This layered ice cream cake can be prepared up to a week beforehand as can the muscatels to garnish. Un-mould the cake before your guests arrive and return it to the freezer ready to whip out and top with the muscatels before serving.
Caren
COFFEE ICE CREAM AND MASCARPONE SORBET CAKE WITH MUSCATELS IN VANILLA AND MUSCAT SYRUP
Start this layered cake a few days or up to a week before required.
Serves 8-10
Prepare an 18cm diameter x 8cm deep round cake tin: Take an 18cm x 44cm piece of baking paper and fold it over lengthwise 3 times to make a 6cm x 44cm strip. Place this across the base and up the sides of the tin so that the ends extend well beyond the rim of the tin. This will help with removing the frozen cake when required. Next, line the base of the tin, over the folded strip, with a double round of baking paper.
Mascarpone Sorbet
225 gm sugar
180 ml water
30 gm liquid glucose
400 gm mascarpone
A few drops of vanilla essence
A squeeze of lime juice
Make some syrup by stirring the sugar, water and glucose together over a medium heat until well blended. Bring to the boil for 1 minute. Strain and chill. Whisk the mascarpone, vanilla, juice and 240ml of the syrup together and churn in an ice cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Spread the sorbet into the base of the container. Cover and freeze.
Coffee Ice Cream
625 ml cream
125 ml milk
165 gm sugar
4 egg yolks (Keep the whites for the walnut base.)
100 ml fresh espresso or decaffeinated espresso (Add up to 50ml more coffee for a stronger flavour.)
Heat the cream, milk and sugar in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Place the yolks in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the warm cream mix over the yolks, whisking to combine. Pour the combined yolks and cream mix into a clean saucepan. Continue to stir over a medium heat until the cream thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the coffee. Strain and chill. Churn in an ice cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Spoon the ice cream onto the frozen mascarpone sorbet layer and smooth the surface. Cover and return the container to the freezer.
Walnut Orange Base
210 gm fine walnut meal
110 gm caster sugar
1/2 orange, zest only
Pinch of cream of tartar
4 egg whites
Heat oven to 160°C. Grease and line a Swiss roll cake pan approximately 35cm x 25cm.Mix walnuts, sugar and zest in a large bowl. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff.Fold the walnut mix into the egg whites.Spread the mix evenly into the pan and bake for 20 minutes.Cool and then cut a shape from the baked base to closely fit the shape of the top of the coffee ice cream layer. Press it onto the ice cream, cover and return to the freezer.
Muscatels in Vanilla and Muscat Syrup
250 gm brown sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or a split vanilla bean
1/2 cup muscat (Save the rest of the bottle to serve with the dessert.)
400 gm muscatels still on the vine
Bring the sugar, water, vanilla and Muscat to the boil. Add the muscatels, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Cool, then refrigerate for up to a week.
To Serve:In preparation for serving, place a presentation platter and the serving plates in the fridge to chill them.
Take the tin out of the freezer. Remove the top layer of paper. Carefully run a thin palette knife around the wall of the cake. Invert the tin onto the chilled presentation platter, leaving it for a few minutes to allow gravity to work a bit and then gently pull the paper ends outwards, effectively pulling the tin up and off the cake. Smooth the wall of the cake if required.
Just before presenting the cake to the table, take the muscatels out of the syrup and arrange the cluster on top of the cake. Pour some of the remaining syrup over the cake.
Serve the portions with some of the muscatels cut from the cluster and some syrup.