Chocolate Meringue Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients
For the meringue base:
-
4
egg whites
-
250
grams caster sugar
-
2
teaspoons cornstarch
-
4
tablespoons cocoa powder
-
1
teaspoon cider vinegar
For the ice cream:
-
600
milliliters (about 20 fluid ounces) cold whipping cream
-
396
grams (one 14-ounce tin) sweetened condensed milk
-
1
teaspoon vanilla extract
-
3
tablespoons cocoa powder
-
150
grams finely chopped semisweet chocolate, divided
Method
-
Preheat your oven to 300°F (150° C). Cover the bottom
of a springform pan with parchment paper and make a ring to cover and
peak over the sides of the pan like a collar. Brush some vegetable oil
on the side of the pan and stick the parchment paper collar in place.
-
Make the meringue. Whip the egg whites in a clean bowl
until soft peaks form. (You can do this by hand but it's easier to use a
mixer.) Next, add the sugar one tablespoon at a time with the mixer
running. When you have added all the sugar, you should be left with a
beautiful, creamy, thick meringue mixture. Sift the cornstarch and cocoa
powder into the meringue mixture and fold it in using a large spoon or
spatula. Add the vinegar and fold that in carefully, too.
-
Pour the meringue mixture into your prepared pan and
smooth it out to the edges with the help of a spatula. Set the pan in
your preheated oven and bake for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and let it
cool down completely with the oven door closed. Remove the meringue from
the oven and set aside.
-
When your meringue base is completely cooled, start on your ice cream.
-
Mix the whipping cream with the sweetened condensed
milk until stiff peaks form. Stir in the vanilla extract and divide the
mixture in two. You now have two bowls of ice cream base. Sift the cocoa
powder over one of the mixtures and stir until you have an even
chocolate ice cream base. Add about a third of the chocolate pieces to
the other mixture and stir. You now have the three necessary elements
for your ice cream cake: the meringue base, and two types of ice cream
mixtures.
-
Pile the two ice cream mixtures alternatively onto
your meringue base (this is when the collar comes in handy, as your ice
cream may peak over the rim of your pan).
-
Lift your pan a couple of centimeters above your work
surface and drop it so that your mixture falls evenly into place and you
get a smooth top. Using a skewer, blend the two ice creams ever as much
as you'd like. Cover the surface with plastic wrap (try to get the
plastic wrap as close to the ice cream as possible without touching it),
and freeze over night.
-
If you plan to decorate your cake with chocolate trim,
put the remainder of the finely chopped chocolate in a piping bag.
Insert the piping bag into a glass of hot water (be careful not to get
any water in your chocolate) and let the chocolate melt. Remove your
cake from the freezer and take off the plastic wrap. Carefully peel away
the paper collar. Pipe the melted chocolate over your cake or around
the rim like I did.
-
Put the cake back into the freezer, or serve it
immediately. Lift the cake carefully from the bottom of the pan and
remove the paper, then place it on a cake stand or platter. To serve the
cake, use a good, steady knife and dip it in hot water before making
each slice. A hot knife makes for smoother cutting.
