Daring Bakers, July: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

A secret challenge! A month to work through! The blogworld-wide reveal! This . . . is Daring Bakers:



This month's Daring Bakers project was an ice cream cake--perfect to help my ring in my 34th birthday under the sweltering Arizona summer heat.

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

Daring Bakers July: Swiss swirl ice cream cake


Daring Bakers July: Swiss swirl ice cream cake
The orange-flavored cake before rolling.

Daring Bakers July: Swiss swirl ice cream cake
Rolling the still-warm cake so it would form more easily during rerolling without cracking. My cake was a bit brown on the bottom, but it didn't affect the flavor.

Daring Bakers July: Swiss swirl ice cream cake
The Swiss roll slices lining the plastic-lined bowl I used as the cake mold.

Daring Bakers July: Swiss swirl ice cream cake
This is how you know what the unmolded cake will look like once it's finished--just peer through the bottom of the bowl.

Daring Bakers July: Swiss swirl ice cream cake
Fresh Rainier cherry sorbet in the ice cream maker.

Daring Bakers July: Swiss swirl ice cream cake
Taste testing the sorbet. ;)

Daring Bakers July: Swiss swirl ice cream cake
The only shot I got of the cake slice: orange cake filled with honey cream, vanilla bean ice cream, white chocolate "fudge," and Rainier cherry sorbet.

Daring Bakers July: Swiss swirl ice cream cake

Notes:

-I rolled my Swiss roll cake lengthwise instead of shortwise, starting from the short end, as the recipe directed, because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough slices to cover the bowl. I did have a few slices left over this way. However, I didn't take into account that the roll slices would've been bigger if I'd rolled them shortwise, covering more surface area. I think the short-wise roll would've looked prettier. Overall, though, my bowl's funny size and shape made placing the slices a challenge.

-The recipe instructs bakers to cut the slices about 3/4 of an inch thick, but I wish I would've sliced mine thinner--this would've made a prettier cake, with less gap between the Swiss roll slices. However, slicing thinner slices would've been difficult, so I probably would recommend freezing the rolls slightly before trying to slice them. By the time you're done slicing, the slices should have thawed enough to be easy to place inside the bowl.

-Place your slices carefully so you don't have to keep handling the slices to move them around. If you handle them too much, they can fall apart, and that gets messy. That messiness will show on the outside of your cake. A few times, I had to remove slices and wipe the cream filling off the plastic to ensure the outside of the cake wouldn't look too sloppy.

-A lot of people didn't let their ice cream set before layering it into the bomb. This was most crucial with the layer just inside the Swiss rolls, since ice cream that's too runny can seep between any spaces between the Swiss roll slices. It's fine if it's allowed to seep through uniformly, making a tile-and-mortar effect, but not when it's only seeped through in splotches.

-I used this recipe from Food & Wine for my white chocolate hot fudge, replacing the corn syrup with some honey to keep the sauce viscous. I halved the fudge recipe, and even then, I ended up with extra. The original challenge recipe makes the same amount, and I would've halved that, too, since I'm not a fan of a LOT of hot fudge. Excess can be stored in the fridge and reheated when needed for other desserts.

-The ice cream recipe that comes with this challenge is insanely rich--it's basically frozen whipped cream. I'm glad I didn't use two batches to fill my cake because I think that would've been fat overload--like, a gallon of whipping cream. Holy cow. If I were to do this again, I'd use a traditional ice cream recipe that uses egg yolks and just some cream, cut with milk.

-I adapted this David Lebovitz recipe to make 1 qt. of sorbet, which was unsweetened because Rainier cherries are already so naturally sweet.

2 pounds fresh Rainier cherries
1/2 cup water
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 tsp pure almond extract or kirsch

Stem and pit the cherries. Place in a non-reactive saucepan with water and lemon juice over medium heat. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes until cherries are softened. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Add extract or kirsch. Place mixture in a blender and blend until smooth. Cool and chill in refrigerator overnight, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Check out my fellow DBers' projects at our blogroll!

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