The White Ramekins

food & photography

Coffee & Cacao Nib Smoothie

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A midweek morning needs a smoothie as much as a Monday morning does. And so, here I am with this new smoothie post today, up early in the morning. I generally am a morning person, who loves to start early in the day and stuff in as many tasks as I can, before I head to the work. It gives me an illusion as I had more than 24 hours in a day. …

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Tiramisu Ice Cream

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tiramisu ice cream

Oh! I love tiramisu. The deep coffee flavored dessert with the lusciousness of mascarpone is something I would never say no to. And what if you get that a tiramisu ice cream? It just can’t get any better. A quintessential Italian dessert being turned into an ice cream to cool you off from the intense heat. Although, the weather has got slightly cooler this week due to official arrival of monsoon, you still can enjoy the ice cream.

tiramisu ice cream tiramisu ice cream

I made this ice cream a couple of days back. Actually I had  half a carton of cream in my fridge, which I wanted to utilize. And then mascarpone occurred to my mind. I hadn’t had tiramisu in long time and I was craving for it. I made this last year probably. I have made tiramisu verrines and the the classic style tiramisu from the authentic savoiardi cookies, which my friend brought for me. And this time I wanted to try it differently, in a frozen dessert.

tiramisu ice cream

I thought of an ice cream cake too, but didn’t have courage to turn on the oven in the intense hot summer. Thank God! the weather has cooled down a bit, so I would be back to baking spree now. This is a recipe which I adapted from The Perfect Scoop. It’s one gem of a book from David Lebovitz on frozen treats. I keep on hoping between The Perfect Scoop and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. But I can’t say for sure, which one is my favorite.  As of yet, I love both! 

tiramisu ice cream tiramisu ice cream

The original recipe didn’t call for eggs, but had asked for a lot of liqueur, which I didn’t want truly speaking. So I though of giving it my own twist by making it custard based, so that it gets more luscious and creamy. And I am glad that it I did that. It came out super smooth and velvety with those deep flavor of coffee which I had been craving for. We also made affogato and served them in pretty martini glasses. Tiramissini, we called them! Isn’t that chic? We all loved it a lot!

tiramisu ice cream tiramisu ice cream

Tiramisu Ice Cream
A rich and velvety smooth frozen twist to classic Italian Tiramisu with deep coffee flavor and mocha ripple.
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For the ice cream
  1. 2 cups mascarpone
  2. 1/2 cup sugar
  3. 3 egg yolks
  4. 1 cup cream
  5. 1/2 cup milk
  6. 1/4 cup espresso
  7. 1 tbsp coffee powder
  8. 2 tbsp dark rum {optional}
  9. 1/2 vanilla bean, slit
For the mocha ripple
  1. 1/2 cup sugar
  2. 1/3 cup light corn syrup
  3. 1/2 cup water
  4. 6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  5. 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  6. 1 tbsp coffee powder
For the mocha ripple
  1. Whisk together all the ingredients in a saucepan.
  2. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture begins to bubble slightly at the edges.
  3. Remove from heat and let cool completely in fridge.
For the ice cream
  1. Pour milk, half cup of the cream and vanilla bean in a saucepan and heat on medium heat until sugar dissolves completely and the mixture starts to boil.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar to a creamy consistency. Add two small ladle full of hot milk and cream mixture whisking rigorously.
  3. Add the egg mixture to the remaining milk and cream mixture in saucepan, whisking rapidly.
  4. Heat the egg mixture in saucepan on a low heat, stirring continuously, until the custard coats the back of a wooden spoon.
  5. Take the custard off the heat. In another bowl, whisk together the mascarpone, remaining cream, custard, coffee granules, espresso and dark rum (if using) to make smooth mixture.
  6. Cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly in fridge, preferably overnight.
  7. Freeze the chilled mixture in your ice cream machine, as per manufacturer's instructions.
  8. Once ice cream is ready, drizzle the mocha sauce in the bottom of container. Working quickly, layer half of the ice cream in container with mocha sauce alternating with ice cream and the mocha sauce.
  9. Freeze the ice cream in freezer for 3-4 hours.
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop
The White Ramekins http://thewhiteramekins.com/

 

Espresso Walnut Cake, Happy Mother’s Day!

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Espresso Walnut Cake

Can anything be more satisfying than a cup of hot espresso and a bar of dark chocolate. Deep dark flavors can satiate all your cravings than anything else. That’s the sensuality of these two bitter yet satisfying treats. I love anything coffee. If I have a choice of having a dessert after dinner, I would look for options with coffee in it. Fruity and chocolate dessert would definitely be second on my list without any doubt. I have made coffee ice cream too, and that is my most favorite flavor after vanilla. Now when summer is upon us, I’ll soon be making it again this year. I am just waiting for my family to be with me next month.

Espresso Walnut Cake Espresso Walnut Cake Espresso Walnut Cake Espresso Walnut Cake Espresso Walnut Cake

But for now, I baked an espresso cake for them while I visited them this weekend. And it was special being the Mother’s Day! The alarm rang pretty early in the morning. I was still asleep when I walked into my kitchen and put my little espresso maker on the stove. Oh my! The aroma of freshly brewed coffee was good enough to bring me to action. And I knew that it would going to be something amazing today, even before I had started whipping the batter. And it’s true that good ingredients speak for themselves. This espresso walnut cake is adapted from Jamie Oliver’s, a legend himself. It couldn’t go wrong. Additionally I layered the cake with some white chocolate buttercream, instead of plain vanilla buttercream, as suggested in the recipe. Drizzled it with espresso glaze to add more coffee kick to the cake {though I kept the sugar low in the glaze, which is why the glaze looks quite runny}. More coffee, more happiness!

Espresso Walnut Cake

Ingredients

Cake

150 gm unsalted butter
75 walnuts, plus extra for topping
175 gm sugar
3 eggs
150 gm plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
50 ml cold espresso

Filling

25 gm unsalted butter
50 gm white chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp icing sugar
1/4 cup cold heavy cream

Espresso glaze

50 gm icing sugar
20 ml strong espresso

Directions

  1.  Preheat oven to 180 degree C and grease an 8 inch springform pan and keep aside.
  2. Sift the flour, salt, baking powder together and keep aside.
  3. Pulse the walnuts in a food processor until coarsely crumbed. You can do this with a knife as well.
  4. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl, until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Gently fold the flour and walnuts along with espresso.
  5. Pour the batter into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
  6. Cool the cake in pan for 10 minutes and then invert onto a wire rack to let it cool completely.
  7. For the filling, melt the chocolate in microwave or on a double boiler and let it cool. Once, chocolate is completely cooled, beat the butter with sugar and cream until light and fluffy. Fold in the melted chocolate.
  8. For the glaze, beat the sugar and espresso together, until sugar is dissolved.
  9. To assemble, cut the cake horizontally into two halves. Spread the filling on lower half with a spatula and layer with top half. Drizzle over the espresso glaze and top with chopped walnuts.