Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Ice Cream

Everyone in our family loves pie, and what is pie without a scoop of ice cream? We decided to take the best of both worlds and make a strawberry rhubarb pie ice cream, and it has quickly become one of our favorite summer treats. While rhubarb is not for everyone, Boy Mimi especially loves the sweet tart flavor it gives to pies, crumbles, and now ice cream.  When he was small, my sister owned a pie shop and she brought him his first strawberry rhubarb pie, and the rest is history. He is the first to suggest a rhubarb treat as soon as we see some at the farmer's markets in the spring.

Although I usually have a fairly successful garden, rhubarb is something I've had a difficult time growing. This year I finally had enough to make a few batches of jam with some rhubarb left over for a few extra treats. For this ice cream, we used a combination of our classic vanilla base with a strawberry rhubarb swirl, and topped it off with the pie crust crumble from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook. It might look like just a scoop of ice cream, but the tartness of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the strawberries, combined with the creamy vanilla ice cream and crunchy pie crust all make for a few perfect bites full of the taste of summer. I hope my rhubarb is successful again next year- this ice cream will be one of the first things we make. 

 Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Ice Cream

Ice Cream
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cups milk (I use 2%)
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a bowl,mix the eggs yolks with half of the sugar. In a medium sauce pan heat milk,cream, remaining sugar and corn syrup together until it simmers.
Gradually add the milk to the egg mixture. Return mixture to pan and cook stirring constantly until thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Mixture will hold a clear path when you run your finger across the spoon.
Remove from heat, strain through a fine mesh strainer, stir in vanilla and cool to room temperature. Chill mixture 3 to 4 hours or overnight before processing  in your ice cream maker, according to manufacturers directions.

Strawberry- Rhubarb Swirl
1 cup chopped strawberries
1 cup chopped rhubarb 
1/2- 1 cup sugar depending on the sweetness of the strawberries
juice of 1/2 lemon.

Mix all ingredient in a sauce pan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and cook for about 4-6 minutes until mixture thickens slightly (like runny jam, it will thicken further as it cools). Cool to room temperature and chill until ready to use.

Pie Crumbs 
 Momofuku Milk Bar 
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick butter melted 
1 1/2 tablespoons water

 Heat oven to 350 F. Combine flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and paddle on low speed until well mixed. Add the butter and water and paddle on low speed until mixture starts to come together in small clumps. Spread the clumps on a parchment/silpat lined baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, breaking up the clumps occasionally.
The crumbs should be golden brown and still slightly moist to the touch at that point; they will dry and harden as they cool. When ice cream has churned, swirl in the strawberry rhubarb mixture. Freeze until firm. Sprinkle with pie crumb  when serving.
printable recipe

Link:Foodie Friday

Milk Bar Funfetti Birthday Cake

  Our friend Mrs. A has been creating pinterest worthy moments long before blogs and pinning were a thing. We have been blessed to share in a good part of those moments, from unbelievable themed birthday parties to the most All-American 4th of July barbecues, and Christmas wouldn't be the same if we didn't giggle over trivia games and stuff ourselves with her famous meatballs on Christmas Eve. She has been making our lives special in so many ways for the past 25 years, and such a wonderful friend deserves a special birthday dessert. 

We wanted to make something amazing for Mrs. A, and this cake has been on the special occasion list for quite a while, so her birthday was the perfect time to pull out all the stops.

 This is a really long and involved recipe, but each step on its own is relatively easy and they can be done several days in advance.  This is not something that can be done at the last minute, and takes a bit of planning, but it is absolutely worth it.  The cake itself is delicious, with flavors similar to the boxed Funfetti of childhood, but better because it is homemade.  The crumb layer inside gives a nice sweet crunch, and the frosting is light and smooth, and not overly sweet.

Our family would not be the same without Mrs. A, and we look forward to many more celebrations with her. We know we can count on her for beautiful, creative decorations, and we will bring the cake. 

Birthday Cake

adapted from Milk. Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi

1 recipe Birthday Cake

1 recipe Birthday Cake soak

1 recipe Birthday Cake frosting

1 recipe birthday Birthday Cake crumb

1 6 inch cake ring

2 acetate strips 3 inches wide and 20 inches long.

