ICE CREAM PETIT-FOURS WITH BROWN BUTTER POUND CAKE

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alasa or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I decided to make the ice-cream petit four as neither my husband or I are fans of meringue.  I initially wanted to make salted butter caramel ice-cream .... I thought it would go well with the brown butter pound cake and chocolate glaze.  But, I ran out of time and ended up an easy coffee ice-cream recipe I've used before.  I decided to make the petit fours in my newly purchased silicone pan.  I had visions of a beautiful, smoothly glazed half sphere presented on a pretty plate.  Once again, my vision was better than the end product I ended up with ... sigh!  The glaze obviously is supposed to go on the cake not the ice-cream, but somehow that slipped my mind as I sat there trying to pour the glaze on top of the ice-cream.  The glaze kept sliding off the ice-cream and needless to say I didn't get the flawless look I was going for.  I've decided just to post a picture of the interior (since the exterior looked horrible) and call it a night!

{Brown Butter Pound Cake}


{Ingredients}


19 tablespoons (275g) unsalted butter
2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) (See “Note” section for cake flour substitution)
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


{Method}


1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.


{Coffee Ice-Cream}


{Ingredients}


1 cup milk
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
1 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt



{Method}

1. Whisk together milk, instant coffee granules, sugar, and salt in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream, then cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours.
2. Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions until it reaches "soft-serve" consistency.

{Chocolate Glaze}


(Ingredients}


9 ounces (250g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (250 ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
1 1/2 tablespoons (32g) light corn syrup, Golden syrup, or agave nectar
2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract


{Method}


Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.


{Assembly Instructions}


1. Line a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) pan with plastic wrap, so that no sides of the pan are exposed and so there is some extra plastic wrap hanging off the sides. Spread 1 ¾ to 2 cups (450ml to 500ml) ice cream into the pan. Cover with more plastic wrap and freeze several hours.
2. Once the brown butter pound cake has completely cooled, level the top with a cake leveler or a serrated knife. Then split the cake in half horizontally to form two thin layers.
3. Unwrap the frozen ice cream. Flip out onto one of the layers of cake and top with the second layer of cake. Wrap well in plastic wrap and return to the freezer overnight.
4. Make the chocolate glaze (see above.)
5. While the glaze cools, trim ¾” (2cm) off each side of the ice cream cake to leave a perfectly square 7.5” (19cm) ice cream cake. Cut the cake into twenty five petit fours, each 1.5”x1.5” (4cmx4cm).
6. Glaze the petit fours one at a time: place a petit four on a fork and spoon chocolate glaze over it.
7. Place the petit fours on a parchment-lined baking sheet and return to the freezer for one hour.


{Notes}

This was the perfect dessert for a summer get-together.  The combination of brown butter pound cake, coffee ice-cream, and chocolate glaze was very good, but I still want to try it with a salted butter caramel ice-cream next time.  I have some frozen cake in the freezer so it will be fun to experiment with different flavors.