February 9, 2019–I’ve made ice cream before and even Red Velvet Cookies but I’ve never made a Red Velvet cake…and I still haven’t. A long time friend, KLG, was celebrating his birthday so we decided to throw him a semi-surprise birthday party at KSRs house. One of the things he wanted was a Red Velvet Cake like his Mom used to make. I have learned to never try to recreate something like someone’s Mom made because although it may taste as good food comes with a lot of memories that you can never recreate. KSR said she was going to make a yellow cake with caramel cake between the layers and chocolate on top. Ice cream and cake–a perfect match. I found a red velvet ice cream recipe on the googleplex. I combined this basic recipe with the ice cream instructions from my American’s Test Kitchen cookbook and off I went. The ingredients were pretty straight forward:
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cups buttermilk
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 3 teaspoon red food coloring
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1 cup small chunks of brownie
Prepare your ice cream maker per the manufactures instructions. Place an 8- or 9-inch square metal baking pan in the freezer.
Combine heavy cream, buttermilk, 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar, the corn syrup, cocoa powder, red food coloring, vanilla, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture registers 175 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
While the cream mixture heats, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl until smooth, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk 1/2 cup of the heated cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and registers 180 degrees. Strain the custard into a large bowl and let cool until no longer steaming.
Transfer 1 cup of the custard to a small bowl. Cover both bowls with plastic wrap. Place the large bowl in the refrigerator and the small bowl in the freeze and cool completely, at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. (The small bowl of custard will freeze solid).
Remove the custards from the refrigerator and freezer. Scrape the frozen custard from the small bowl into the large bowl of custard. Stir occasionally until the frozen custard has fully dissolved. Strain the custard through a fine-mesh strainer and transfer to an ice cream maker.
Churn until the mixture resembles thick soft-serve ice cream and registers about 21 degrees. At the very last second, add in the brownie chunks and let the machine stir until the brownies are incorporated throughout.
Transfer the ice cream to the frozen baking pan and press plastic wrap on the surface. Return to the freezer until firm around the edges, about hour.
Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container, pressing firmly to remove any pockets, and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours before serving.
Enjoy alone, with a slice of cake, or with some Dark Chocolate Fudge Sauce.