One bottle clear vanilla extract (you need this if you want it to taste like the boxed  funfetti cake.)

Birthday Crumb

1/2 cup (100g)  granulated sugar

1 1/2 tablespoon (25g)  light brown sugar, tightly packed

3/4 cup  (90g) cake flour

1/2 teaspoon (2g) baking powder

1/2 teaspoon (2g) kosher salt

2 tablespoons (25g) rainbow sprinkles

1/4 cup (40g) grape seed oil

1 tablespoon (12g) clear vanilla extract

Heat oven to 300f

Combine the 1st six ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low speed until well combined.

Add the oil and vanilla and paddle again to distribute, continue paddling until mixture forms clusters.

Spread the clusters on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Bake for 20,minutes, breaking them up occasionally. The crumbs should be slightly moist to the touch, they will dry and harden as they cool. Cool completely before using in recipe.

Birthday Cake

4 tablespoons(50g) butter, room temperature

1/3 cup (60g) vegetable shortening

1 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar

3 tablespoons (50g) light brown sugar tightly packed

3 eggs

1/2 cup(110g) buttermilk

1/3 cup (65g) grape seed oil

2 teaspoons (8g) clear vanilla extract

2 cups (245g) cake flour

3/4 teaspoon (3G) kosher salt

1/4 cup(50g) rainbow sprinkles

Additional 2 tablespoons (25 g) rainbow sprinkles

Heat oven to 350f

Combine the butter, shortening and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together on medium high speed for 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs, and mix on medium high speed for 2-3 more minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl.

On low speed stream in the buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Increase speed to medium high and paddle for 4-6 minutes until the mixture is practically white, twice the size of the original fluffy butter sugar mixture and completely homogenous. Don't rush the process,  there should be no streaks of fat or liquid.

On very low speed add the cake flour, baking powder, salt and the 1/4 cup of  sprinkles. Mix 45-60 seconds, just until your batter comes together. Scrape the sides of the bowl.

Spray a quarter sheet pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. Spread the batter in an even layer in the pan. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sprinkles evenly over the top of the batter.

Bake cake for 30-35 minutes. The cake will rise and puff, doubling in size, but  will remain slightly buttery and dense. At 30 minutes, gently poke the edge of the cake with your finger, the cake should bounce back slightly and the center should no longer be jiggly. Leave in the oven for an extra 3-5 minutes if it doesn't pass these test.

Remove cake from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Birthday cake soak

1/4 cup (55g) milk

1 teaspoon (4g)  clear vanilla extract

Whisk together in a small bowl.

Birthday cake frosting

8 tablespoons (115g) butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (50g) vegetable shortening

2 ounces (55g) cream cheese

1 tablespoon (25g) glucose or  2 teaspoon (12g) corn syrup

1 tablespoon (18g) corn syrup

1 tablespoon (12g) clear vanilla extract

1 1/4. Cups (200g) confectioners sugar

1/2 teaspoon (2g) kosher salt

Pinch (.25g) baking powder

Pinch (.25g) citric acid (fruit fresh)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, with paddle attachment combine butter, shortening and cream cheese, paddle on medium high for 2-3 minutes, until smooth and fluffy. Scrap down the side of the bowl

With mixer on low speed,  stream in the glucose, corn syrup and vanilla. Change speed to medium high and beat 2-3 minutes until silky smooth and a glossy whites. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

On low speed,add confectioners sugar, salt baking powder and citric acid and mix to incorporate. Increase the speed to medium high and beat. For 2-3 minutes  until you have a stark white smooth frosting.

Assembly

Invert cake on clean parchment paper, peel off the parchment on the bottom of the cake. Use a six inch cake ring to cut out 2 cake circles, these are the top 2 layers. You will use the scrapes to fit into the cake ring for the bottom layer. Clean cake ring

On a clean piece of parchment place your cake ring line the inside with an acetate strip, and fit the cake scrapes in the ring and tamp to an even layer.

Using a pastry brush on 1/2 the birthday cake soak.

