Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Daring Bakers: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake AKA My Baking Disaster

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.

Unfortunately, my recipe was a complete bomb and not so much of a bombe (sorry, I couldn't resist).
Here's what it was supposed to look like:

Pictures from Sunita

The recipe called for homemade everything. I made the ice cream, without an ice cream maker. (I haven't tasted it yet, but that part appeared to work.)

Then I made the swiss roll cake and that's where everything went terribly wrong. The eggs didn't beat up like they were supposed to...I stood there for over 20 minutes and they just weren't getting the right consistency; I think my hand mixer maybe didn't have enough power or something (the recipe said prep should be about 10 minutes and I was already way past that). I decided to move forward anyway.

The recipe said that it should bake for 10-12 minutes. I didn't know if my oven temp was off, but it was not setting up at all...I had it in there for over 30 minutes. (See update below!)

I thought maybe it was supposed to be like that, so I took it out and tried to flip it onto a kitchen towel...but sure enough it wasn't done and it didn't work at all.

I've narrowed the cause of the failure to one or more of the following factors:

* I halved the recipe (but the ratios were the same so that should have been fine)
* The eggs didn't reach the right consistency before folding in the flour and chocolate (this is most likely the cause)
* My oven temp is off
* I maybe could have been a bit more focused on the recipe instead of trying to multi-task, but things have been so busy lately I had to squeeze it in on Sunday night to meet the deadline
***UPDATE: As I was finalizing this blog post I realized my error. I didn't see that the recipe provided two different baking temps (one C and one F). I obviously used the wrong one! Clearly I should not have been multi-tasking and should have read the recipe more closely.***
Oh well, you can't win them all :( And now I know. It's a rather embarrassing error, but these things happen in real life.

I'll have to revisit this recipe sometime in the future. Maybe after I get a stand mixer, I have a little more time and I set the oven temp correctly.

For those of you that want to take a stab at it, the recipe is below.
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Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake
(inspired by the recipe of the same name from Taste of Home)
For the recipe with step-by-step photos visit Sonita's site: http://sunitabhuyan.com/

The Swiss Rolls
Preparation time- 10 minutes
Baking time- 10-12 minutes
Rolling and cooling time- at least 30 minutes
Filling-5-8 minutes
Filling and rolling- 5-10 minutes
Ingredients
6 medium sized eggs
1 C / 225 gms caster sugar /8 oz+ extra for rolling
6 tblsp / 45gms/ a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 tblsp/40gm /a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
2 tblsp /30ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans
For the filling
2C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
5 tblsp / 70gms/2.5oz of caster sugar
Method
Pre heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.
Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.
Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.
Repeat the same for the next cake as well.
Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine).
Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.
The Vanilla Ice Cream
Preparation time-5 minutes+freezing
I have made the ice cream without an ice cream maker.
Ingredients
2 and ½ C / 625 ml / 20 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp/ 5 ml/ .15 fl oz vanilla extract
½ C / 115gms/ 4 oz of granulated sugar
Method
Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla –sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.
Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.
The Hot Fudge Sauce
Preparation time-2 minutes
Cooking time-2 minutes
Ingredients
1 C / 230gms/ 8 oz of caster sugar
3 tblsp / 24gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tblsp /15gms/ 1 oz of cornflour/cornstarch
1 and ½ C /355ml /12 fl oz of water
1 tblsp /14gms/ 1 oz butter
1 tsp/5 ml / .15 fl oz vanilla extract
Method
In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.
Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .
The Chocolate Ice Cream
Preparation time- 5 minutes + freezing
Ingredients
2C/ 500 ml whipping cream
1 C/230gms/8 oz caster sugar
3 tblsp/ 24 gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
Method
Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor .
In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.
Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.
Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges. If you are using an ice cream maker, churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instruction, after the mixture has cooled completely.
5. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.
Assembly
1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices ( approximately 2 cms each ).
2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.
3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).
4. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour)
5. Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm . ( at least an hour)
6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .
7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.
8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.
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Good luck and be sure you have the right oven temperature set ;)

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