Lemon Ice Cream

To accompany the gingerbread cake was lemon ice cream.  This was one of the first ice creams I made when I got my ice cream maker for my birthday last year.  It was a huge hit and is one I've been requested to make on several occasions, including a couple of dinner parties.

This ice cream has a custard base.  I am just not a fan of the Philadelphia style.  Also, I lost the address where I originally got this recipe since it was saved in my favourites on my laptop, which was stolen a few weeks ago.  Luckily I had the recipe written down in my binder so at least I had that.  Unfortunately can't credit the original source though.  So sorry about that.

Recipe - makes about 1.5l/2.5pints:

Remember to check your ice cream makers instructions.  I have to chill my bowl for 12 hours before hand so be aware of what you have to do so you have enough time.

• 2tbsp grated lemon peel
• 125ml/4.5fl.oz lemon juice
• 170g/6oz caster sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• Pinch of salt
• 240ml/8fl.oz milk
• 480ml/16fl.oz whipping cream

1. Mix together the grated lemon peel, sugar and lemon juice.  Put in the fridge to chill.  The longer it has to chill the more intense the flavour.
2. Beat the salt into the egg yolks.
3. In a saucepan heat the milk until it just starts to boil.
4. Pour the hot milk into the eggs and mix well.
5. Pour back into the saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes thick and coats the back of the spoon. Do not let it boil or it will turn into scrambled eggs.  If you do end up with a few bits though, run it through a sieve.
6. Pour the custard back into its bowl and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
7. Once thoroughly chilled, stir the lemon mixture into the custard, followed by the cream.
8. Pour into your ice cream maker and mix for about half an hour.
9. I recommend chilling it in the freezer for a couple of hours after mixing it so that it can firm up a little bit.

If left in the freezer for a long time it will go very hard so take it out about 20 minutes before serving to let it soften or you won't be able to dish it up.

Gingerbread Cake

Sunday was a birthday party for my boyfriend's Grandma.  That's who the Florentines were for.  I also got to be in charge of dessert though.  It was requested I make lemon ice cream (which will be followed up next entry) because it is adored by my boyfriend and his mum, and to accompany it I decided to make a gingerbread cake because lemon and ginger go well together.  I'd never made one before so it was interesting but successful!  Clearly I am much better at cakes than I am at biscuits.

I have to say I did not eat the cake.  I tried it but I don't like ginger in desserts.  I use it in oriental dishes and that's it.  I don't like gingerbread biscuits either.  Everyone else loved it though!  It was pretty much gone.  I even converted a couple of people to ginger cake, so I was terribly chuffed.

The recipe comes from Cake Decorating magazine and is the first recipe I've tried from that series.  Very good though I would change around the order I do things, which I will be doing in the write-up below.

Recipe - adapted from Cake Decorating issue 8

• 225g/8oz golden syrup
• 125g/4.5oz unsalted butter
• 125g/4.5oz dark muscavado sugar
• 250g/9oz self raising flour
• 4tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs
• 240ml/8fl.oz milk

1. Put the golden syrup and butter in a small saucepan and warm over a gentle heat.
2. Add the sugar to the saucepan and let the mixture bubble for about a minute.
3. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.  This takes a while so let the pan cool a bit and then put it in some cold water to speed it up.  Be careful not to get the water in the syrup.
4. In the meantime sift the flour, mixed spice, ginger, bicarbonate of soda a salt together in a large bowl and mix together.
5. In another bowl or jug, break the eggs, add the milk and whisk.
6. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3 and grease an 8inch/20cm square cake tin.
7. When the syrup has completely cooled, add to the flour mix and stir well.
8. Add the egg mix and stir until it has gone runny and everything is completely combined.
9. Spoon or pour the mixture into your prepared cake tin and put in the oven to bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean (mine took about an hour but we think there is a problem with the cooker).
10. Let the cake rest in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

If you want an extra-moist cake, wrap it in foil once it is cool and leave for 24 hours.

Florentines

So this was a busy weekend treat-making wise.  As I said  at the end of my last entry, I had three things to make this weekend.  The first of these was Florentines, which were to be a birthday present.  The ones I ended up with were quite chewy and I had to do a number of researches to find that they can be a chewy biscuit.  I was convinced they should be crunchy but then I think most biscuits are crunchy.

I actually made two batches because I was not happy with the first lot (I wasn't that happy with the second lot either but the taste testers said they were delicious so I went with them).  Of course I wasn't sure what they were meant to be like but I also think I should not have tampered with the recipe.  A lot of my reading had revealed a lot of the recipes to use flour but the one I was using didn't.  So I added some in and probably shouldn't have.  We've also recently come to the conclusion that there is something wrong with the oven here because the cooking times are way off.  But I move tomorrow and have a brand new cooker to play with so hopefully that won't be a problem any more.

So, my second lot were marginally better.   They were still really sticky and flimsy though and I'm thinking that may be because the pieces of almond and cherry were too big.  I may also have put the butter/honey mix in a bit early rather than waiting for it to be completely cool.  The chocolate did help them stay together though and, as I said, the taste testers approved.

Recipe - makes about 10

Adapted from Cakebaker.co.uk

• 50g/2oz unsalted butter
• 3tbsp honey
• 50g/2oz ground almonds
• 50g/2oz candied peel
• 25g/1oz dried cranberries
• 25g/1oz glacé cherries
• 25g/1oz flaked almonds
• 100g/4oz dark chocolate

1. Put the butter and the honey into a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted.  Put aside to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. 
3. Chop up your flaked almonds a little so you have slightly smaller pieces then place on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 3-5 minutes to toast them.  Leave to cool but don't turn off the oven.
4. Mix the ground almonds, candied peel, cranberries, cherries and toasted flaked almonds together in a bowl.  Add the cooled butter/honey mix and fold until will combined and the fillings are equally distributed.
5. Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper and place teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto them.  Space them quite well apart since they will spread a little.  Flatten them slightly with the spoon.
6. Bake for about 8 minutes.  The biscuits are ready when they have spread a bit and turn slightly golden.
7. Cool on the tray for a bit if they are a little fragile then transfer to a wire rack.  (I had to transfer mine on the paper since they took a while to firm up).
8. Melt chocolate in a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.  
9. Turn Florentines over and use a spoon to carefully cover the backs in chocolate.  Leave to set.

That's it for now.  There's two more recipes to come later today though.