Ice-Cream Month: Strawberry and Coconut Ice Sundae (No Churn)

Fancy something exotic and fruity? Try out this strawberry and coconut ice sundae!

In this recipe of the series, I took my inspiration from the traditional sweet shop favourite: coconut ice. I have done a few renditions of coconut ice, like the traditional version, and a version inspired by neapolitan ice-cream, and each version is as tasty as the next! But in my ice-cream adaptation, I had to decide what the pink flavour would be, as the white flavour would obviously be coconut. I decided to settle for the good old favourite: strawberry!

Strawberry ice-cream is super easy, and made in exactly the same way as my raspberry ice-cream using a combination of jam and condensed milk. The result has a deep fruity flavour.

To make the coconut flavour, I thought it would be as simple as making a condensed milk substitute with coconut milk instead of evaporated milk. But, that wasn't the case. I had a few issues with developing this particular flavour: sometimes it wouldn't whip up properly, sometimes it froze too hard. After about four attempts, this version worked the best: it's best to whip the cream before adding the coconut condensed milk, rather than whipping them together.

It has a lovely mild coconut flavour, and it's a sweet treat that's best enjoyed in small doses.

To further emphasise the coconut ice image, I made some little coconut wafers. This uses a new and improved wafer recipe, which I will be trying out in future to make full ice-cream cones.... (watch this space)

INGREDIMENTS

Makes 4 sundaes, each with a scoop of each ice-cream

Coconut ice cream

• 8 UK fluid ounces (230 milliltires) whipping cream
• One 14-ounce (400 millilitre) can of full-fat coconut milk, cold
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar
• A few drops of vanilla essence

Strawberry ice-cream

• 8 UK fluid ounces (230 millilitres) whipping cream
• 3 UK fluid ounces (85 millilitres) condensed milk
• 3 UK fluid ounces (85 millilitres) good quality strawberry jam

To serve

• 1 medium egg white
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 grammes) butter, melted
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) dessicated coconut
• A few drops of red food colouring
• Strawberry syrup

METHOD

First, make the coconut ice-cream

• Open the can of cold coconut milk, and scoop out the solid cream that has set on the top. Measure out 4 ounces in weight (125 grammes) of the cream. You can use the rest of the coconut cream, and coconut water left in the can, for another project.
• Take the coconut cream and place in a saucepan. Add in the sugar and cook over medium heat until the cream has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil for 1 minutes. Set aside to cool completely, then chill for an hour.
• When the coconut syrup has chilled, whip together the whipping cream, and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl until it reaches firm peaks.
• Gently fold in the syrup mixture thoroughly, making sure to keep all the air. Transfer to a one-pint (580 millilitre) pudding basin, cover with the lid or some cling film. Now, prepare the strawberry ice-cream.

Then, make the strawberry ice-cream

• In a jug, mix together the condensed milk and strawberry jam until completely combined.
• In a mixing bowl, whip the cream to medium peaks. Add in the condensed milk and jam mixture, and continue to beat until it holds medium firm peaks. If you like, mix in some red food colouring to intensify the pink colour.
• Transfer to a one-pint (580 millilitre) pudding basin, cover with the lid or some cling film. Freeze, along with the coconut ice-cream, for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Early on the day of serving, prepare the wafers

• Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas Mk.2). Line a flat baking sheet with non-stick baking paper.
• Take half of the coconut and tint it red with some food colouring. Use your fingertips to rub it in well.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the egg white until it becomes frothy. Add in the caster sugar and beat again until it looks like shaving foam. Beat in the melted butter, followed by the flour, until you have a smooth batter.
• Take a teaspoonful of the mixture and smooth out into a very thin circle, as thin as you dare. Sprinkle one half red, and one half white.
• Bake on the centre shelf for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the edges are nicely browned. Allow to cool completely.

Now, assemble the masterpiece

• Place a scoop of each flavour in a bowl, top off with strawberry ice-cream syrup, and serve with a coconut wafer.

Variations on a Theme: Neapolitan Coconut Ice

Yes, yes: I know I'm going on a little coconut ice trip recently, but it's totally delicious! This recipe is a little different from the traditional kind, as it uses a little cocoa powder, too. Introducing Neapolitan coconut ice!

