Seven Spice Ice Cream with Yogurt and Brown Sugar Cake

Even though it still feels like a hot summer where we are, and it will continue to feel this way for another couple of months, I thought it would be a good way to start the autumn season with the aroma of spices. My friend Helen sent me a wonderful care package a couple of weeks ago. I know many of you know and visit her blog, and I can assure you she is just as lovely as she appears to be. In that care package, she included some mulling spices, which I have using to make tea almost every night. That’s where he inspiration came from for this dessert, the warmth of spices.

I toasted the spices before infusing the milk, which created another subtle layer. The ice cream is served over a really moist brown sugar and yogurt sponge cake. Along with the brown sugar I also added some muscavado, which left some pieces of undissolved sugar in the cake creating almost a sugar swirl inside the cake. Very, very moist and gooey. Even if you don’t try the ice cream, I do encourage you to make this cake. You will not regret it.

Seven Spice Ice Cream

500 grams whole milk
130 grams heavy cream
40 grams glucose
100 grams granulated sugar
50 grams muscavado sugar
180 grams egg yolks
6 grams juniper berries
1 cinnamon stick
5 grams white peppercorns
8 grams fresh ginger, sliced
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
6 grams coriander seeds
5 grams star anise

Place the juniper berries, white peppercorns, coriander seeds and star anise in a small saute pan. Place them over the heat and toast them for a minute until they really start to release a lot of their aroma. Remove from heat.

Place the whole milk, heavy cream, glucose, muscavado, cinnamon, vanilla bean, fresh ginger and all the toasted spices in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and let the spices steep in the milk for about 45 minutes. Return the pan to the heat and bring it to a boil again.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the granulated sugar. Temper the hot liquid over the yolks and whisk. Return the custard back to the saucepan and cook to 82C or until it coats the back of the spoon. Strain the ice cream base through a fine sieve into a clean bowl and chill over an ice bath. Refrigerate overnight and churn in ice cream machine. Freeze.

Yogurt and Brown Sugar Sponge Cake

170 grams butter
150 grams brown sugar
85 grams granulated sugar
50 grams muscavado sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
180 grams yogurt
180 grams flour
4 grams baking powder

Cream the butter and all three sugars together for about 2 minutes until fluffy. Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract and mix. Scrape the bowl well. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix and scrape the bowl. Add the yogurt. Mix and add the flour and baking powder. Mix until combined. Pour the batter into a quarter sheetpan and spread evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.