Spread 1/5 of the frosting in an even layer over the cake.

Sprinkle with 1/3 of the birthday crumbs evenly over the top of the frosting. Use the back of your hand to anchor them in  place.

Use the back of a spoon to spread a second 1/5 of the frosting as evenly as possible over the crumbs.

With your index finger, gently tuck the second strip of acetate between the cake ring and the top 1/4 inch of the first strip of acetate, so that you have a clear ring of acetate 5-6 inches tall-high enough to support the height of the cake.

Set a cake round on top of the frosting, brush with remaining birthday cake soak, spread with 1/5 of frosting, followed by 1/3 cup birthday cake crumbs, 1/5 frosting. Top with remaining cake layer and cover with the last 1/5 frosting. Garnish frosting with the remaining birthday crumbs.

Freeze complete cake for 12 hour to set the cake and filling. I just put mine the the fridge overnight.

3 hours before serving remove cake from freezer and pop the cake out of the cake ring,push up form the bottom,  peel off acetate , cover in plastic wrap defrost in the fridge for minimum 3 hours.

** I have assembled cakes with the cake ring and acetate strips, but this time I was serving this cake at a big birthday dinner so I use 1  1/2 x the recipes and baked the cake batter in 3 - 8 inch cake pans. I  weighed all ingredients and assembled the cake on a cake plate without using acetate strips and chilled overnight in the fridge

printable recipe

link; Foodie Friday

Apple Pie Cake

As many cookbooks as I have and love, there is always room for another one on my shelf. A while ago I added the Momofuku Milk Bar bookbook to my collection, and I love the way Christina Tossi takes an innovative approach to desserts. There are so many variations on the same desserts in different cookbooks, but her recipes really take classic flavors and bring them to a whole new level. Because I love to spend time in the kitchen, I enjoy that her recipes are multi-step and more involved than most. However, despite the steps, the recipes are not difficult and can definitely be spread out over a few days before assembling the final product. 
To get into the fall spirit, this Apple Pie Cake recently graced our table after dinner with friends. It combines layers of brown butter cake with cream cheese and apple pie filling, with a bit of pie crust topping. It has all the familiar flavors of the fall favorite, apple pie, but presented in a new way. 

As much as her concepts are different, so are her methods. Tossi bakes her cakes in a sheet pan, then they are cut into layers. The bottom layer is put together from partial pieces, eliminating some waste. The cake layers are then assembled in a cake ring with the fillings in between. What you need to make this cake is a 6 inch ring mold and 2 3x20 inch strips of acetate. The acetate strips are use to line the inside of the cake ring, similar to the collar on a souffle dish. This make a 6 inch 3 layer cake that easily served 6.  I used a 6 inch spring form pan to assemble the layers and it made unmolding the finished cake fairly easy. I know that I will be flipping through this book any time I want some inspiration and a delicious, but fun to make, dessert!

Barely Brown Butter Cake

4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
3 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Heat oven to 350 F.
2.Combine the butters and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream together on medium high for 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and mix on medium high 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Stream in the buttermilk, oil and vanilla on low speed. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for an additional 5 to 6 minutes. The mixture will be practically white, twice the size of your original mixture. DO NOT Under beat.
4. On low speed add the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Mix for 45 to 60 seconds, just until your batter comes together and all dry ingredients have been incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix on low speed for another 45 seconds.
5. Line a quarter sheet pan with parchment or use a silpat. Using a spatula spread the cake batter in an even layer in the pan, bake for 30-35 minutes.  the cake will rise and puff, doubling in size, but will remain buttery and dense.  At 30 minutes, gently poke the edge of the cake with your finger, the cake should bounce back slightly and the center should be set. if not leave in oven 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Take cake out of the oven and cool on a wire rack until cooled. The cooled cake can be stored in the fridge, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 5 days.

Liquid Cheesecake
8 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons milk
1 egg.

