Ice Cream Cake (Baked Alaska Style)
The honey flavor is mellow and delicate with just a subtle hint of saffron in the ice cream. My family loved this recipe and I hope you do too! My ice cream inspiration came from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.
Ingredients
Honey Saffron Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup half and half
- 2/3 cup honey
- Pinch salt
- 1 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 1/2 tsp 1/2 teaspoon Saffron threads
- 6 oz finely chopped milk chocolate It doesn't freeze as hard as bittersweet, so I like it for ice cream, but either will do nicely
Honey Meringue Topping
- 1/2 cup egg whites
- 3/4 cup honey
- Pinch salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract homemade vanilla extract
Instructions
Honey Saffron Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- Heat the cream, half and half, honey, salt, saffron threads and vanilla bean until the mixture comes to a simmer. Remove from heat and allow to sit for about 15 minutes to make sure the saffron is soft and releasing it's color and flavor. Stir well and then transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until chilled.
- Once it is cold, you can freeze in your ice cream machine as directed. Once the ice cream is set to the point of looking like soft serve, add the chocolate pieces.
- Put the ice cream in your Lekue pan and allow to chill for several hours, overnight is best to make sure it is hard enough to unmold. If you don't have a springform pan to use, you can use an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaf pan, lined with parchment paper to freeze the ice cream in the right shape.
Honey Meringue Topping
- Heat the egg whites and honey in the bowl of your stand mixer, over a double boiler, until the mixture is hot and thin when you lift the rubber spatula from the mixture.
- Place it on the stand mixer and beat with the whip attachment until it is fluffy. Add the salt and vanilla and continue beating until it holds stiff peaks. It also has to cool to room temperature or you run the risk of melting the ice cream when you put it on.
- Remove the cake from the springform pan. Cover the cake with the meringue. Create peaks in the meringue. I do this technique in my Craftsy cheesecake class. If you have signed up for that class you'll find this in the last lesson.
- After you cover the cake, freeze it again for at least 30 minutes, before you torch it. You don't have to torch the ice cream cake, since it is so beautiful in its pure white form. However, using a Blow Torch is one of life's great joys. Not only is it great fun, but I also really like what it does to the flavor of the meringue. It gives it dimension and contrast that it otherwise wouldn't have.
- Store this in the freezer and it can be done a day in advance. Slice off a piece to serve. One of the best things about the Lékué springform pans is that they come with a beautiful ceramic base, so you can serve right on them.