Summer Eats Post #2: Chocolate Poundcake and Homemade Ice Cream

When I was looking for a delicious but simple chocolate cake to accompany my friend, Lane's  homemade mint ice cream she was making,  I chose this Chocolate Poundcake from Joy the Baker.  It's from her recently published beautiful, and delicious cookbook, Homemade Decadence,  that I got for Christmas.  I have been reading it and marking pages and little by little trying things from the book. It is chock-full of beautiful sweet treats.  

I made a practice cake since this was going to be for her birthday and I didn't want to take a risk.  I wanted to ensure that it was moist enough and rich and chocolate-y enough.  Not surprising, it met the standard! Joy the Baker is a safe bet.

I was able to share my practice cake- 1/2 with some pals of Asher- when they hung out together that afternoon and the other 1/2 I sliced, packaged, and sent with Dave on his hospital visit to a family friend who had just had a baby. (It sliced and packed up nicely - I like this quality in a baked good.) And I got to have a piece and then get it out of my house so I didn't eat my entire "research".

Later that week,  I made it again for Lane's birthday and she made this INCREDIBLE mint chocolate chunk ice cream to go with it.  HERE is the recipe she followed.  She said it was her starting point though she tweaked it a little.  It was perfect! I haven't had a chance to attempt it myself, but homemade garden mint chocolate chunk ice cream is as good as it gets.

The cake was a good accompaniment to the ice cream.  It's a good stand alone or with ice cream.

Chocolate Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze
from Homemade Decadence

Makes one 9 X 5 inch loaf

the Cake:

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup hot coffee

1 ¾ cups cake flour (or all-purpose)

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

¼ cup buttermilk

¾  cup dark chocolate chips

the Glaze:
(These are Joy the Baker's quantities, but I feel it's too much glaze.   I thought it overpowered the flavor of the cake. When I made it the second time, I halved the glaze recipe. It's your call).

1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted

3 Tbsp. cocoa powder

pinch of salt

3 to 4 Tbsp. milk or water

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1.     Put a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350˚. Grease and flour a 9 X 5 inch loaf pan and set aside.

2.     For the cake, in a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and hot coffee.

3.     In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla.

Add the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4.     With the mixer on low speed, beat until just combined.  Add the cocoa-coffee mixture and beat well.  Beat in the buttermilk.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. 

5.     Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, with just a few crumbs, 50 to 60 minutes.  Let cool for 20 minutes before inverting the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

6.     Meanwhile, for the glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, milk, and vanilla.

7.     Once the cake has completely cooled, drizzle the chocolate glaze on top.  Let set for 30 minutes before serving. 

The cake will keep, well wrapped and at room temperature, for up to 4 days.

  

     

    

I didn't get to capture many photos of the finished product since I promptly gave it away! 

 But I snapped a couple.

I've also been making this good simple Ice Cream recipe this summer.  And while my daughter, who is obsessed with chocolate ice cream, has wished that I would only make chocolate this summer, I have managed to make banana and vanilla too, using the same base recipe.  (Which upon first bite she remembers the glory of non-chocolate homemade ice cream as well.) 

I wrote a few years ago about another recipe for homemade Ice Cream and some stories and tips of ice cream freezing.  If you want to read more on this subject click HERE. 

Vanilla Ice Cream (makes 5 quarts)

6 cups milk (1%, 2%, whole milk or a combination)

2 ½ cups half and half
1 ½ cups whipping cream

2  1/4 cups sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Pour milk into a large pot.  Scald milk on stove top until bubbles form around edge. Remove from heat.  Add sugar and salt.  Stir until dissolved.  Stir in half and half, vanilla and whipping cream. Cover and place in the freezer for 30 minutes or so to cool (or in the refrigerator for an hour or more). Once cooled off, freeze as directed on your ice cream freezer.  

*In the recipe the milks are interchangeable.  The recipe calls for 10 cups of milk total, so do the math and as long as it adds up to 10 cups of milk, the salt, vanilla and sugar proportions should be able to stay the same.  You can use more milk (1 %, 2%, whole milk) and less cream or 1/2 and 1/2 if you want it lighter and icier.  Conversely, you can do more whipping cream and 1/2 and 1/2 and less milk if you want it richer and creamier.  

I made it this week to go with Dave's Red Velvet birthday cake and I had 1% milk, 2 cups of whipping cream and 1 cup of 1/2 and 1/2.  So I used 5 cups of 1% milk.  My family loved it and Lainey said it tasted like snow cream.  It was creamy and icy.  