1. Heat oven to 300F
2. Put the cream cheese In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 2 minutes. scrape down the sides and add the sugar mix for 2 minutes, until the sugar has been completely incorporated.
3. Whisk together the cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the milk, then whisk in the egg until completely incorporate.
4. With the mix on medium-low speed, stream in the egg slurry. Mix for 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and loose, scrape down the  bowl as necessary.
5. line the bottom and sides of a 6x6 baking pan with plastic wrap.  Pour the cheesecake batter into the pan, put the pan in the oven, and bake for 15 minutes. Gently shake the pan.  the cheesecake should be firmer and more set towards the edges of the pan, but still be jiggly and loose in the center. If jiggly all over bake an additional 5 minutes and check again.
6.Cool the cheesecake completely, to finish the baking process and allow the cheesecake to set. Once cool, the cheesecake can be stored in the fridge for 1 week.

Apple Cider Soak
1/4  cup apple cider
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
pinch cinnamon
Whisk together in a small bowl until sugar completely dissolves.

 Apple Pie Filling
1 lemon
2 medium granny smith apples
1 tablespoon butter
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Fill a medium bowl halfway with cold water. Juice the lemon into it.
2. Peel apples, then half and quarter them. Put each apple quarter on its side and cut a small slice down the length to remove the seeds and core. Cut each quarter length wise into thirds  and crosswise into fourths, transfer the 12 pieces to the lemon water.
3. Drain lemon water from apples, and combine them  in a small sauce pan  with the butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Over medium heat bring to a boil, stiring gently so as not to break up the apples. Cook for 3- 5 minutes until soft, but not applesauce.  Remove from heat and cool. Once cooled the filling can be refrigerated in an air tight container for 1 week.

Pie crumb
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 tablespoons water

1. Heat oven to  350F
2. Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix on low speed.  Add the butter and water and paddle on low speed until the mixture starts to come together in small clusters.
4. Spread the clusters on a parchment or silpat lined sheet pan. Bake for 25 minutes, breaking them up occasionally. the crumbs should be golden brown and still slightly moist to the touch.
5. .Let the crumbs cool completely before using in a recipe. Crumbs can be stored in an air tight container for 1 week or a month in the fridge or freezer

Pie crumb frosting
1/2 recipe pie crumbs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1. Combine pie crumbs, milk and salt in a blender, puree on medium high until smooth and homogeneous.
2. Combine butter and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a sand mixer with paddle attachment and cream on medium high for 2-3 minutes, until fluffy and pale yellow. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. On low speed and the contents of the blender. Beat for 1 minute. Increase speed to medium high and beat for 2 minutes. Mixture should be uniform, very pale,barely tan color, if not beat another minute or 2. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 week.

1  six inch cake ring
2-  3 inch wide and 20 inches long strips of acetate

Assembly:
1. Invert cooled cake on parchment line counter and peel off the parchment from he bottom of the cake.  Use the cake ring to cut out 2 circles from the cake,  these will be your top 2 layers.  The remaining cake scrap will come together to make the bottom layer of the cake.

Layer 1
place cake ring on parchment lined sheet pan, line the inside of the ring with one strip of the acetate.  Put the cake scrapes inside the ring and use the backs of your hand to tamp the scraps together into a flat even layer.
Dunk a pastry brush in the apple cider soak and give the layer of cake a good healthy soak with half the cider soak mix. Spread 1/2 of liquid cheesecake over the cake in an even layer. Sprinkle 1/3 of the pie crumbs evenly over the cheesecake layer. Pat in place. spread 1/2 of the apple pie filling evenly over the pie crumbs.

Layer 2
Tuck the second acetate strip between the cake ring and the top 1/4 inch of the first acetate strip, so now you have a clear ring of acetate that is 5-6 inches tall, it will support your cake.
Set a second layer of cake on top of the filing and repeat the process for layer one.

Layer 3
Top filling with remaining cake layer. Cover the top of the cake with 1/2 of the frosting and garnish with remaining pie crumbs.
Transfer the sheet pan to the freezer and freeze for 12 hours to set the cake and filling.
Three hour before serving remove the cake from the freezer. Pop the cake out of the cake ring and gently peel off the acetate. At this point I used the remaining frosting to frost the sides of the cake. Transfer cake to cake plate and defrost in the fridge until serving time.

Foodie Friday