Classic Dark Chocolate Ice-Cream

My sister, SQ, has requested for an ice-cream cake for her birthday. So that set me my next challenge. Had been thinking of whether to buy a tub of ice-cream & assemble into a cake or should I try making some home-made ice-cream. Of course, I chose to try making some ice-cream. I don't have an ice-cream maker & don't really intend to get another machine for my small kitchen. So I went in search for a recipe for home-made ice-cream...

First I tried a recipe from AllRecipes.com that required double cream as an ingredient. So I went to Cold Storage & spent about $10 for a 300ml container of double-cream. It was the first time I tried using double-cream. When I started to whip the cream with my mixer, it started to curdle. I thought that I can save it by increasing the speed of the mixer. But regardless of how much whipping is done, the cream remained yellowish & thick. I quickly did a quick read-up on the net & found out that I've done the unthinkable! Overwhipping double cream = butter! So 1st attempt into ice-cream making failed...

I took out "The Ice-Cream Book" (by Joanna Farrow & Sara Lewis) that I bought quite some time back & looked for another recipe to try. And found the recipe for "Classic Dark Chocolate" that's "rich, dark & wonderfully luxurious". I'm glad that this recipe worked for me as you can see from the picture of the ice-cream... And I'll be trying more ice-cream recipes from this book :)


Rich, dark & wonderfully luxurious Classic Dark Chocolate Ice-cream

Recipe for Classic Dark Chocolate Ice-cream
(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
75g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
300ml semi-skimmed milk (I used full-cream milk)
200g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
300ml whipping cream

Method:
1) Whisk egg yolk, sugar & cornflour in a bowl until thick & foamy.
2) Pour milk into a saucepan & bring just to a boil.
3) Gradually whisk it into the yolk mixture. (Use a hand whisk. The 1st time I use the machine, the mixture became so foamy. I had to start all over.)
4) Return the mixture to the saucepan & cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens & is smooth. (The custard will coat the back of a wooden spoon.) Remove from heat.
5) Stir the chocolate into the hot custard until it has melted. Leave to cool, then chill.
6) Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon.
7) Fold the whipped cream into the chilled custard.
8) Pour into a freezerproof container & freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating a few times with a fork. (This will break down the ice crystals & ensure that the ice-cream remain smooth & creamy. So the more you beat the ice-cream while it is freezing, the finer & silkier the finished texture will be.) Since I'm at home, I actually check on the ice-cream every other hr :P