Daring Bakers' Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

You might have noticed that I love ice cream! Until now, I thought I needed an ice cream maker (or even better, a Kitchenaid Artisan with the ice cream attachment) to make it and I didn't even think of trying to make some ice cream without it. This challenge really opened my eyes!

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.

Swiss Rolls


6 medium sized eggs
1 cup (225 g) caster sugar + extra for rolling
6 tbsp (45 g) all purpose (plain) flour
5 tbsp (40 g) cocoa powder, sifted together with flour
2 tbsp (30 ml) boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans

For the filling:
2 cups (500 ml) whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces or 1 tsp vanilla extract
5 tbsp (70 g) caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°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.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat until very thick, when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.
3. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
4. Divide the mixture among two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
5. Place a pan in the centre of the preheated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it. 
7. Turn the cake onto the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
8. 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.
9. Repeat the same for the next cake as well.
10. Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processor till nicely mixed together. If you're using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
11. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
12. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
13. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of 1/2 an inch should be fine).
14. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

Vanilla Ice cream

2 1/2 cups (625 ml) whipping cream

1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract

1/2 cup (115 g) granulated sugar

1. Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor.
2. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and whisk lightly until everything is mixed together. If you're using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.
3. Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze until 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.

Hot Fudge Sauce

1 cup (230 g) caster sugar

3 tbsp (24 g) cocoa powder

2 tbsp (15 g) cornstarch

1 1/2 cup (355 ml) water

1 tbsp (14 g) butter

1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract

1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.
2. Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
3. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool.

Chocolate Ice Cream

2 cups (500 ml) whipping cream

1 cup (230 g) caster sugar

3 tbsp (24 g) cocoa powder

1. Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor.
2. In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.
3. Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.
4. 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 instructions, after the mixture has cooled completely.
5. Remove from 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 cm 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 1 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 until 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.

I really enjoyed making the ice cream. Swiss roll, not so much. It was really fragile and it was hard to spread the whipped cream in it and roll it so it would look beautiful.

I only made half of the recipe, as usual, because we have a small freezer and it wouldn't hold the bigger bowl. The Swiss roll was literally stuffed with whipped cream, so, as you can see in the picture at the top of the post, there was a lot of cream on the surface. But don't worry, it didn't affect the flavor. The vanilla ice cream was the easiest to make and it froze quickly. The chocolate, however, took ages to freeze and in the end I just left it in the freezer and left home because I had some errands to run. When I came home 4 hours ago it was frozen solid, but I didn't mind because it tasted good anyway. 

I assembled the cake and then only froze it for 10 minutes because I had some very hungry guests over. As a result, the chocolate melted a little and it wasn't as solid as it should be, but it tasted wonderful. Even my mother, who doesn't like ice cream, said it was delicious, so that must mean something. And the pattern on the top (from the Swiss rolls) was amazing! It was really hard to make the whole cake in a day though...I started around 10 in the morning and we started eating it at 8 in the evening... a little melted. Next time I'll definitely spend some more time on making of the ice cream and allow it to set completely.

It was my favorite challenge so far and I'm certain that I'll be making ice cream again, with or without the Swiss roll. It's just so much easier than I imagined! I can't wait to try another flavor, maybe even mix some Sacher torte in there... so many possibilities!

Look: 4/5 (my mistake though - next time I'll make less whipped cream)

Taste: 5/5

Approximate cost: 11 € for the whole cake, 5.5 € for half of it

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