chocolate fudge – Ali Does It Herself

Happy Birthday Caity! Welcome to thirty!

Hakan Ice Cream Cake — I swear that this is not poo.

I don’t know if you know this, but the original plan, eight years ago now, was that Stef and I were going to set up Cait with the Pie. They’re both complete computer nerds, skinny jerks, and their birthdays are only four days apart. What could possibly go wrong? Needless to say, it didn’t happen, to everyone’s relief. Anyway, today Cait turns thirty, and I’m pleased to say that now we have been friends for over half our lives. Pretty heady stuff when you’re a girl who rarely stayed in one place longer than five years growing up.

In continuing the birthday theme, I am going to give you the recipe for the chocolate fudge ice cream you saw in the Pie’s ice cream birthday cake on Monday.

I took this recipe (and modified it only a tiny bit) from My Lemony Kitchen, and I think it’s tops, even though I am not particularly fond of chocolate ice cream. It is, however, a very British recipe, and everything is in metric, including the measurements for a substance known as GOLDEN SYRUP. Fortunately in Newfoundland, where we love everything British, this was easy to find. This partially inverted refiners syruptastes kind of like molasses, and kind of like corn syrup.

It’s extremely sweet. And good for serving with “sweet puds.” Can any of my UK readers tell me what exactly a PUD is? I am on tenterhooks to know.

This is where your handy dandy kitchen scale is very useful. If you don’t have one, you should get one. They are always worth it.

So. Ice cream. In a pot with a heavy base, pour 300mL whole milk.

Chop up 100g dark chocolate and scoop up 25g butter and add those to the mix.

Heat on medium, stirring often, until everything is melted and smooth.

Measure out 125g sugar and 75g golden syrup. I weighed the syrup on top of the sugar, so that the whole thing just slid into the pot and I wasn’t left with a sticky mess. Clever, eh?

Add the sugars to the pot and raise the heat to bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about four minutes. Then remove the whole thing from the heat and allow it to cool until it’s just warm.

In a mixing bowl, beat up 4 eggs. Slowly, stirring the whole time, pour the slightly warm chocolate mixture into the eggs.

Strain this whole thing into a heatproof bowl or the top of a double-boiler. You may need to scrape the bottom of the strainer occasionally, as the egg whites are quite membranous.

Plop the bowl full of chocolate onto a pot of barely simmering water and cook until it thickens and coats the back of your spoon. Now you have custard.

Remove the chocolate custard from the heat and stir in 300mL heavy or whipping cream.

I also added in a few tablespoons of crème de cacao as a softener. You’ll note that the packing tape was still on the lid from when we moved in four years ago. It’s not a popular liqueur in this house.

Allow your mixture to cool completely and store it in the fridge overnight.

Then churn it in your ice cream maker according to the machine’s instructions and then do with it what you will.

I smoothed mine into an ice cream cake but I bet it would be great by itself, or maybe with some fudge sauce …

This is a great cake to whip up for a potluck or casual dinner. Baking it in a 9″ x 13″ glass casserole dish makes it easy to carry and means you can even freeze the cake if you need it later.

The fudgy icing adds the element of delectability to what is otherwise a regular cake recipe. Cake recipe from Canadian Living, fudge icing from Chocablog.

Spray the sides of a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish and line the bottom with parchment paper (you can use metal baking pans as well, but I prefer the even cooking of the glass) and set that aside. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, beat together 1 1/2 cups softened butter with 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar. I ran out of white so I added in some brown.

Add in, one at a time, 3 eggs, followed by 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract.

In a separate container, mix together 3 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and the same again of baking soda.

Stir your flour mixture alternately with 2 1/4 cups buttermilk (or milk soured with lemon juice or vinegar), making three additions of the dry stuff and two of the buttermilk.

At this point I was slightly concerned because the mixture was the consistency and colour of wet cement. I figured I might as well forge ahead in any case.

Scrape that cement into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake until tester comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for about ten minutes, then turn out onto the rack and peel off the paper and allow to cool completely.