*Also, if you want to make Strawberry Ice Cream, simply add 5 cups pureed or finely diced strawberries to chilled mixture before freezing. 

or Banana: 3 cups of mashed or finely diced bananas to chilled mixture before freezing.  

or Peach: Add 5 cups of finely diced peaches to chilled mixture before freezing. 

or...whatever you'd like! 

for the chocolate version

Chocolate Ice Cream(makes 5 quarts)

2 ½ cups half and half

6 cups whole milk

1 ½ cups whipping cream

12 oz. chocolate chips (semi sweet)

2  2/3 cups sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large pot, mix milks.  Add chocolate chips.  Cook over medium heat until chocolate is melted, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Add sugar and salt.  Stir until dissolved.  Stir in vanilla.  Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or until cooled off.  Stir well. 

Freeze as directed on your ice cream maker.  

(If you want to make it banana- just add 4 cups of sliced or mashed bananas, if you want to make it with strawberries- 4 cups of berries, sliced, ...)

Enjoy these last days of summer!

Homemade Coconut Ice Cream- Let the Churning Ritual Begin

We have begun the Ice Cream Making Season at our house. Homemade ice cream is one of my favorite summer traditions.

I am finally taking the time to finish the lovely book, The Art of Family by Gina Bria.  One of the chapters I read this week talked about rituals and the importance of them within families. She mentions food a great deal in this section, as it is oftentimes woven into special moments and occasions.

Bria writes, "(Home is) never just four walls.  Home can be thought of almost as a body to care for, a body that contains the spirit of the family.  One can read the character of a family by the home they make.  It is not the things they have, but the spirit of life that is manifest in their home, because home is the ultimate joint project families do together." 

She goes on to suggest that, "a home is made out of bodily needs. We have to eat, we have to rest, we have to sleep.  What can we do with that? How can we use those needs to build relationships? That's the ultimate human trick- to raise up our bodily needs into lasting bonds. Home is not just meeting those needs, but building relationships out of them through so many little gestures, placements, coffee cups, shared dainties, boiled potatoes, and checkbooks."

I agree wholeheartedly that "raising up our bodily needs into lasting bonds" is a wonderful aim.  (Not that ice cream is a bodily need - but that tradition, food, our homes, and rituals make lasting bonds).

There are so many recipes for homemade ice cream- some that require cooking, some require chilling before freezing, and then there are the kinds like this one that only requires dumping and stirring before freezing and they are my favorite! Two years ago, I wrote about Ice Cream-making HERE.

  

My friend, Audrey, made this amazing Coconut Ice Cream and brought it to our Women's Study.  She said it was super-simple, and I kind of believed her.  I made it last week and it feels too easy to be true! 3 ingredients and no cooking or chilling before freezing! It is creamy and icy, and it's coconutty enough but not in an overpowering way. My family is crazy about it.  They all adore coconut (or "co-co-nut" as my 6 year old lovingly and phonetically pronounces it).  Here's the recipe.


Coconut Ice Cream

2 cups milk (we used 2%)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can coconut milk (from the Asian section of the grocery- not to be confused with Cream of Coconut- like used in this delicious coconut cake and not the refrigerated watery kind in the milk carton. )

For the topping- 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut.

Stir the 3 milks together.  Use a whisk, if needed, or a fork, to make a smooth, consistent texture.
Pour into ice cream maker canister and follow directions on your ice cream maker for churning/freezing.

While I was trying to take a photo of this beautiful, creamy ice cream, a little
girl  kept trying to stick her green spoon in the container! It's that good (and she
likes to be in the pictures that much too). 

While the ice cream is churning, spread coconut on a baking sheet and bake at 350˚ for a few minutes until toasted and browned on the edges. (You have to watch it because it moves from toasted to over-done very quickly).

Pack and freeze ice cream in container after making to further solidify or eat immediately.  Sprinkle with toasted coconut when serving.

Makes 2 Quarts

If you don't have an ice cream maker, see if you can find someone who will loan you theirs.  Or if possible, purchase your own.  Someone gave us our first ice cream maker (the electric bucket one that uses ice and rock salt) as a wedding gift.  We used it so often and loved having it - so much so that for a lot of years, we gave bucket ice cream makers for wedding gifts to friends getting married.  A couple of years ago, I got this indoor, fancy, no-ice-required maker from my parents.  It makes a smaller batch but is really convenient and so easy to use.

Hopefully, more flavors will be coming throughout the summer- we have several on the "to make" list. However, I can't imagine they will beat this one!