitty, of course! I knew that there would be many components to make the cake (two different flavors of homemade ice cream, chocolate cake, and meringue frosting), so I started making the ice creams a week in advance. (By the way, while this cake itself is not in my new book, "The Hello Kitty Baking Book", the recipes for most of the components are in it - minus the almond ice cream. And instead of coffee oreo ice cream, the book does have a recipe for cookies-n-cream ice cream).

Anyway, things got so busy that I wasn't able to make the rest of the components in time for my actual birthday! Which was fine, since we didn't celebrate with my family until a week later, as my brother was out of town.

I wanted to create a take on the flavors of my favorite childhood ice cream flavor, mocha almond fudge!, So for the outside layer, I made a coffee oreo ice cream, which I churned and then froze in an 8-inch metal bowl (with another bowl on top to make the shape for the next ice cream layer). And for the inside layer, I made an almond-scented ice cream (made with imitation almond extract, because my daughter is allergic to all nuts), which I churned the next day and then poured into the hollow of the coffee oreo ice cream. (Note - to replace the crunch you would normally get from the almonds in mocha almond fudge, I used oreo cookie crumbs in my coffee ice cream layer).

For the cake layer, I made an 8-inch chocolate cake (the cake recipe itself is in my new book), which I also froze after wrapping it tightly in two layers of saran wrap and a large ziplock freezer bag. And when it was time to assemble, I unwrapped everything and placed the ice cream layers upside down onto my cake layer.

Next came the meringue (recipe also in my book!), which basically is a meringue made from gently-cooked egg whites and sugar,whipped up to form a frothy marshmallow-like frosting (this can be used as a frosting, or as the basis for meringue cookies baked at low heat in the oven).

I used an offset spatula to frost the meringue all over the cake, and then used a piping bag fitted with a small tip to pipe Hello Kitty's details on top. Then I let it set in the freezer until it was time to serve!

Right before serving, I used a kitchen blow torch (the same kind that you use for creme brulee) to brown the meringue all over. (Note, if you don't have a kitchen blow torch, you can also brown the meringue in your oven, on broiler setting, for a few minutes).

I made especially sure to brown Hello Kitty's details so that they would stand out against the rest of the white meringue.

When I had envisioned this cake in my head, I wasn't so sure how it would turn out looking. But I LOVED it. It looked like a giant Hello Kitty toasted marshmallow. :) Wheeee!

And the inside! I absolutely loved the combination of the coffee oreo ice cream and the almond ice cream! And even better with the moist chocolate cake and fluffy marshmallow-y frosting!

This is such an elegant and delicious make-ahead dessert, and you could even use store-bought ice cream to make things easier. I think it would be great at any dinner party, definitely a crowd pleaser!

Happy belated birthday to all those April babies out there!