Bombe Alaska With Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Photo: Diana Yen
Let’s kick off the New Year with this dazzling cake from Diana Yen of creative studio The Jewels of New York! You might remember Yen’s holiday gift guide or her olive oil cake recipe. Or you might remember her as the mother of Cleo the Bunny, the fluffy Angora rabbit with her own Instagram following and features in both Cherry Bombe magazine and on clothing store Opening Ceremony's blog. Cleo is quite the celebrity.
Cleo celebrates her first birthday! Photo: Diana Yen
Back to the cake: The recipe comes from Yen’s first cookbook, A Simple Feast. She starts with vanilla ice cream and pound cake and flavors them with brandy, dried cherries, and chopped dark chocolate. Next, she whips a glossy fresh meringue that domes the cake. Using a culinary torch, she caramelizes bits of the meringue for color. Finish with sparklers and you have a cake to celebrate 2015!
Bombe Alaska with Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Serves 10 to 12
Special Equipment: 3-quart metal bowl, pastry brush, culinary torch
For the ice cream cake:
Vegetable oil for brushing
1 cup brandy
1 cup dried cherries
1?2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 ounces dark chocolate, roughly chopped
2 quarts vanilla ice cream, softened
4 cup water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
One 9-inch store-bought pound cake
For the meringue:
1 cup egg whites (from about 6 large eggs), at room temperature
Pinch of cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
To make the ice cream cake: Fashion a 3-quart metal bowl into a cake mold by brushing it with vegetable oil. Line the inside with plastic wrap and leave a 1-inch overhang around the edges.
In a small saucepan, combine 3?4 cup of the brandy with the dried cherries. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain the brandy into a bowl and reserve the cherries; allow both to cool. Gently stir the dried cherries, cinnamon, and dark chocolate pieces to the softened ice cream until just combined.
In a small bowl, whisk together the water, butter, sugar, and the remaining 1?4 cup brandy. Cut the pound cake into 1-inch-thick slices, and using a pastry brush, brush each slice with the buttered brandy mixture. With a spatula, spread half of the ice cream mixture into the bottom of the prepared bowl, evenly smoothing the surface. Next, place the pound cake slices on top of the ice cream layer, trimming pieces as needed. Top the pound cake with the rest of the ice cream, evenly smoothing the surface with the spatula again. Finish by gently pressing the remaining pound cake slices on top of the ice cream. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour, or until set.
To make the meringue: In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar using a hand mixer on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until foamy. Then, on high speed, slowly beat in the sugar until the egg whites form glossy, stiff peaks.
To assemble: Remove the plastic wrap from the top of the ice cream cake bowl and carefully invert the cake onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Remove the remaining plastic wrap and, using a spatula, cover the surface of the cake with meringue, creating a dome-shaped top. Using the back of a spoon, form swirly peaks in the meringue. Freeze the cake for another hour.
Immediately before serving, remove the cake from the freezer and use a culinary torch to brown the cake to caramelize it. (Alternatively, bake in a preheated 500°F oven until the meringue begins to turn golden, 3 to 4 minutes.)
Excerpted from A Simple Feast by Diana Yen (Roost Books). Copyright © 2014.
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