Cake masquerading as bread, and spread acting like ice cream

Ahem.. I did not realise how fast time flies these days. I know that I promised you all that I will post more frequently after I come back from my vacation, and even made a pact with Mallory to sacrifice sleep for blog. So far, I think she's the only one who's kept to that oath.

But my new job is zapping up my energy and my time in the ways that a mini cake-producing nuclear power plant would these days. And to all of you who are pondering about the reality behind cake shop/wholesale/catering vs. restaurant work, let me tell you something. Working in a cake shop which multi-task as a wholesaler/caterer is not as stress-less as you think it is. Wait, maybe I was the only one who thought so.


But enough about me. One of the reasons I staged a comeback sooner than I thought I would was due to the fact that 3 nudges were sent my way, a couple of days apart from each other, from 3 fellow bloggers whose blogs and creations I hold in the highest regard. Y , Helen, Mallory, thank you!! I know it sounds rather silly, but your emails make me really happy. It's really good to know that my absence is felt among visitors of my blog, so thank you!!

So we can now move on to the real treat. Aran of Cannelle et Vanille did a post on brioche some time last week. One look at her photos and I was smitten!! Her brioche looked simple, comforting, and delectable; in other words, perfect!! Her post happened to coincide with the day off I was having the day after, so I immediately lunged at the chance to make a loaf for myself. I had made a batch of peanut butter ice cream a few days before, so I decided to make an ice cream brioche sandwich as an afternoon treat. But it turns out that the aroma emanating from the oven was too much for J and my brother. They could not even wait until the brioche has cooled down a little bit before launching attacks from both sides of the loaf. As for me, I got to have a couple of slices, and a couple more to photograph with for the sake of this post, before they ate all of it. (Yes, they got to the ones in the photo too. They could barely wait 'til I finished photographing.)



Peanut Butter Ice Cream with chocolate chips

1 litre milk
200g sugar
50g glucose
150g egg yolk
100g peanut butter
50g good quality dark chocolate, chopped


Combine milk, glucose and half the sugar in a saucepan, and heat to boil. Stir occassionally to prevent the mixture from burning. Whisk egg yolk and the remaining sugar together until pale. Pour boiling milk mixture into the yolk/sugar mixture while whisking. Pour back the anglaise mixture into the saucepan and reheat until the thermometer registers 81 degree Celsius. As this recipe does not contain cream, the anglaise will not thicken enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, so trust your thermometer. Add peanut butter, whisk to combine and chill before churning in an ice cream maker. Each ice cream maker is different, but the approximate time needed on mine is about 20 minutes. Always keep in mind that due to the absence of cream, this ice cream will not turn out as thickly as normal ice cream. About 2 minutes before the ice cream finishes churning, add the chopped dark chocolate.

Revealed: My Other New Toy

Remember in my last post I said that I was going to introduce you to my other new toy? I have been waiting a long time to write this up. I got the machine before I got my Canon DSLR, but have resisted the urge to post anything because I was waiting for the new camera to arrive. And when it finally did, these were the first photos I took. But then I was getting busy completing my first Daring Bakers Challenge, and since that had a deadline, it took precedence over my regular blogging.

But here we are finally. As much as I want to exclaim "And the new toy is....." while whisking away a red velvet shroud covering the surprise, the more impatient of you (yes, I'm looking at you Oakley), would've scrolled further down first thing to discover what my new gadget is. So yes, it's an automatic ice cream maker. Which I got at approximately half the retail price.

The machine is a factory second that was selling for $159 at the Preston Market. I was skeptical at first, but turns out that there was no major damage or anything that would affect the normal operation; the only reason it was sold so cheaply was due to a minor scratch on the wall of the cannister. And it came with a 6-months warranty. So yes, the bargain shopper in me could not resist. To tell you the truth, I've had my eyes on it since a few months ago, when I first saw the machine. But it was priced at $200 then. It was a good $100 cheaper than the retail ones, but I still had to consider it.


And then J and I celebrated our first full year of being together (it may not seem like a lot of time together, but trust me, it is my longest and best yet). He asked me what I wanted for a present, and a few days plus a few hours of heavy lifting (mostly done by him) later, my glossy new machine was well set up and roaring to go.

The first recipe that came to mind was Claire Clark's Quick Strawberry Ice Cream, from her book Indulge:100 Perfect Desserts. Most ice cream recipes you find will contain either eggs or egg yolks, as their addition makes the ice cream taste richer and creamier. This one, however, uses only double cream. In her book, Claire explained that the first time she saw her friend Matthew Hardy---who was also her fellow lecturer at Le Cordon Bleu--- prepared it for an ice cream demonstration class, she was shocked and convinced that it wouldn't be as good as the egg-based ones. But to her surprise, the resulting ice cream was just as rich and creamy as the ones she had made in the past.

I did two variations on this recipe---one using frozen forest berry mix, and another using bananas. I also played around with the recipes for a bit, after J insisted that I was puree-ing way too much berries for the mix, and because I find that brown sugar goes much better with bananas.


Forest Berries Ice Cream

300g frozen forest berries (you can substitute any kind of berries)
320g caster sugar
500ml double cream

Method:
Puree berries in a blender and then pass through a fine sieve. Mix half the sugar with the cream and bring to the boil. Pour this over the berry puree and mix well, then stir in the rest of the sugar. Leave to cool completely. Churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions (it took 15-20 min for mine to be ready).


Banana Ice Cream

300g bananas
180g brown sugar*
60g caster sugar
250ml double cream

Puree the bananas in a blender. Be sure to choose very ripe bananas for best results. Mix 120g of brown sugar with the double cream, and bring to boil. Pour this over the banana puree and mix well, then stir in the remaining 60g brown sugar and 60g caster sugar. Leave to cool completely. Churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions (it took 15-20 min for mine to be ready).

*Although I find that brown sugar goes better with bananas, I noticed that it alters the texture of the ice cream. The end result is a softer and stretchier ice cream. I am not sure about the chemical explanation to this, but I can guess that it has to do with the molasses contained in brown sugar. The recipe recommends the use of caster sugar, but feel free to experiment with the proportions o brown sugar if you like.

Enjoy!!