I have recently fallen in passionate love with cake batter ice cream. My local Cold Stone isn’t exactly local so I’m exploring the idea of breaking out the ice cream maker and trying to make it on my own. I have found one recipe al la Google and I wasn’t charmed by it, so I thought I’d improvise and experiment. I also thought I’d ask my fellow Dopers for advice.
I usually start my non-chocolate ice cream with good old fashioned Ben & Jerry’s Sweet Cream Base #1 and go from there. I was considering simply adding cake batter to this base (and subtracting some sugar from it), but I’m a little concerned about the base freezing properly.
I welcome any input or ideas here. I am stuck in my office and will be pondering this all day.
I am definitely going to follow this thread. I bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker this year for my daughter and the girl I watch (she’s on a limited diet, and ice cream is one of the few easy things we can “cook” together). However, every batch I’ve made so far leaves this weird creamy coating on your tongue. I would love some new recipes as well as any advice on how to avoid the “coating” aftertaste.
Yes! I have a Lello Gelato machine. I have had great success using this base recipe for my ice cream:
3 cups cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt
Beat the egg yolks until they are light and lemon-colored. Heat the cream, sugar and milk and salt until the mixture simmers and remove it from the heat. Stir a little of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks, bit by bit, until about a cup is incorporated. Then pour the egg mixture back into the pot with the cream mixture (this is called “tempering”, and prevents the egg yolks from scrambling). Put it back on the heat and stir until it is thickened to the point where it lightly coats the back of a spoon. Be careful not to heat it too much, as the yolks will scramble. It’s better to take it off the fire a little early than too late. Then put the mixture in the fridge to chill for four hours.
This is the base mixture, and my favorite recipe is to add the scraped insides and pods of two vanilla beans to the milk as it heats for French vanilla bean ice cream. My second favorite is to add 2 ounces of quality chopped bittersweet chocolate and 3 heaping teaspoons of espresso powder to the hot mixture after it comes off the fire - after the chocolate melts, whisk it up before chilling. This is mocha ice cream and it’s powerfully good.
LilyoftheValley, years ago, I thought I’d make my ice cream more luxurious and made it of 100% cream, and this left a greasy, creamy coating on the inside of my mouth. It hasn’t happened since I keep the proportions 3:1 of cream to milk.
Sorbets are extremely good, too. If I can remember the basic recipe, I’ll post it later.
Well teela brown, it sounds like you have some experience in these matters. I’ve never tried to actually use a vanilla bean when making French vanilla ice cream, but I’d love to try one of these days. In my experimental cake batter recipe, at which point would you add cake batter to the mix? I’m thinking that I would whisk it after the mixture is taken off the heat but before it’s put in the fridge. I don’t want to go heating up the batter too much and have it begin to solidify, right? Another thing I could try is to just whisk in batter after everything has cooled.
Hmm…just thinking about this makes me want to close up shop early and get right to work on it.
LilyoftheValley, I think teela brown’s advice might help you out. For more, easy to follow recipes I’d recommend Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert book. I’ve based my life around it’s teachings.
Thanks, it’s now on the top of my Amazon wish list.
I’ve never put eggs in my ice cream! Maybe that is the trick. Do you worry about salmonella or whatever things I had drummed into me as a child abot raw eggs?
We just made home-made ice cream tonight. It came out great! we’re going to use this thing at MilliCal’s birthday party this weekend. the kids will have a blast!
Hmm, I think your first suggestion above would be best. I’ve never had “cake batter” ice cream, so I think some experimenting is in order. You might have to toss a batch or two before you get it right.
Well, the eggs are cooked, so no. My cookbook says that just milk/cream and sugar is “American” ice cream, and that the addition of egg yolks (essentially making a rich custard sauce), is “French” or “Italian” ice cream. IMO, there’s no comparison. The French version is much more luscious and complex, particularly if you’re making a classic vanilla bean vanilla.
I forgot one trick. When I first started out, I was having trouble with too many ice crystals in the finished product, which made for a slightly crisp, rather than creamy, texture. I did some reading and discovered that substituting some liquid sugar for some of the granulated sugar would help. Now I hold back a little white sugar and add in some real maple syrup, and the icy problem never happens. Real maple syrup is not pronouncedly maple-y, so it doesn’t affect the flavor of your ice cream. I guess corn syrup would accomplish the same thing.
My mother’s homemade vanilla ice cream is still the best I’ve ever had. We have the Ben & Jerry’s book too, but I still find myself making her simple recipe most of the time.
I don’t remember the exact amounts now, but I can find them if anyone is interested. All it has is:
Whole milk
Half-n-half
eggs
sugar
vanilla
salt
None of it is cooked. She was always worried about using the raw eggs, but it doesn’t bother me.
This ice cream is also very soft when it’s first made. It will get a bit more solid if you freeze it for a while after it’s done. We like it soft.
