Ok, we are officially taking this ice cream thing to the next level. Last time pie, this time, CAKE. My stomach and Dave are both happy about this turn of events.
This time I had a hankering for a classic lemon drizzle but wanted to put a frozen spin on it. My first thoughts were to incorporate lemon sorbet, but so far I have not been overly successful with sorbet, plus all of the lemon flavour should really be in the cake. I settled on a poppyseed ice cream filler, sandwiched between two layers of lemon cake, with a satisfyingly tangy/sweet lemon drizzle icing. This cakey sandwich thing is the perfect size for two if you want to spend an evening wedged into the sofa like a sealion, unable to move because so full (except to hit ‘yes I’m still here’ on Netflix) – sounds great to me. Scroll down for the recipe.
The cake.
For the lemon cake, you can use a tried and tested recipe – or follow this one like I did. I won’t write it out here because I didn’t make it up. Although I did have to replace almond meal with hazelnut meal at the last minute because that is all I had in the cupboard, and it still turned out great! You will need to bake this in a shallow rectangular tin, so the baking time will be significantly reduced. I left mine in for about 35 mins instead on 55.
If you choose a different recipe make sure it has a good amount of sugar in it to keep the cake nice and soft when it is frozen.
The poppyseeed ice cream.
You will need:
– 300ml heavy cream
– 1 cup of sugar
– packet of poppyseeds
– 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
– skim milk powder
Heat the cream and sugar over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl. Whisk through the vanilla and skimmed milk powder. Once combined, store in the fridge til cool.
Churn the mix according to your ice cream maker and once it starts to get thick, add the poppyseeds a tablespoon at a time, around 5 tablespoons in total. The churning will mix them through.
The drizzle.
Easy peasy. Three table spoons of lemon juice mixed with a load of sieved icing sugar over a very gentle heat, until you get a thick but runny consistency. The icing should be slightly warm, not hot.
Assembly.
Take your ice cream out of the freezer to soften a bit. Cut the cooled cake in half, and spoon ice cream on top of one half, pressing and smoothing it with a palette knife. Layer the other half of the cake on top, don’t worry if it is dripping down the sides! Wrap the whole thing tightly in clingfilm and pop back in the freezer.
Once the ice cream has thoroughly refrozen (about 24 hours), remove the cake from the freezer and slice off the edges with a sharp knife, taking as little as possible. This should reveal the perfect layers underneath.
To serve, remove from the freezer around 15 mins beforehand and poke a few holes in the top with a skewer. Right before serving pour the drizzle over the cake and let it drip down the sides.
