DARING BAKERS CHALLENGE ~Ice Cream Petite Fours

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I’ve been on a bit of a baking slump. Finding time and energy has been hard. I keep planning on things to make, just never get around to it.
Although I always look forward to the Daring Bakers Challenge each month. Another new one for me. Brown butter. Would have never thought that it would have such a warm nutty smell kind of like toffee. I do have to agree with some other bakers that I prefer the cake warm and not frozen with the ice cream. They were good don’t get me wrong but the flavor of the cake is more pronounced when it isn’t frozen.

Browning the butter

After out of the freezer

Dry Ingredients

Sugar and butter

After coming together

Baked and out of the pan

The ice cream spread into the pan

Cake split in half

Ice cream placed on bottom half of cake

Looking like a sandwich

Making the glaze

Trimmed

Cut to size

Directions:

Coffee Ice Cream with chocolate shavings

*I used a bit of coffee liqueur because the alcohol lowers the freezing temperature, resulting in a smoother and creamier consistency.
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup freshly ground dark coffee beans, very fine
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• *2-3 tbsp coffee liqueur
• 3 oz semisweet chocolate, grated

Directions:

Pour the hot water over the coffee grounds, stir and set aside overnight, up to 24 hours. Strain and set aside.
Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Combine the cream and milk and heat until it just begins to simmer. Slowly whisk the hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture. Turn on the heat to low and cook carefully while whisking, until the mixture thickens and the custard looks like it wants to simmer; don’t allow it to come to a boil – otherwise it might curdle. Remove from heat.
Stir in the coffee liqueur and the coffee. Cover with plastic, smoothing over the surface to prevent a skin from forming and chill for at least 3 hours, up to overnight.
Stir in the grated chocolate and pour into an ice cream maker. Process according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Assembly:

Brown Butter Pound Cake

• 19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
• 2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) (See “Note” section for cake flour substitution)
• 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt.
• 1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Glaze

• 9 ounces (250g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (32g) light corn syrup, Golden syrup, or agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract

Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.

Assembly Instructions – Ice Cream Petit Fours

1. Line a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) pan with plastic wrap, so that no sides of the pan are exposed and so there is some extra plastic wrap hanging off the sides. Spread 1 ¾ to 2 cups (450ml to 500ml) ice cream into the pan. Cover with more plastic wrap and freeze several hours.
2. Once the brown butter pound cake has completely cooled, level the top with a cake leveler or a serrated knife. Then split the cake in half horizontally to form two thin layers.
3. Unwrap the frozen ice cream. Flip out onto one of the layers of cake and top with the second layer of cake. Wrap well in plastic wrap and return to the freezer overnight.
4. Make the chocolate glaze (see above.)
5. While the glaze cools, trim ¾” (2cm) off each side of the ice cream cake to leave a perfectly square 7.5” (19cm) ice cream cake. Cut the cake into twenty five petit fours, each 1.5”x1.5” (4cmx4cm).
6. Glaze the petit fours one at a time: place a petit four on a fork and spoon chocolate glaze over it.
7. Place the petit fours on a parchment-lined baking sheet and return to the freezer for one hour.

Tagged as: Dessert, Ice Cream