Once I saw the usually white and pink coconut ice, it instantly made me think of the white, pink and brown striped appearance of Neapolitan ice-cream. Here in Ireland, Neapolitan ice-cream is actually vanilla, strawberry and lemon, making a white-pink-yellow appearance, but lemon doesn't go so well with coconut in my opinion; lime, yes, but lemon not so much.

This is made in three layers, like the usual two layers but with an extra chocolatey stripe. Because cocoa powder overpowers any already present colour, it can go into the pink mixture so you don't have to make another batch of ice. Just one third kept white, remaining two thirds coloured pink, pink third poured out, and remaining third coloured and flavoured with cocoa powder and set into the tin. Simples!

This is a little more fiddly than the usual coconut ice, but it's totally worth it!

HOW-TO

• Make a quantity of coconut ice mixture according to this recipe, and stop before you do any pouring into tins or colouring of any kind.
• Now, it's time for a little bit of maths. Overall, the weight of the entire mixture will be 24 ounces (680 grammes), so each coloured layer will be roughly 8 ounces (225 grammes). However, the chocolate layer will need to be a little thicker for two reasons: a) because most tins widen out as they get taller, so the chocolate layer will be thinner as a result, and b) there will be two layers of straight out coconut versus one layer of chocolate flavoured, so if it's a little thicker you'll get a little more chocolatiness.
• So, set your 8 inch square tin (20 centimetre) on a weighing scales and set to zero. Take the raw, white coconut mixture and pour in 7 ounces (200 grammes) of the mixture into the tin and flatten out with a spoon.
• Return the rest of the mixture to a low heat (just to keep it soft) and add in a few drops of food colouring to make it a delicate pink colour. Pour in another 7 or 8 ounces (200 or 225 grammes) of the pink mixture on top of the white. Flatten out with a spoon.
• Once again, return the mixture to a low heat and add 2 tablespoons (60 millilitres) of sieved cocoa powder; mix well but gently to thoroughly combine, then pour this remaining mixture out onto the pink layer, flattening out with the spoon.
• Leave to set as directed in the recipe.

And there you have it! Stripy coconut ice with an added cocoa flavoured layer. The texture of the chocolate layer is a little crumblier than the other two layers, due to the added cocoa powder and also the prolonged mixing, but it still holds up and has a delicate melt-in-the-mouth texture. I could eat a whole batch by myself, but I don't recommend that course of action!

Traditional Coconut Ice

I promised in my post about the homemade chocolate box that I'd give you all the recipe for coconut ice, and here she is!

There are so many variations on the recipe for coconut ice, I've lost count of how many I've read. Some need cooking, some don't, some need a plethora of ingredients, others need only a handful. But through experimentation and learning from recipes for other kinds of sweeties, I've refined a foolproof way to make coconut ice: it's based on the recipe I would've used as a child, which I learnt from my favourite book in the world, Sweet Success by Sackett and Marshall.

I think I may have referenced this book already in a previous entry, but it is probably the best book I have ever read. Filled with some delicious and truly horrifying recipes (it is quite dated), this 1970s tomb of culinary genius has seen me through many a victory and a disaster in the kitchen, and has never been far from my bedside for night time reading. Although this book got me into the world of sugar craft, I now see it as merely a starting point: the measurements of ingredients are all correct, but the methods can be somewhat dubious; some recipes don't even have oven temperatures or baking times in.

As such, I use the coconut ice recipe from this book, but I have altered it slightly, including what I've learnt to be the most vital step in any boiled sugar treat that involves being beaten: leaving the syrup to cool slightly before beating. It makes the sweets gloriously smooth and melt-in-the-mouth. I don't know why leaving the syrup to cool before beating makes it softer, but it works every time.

I will point out, however, this is for traditional coconut ice. I've noticed a lot of Australian cooks on YouTube make coconut ice by mixing icing sugar, condensed milk and desiccated coconut, which is a nice simple no-cook version but I don't really like it. If you aren't familiar with cooking sugar and the different sugar boiling stages, check out the Exploratorium's explanation of sugar cooking.

INGREDIMENTS

This is a large quantity that will make about 1¼ pounds (570 grammes) of coconut ice, but I've found it can be easily halved or even quartered. Just be really careful when making small batches because it can burn or crystallise easily.

• 1 pound (450 grammes) caster sugar
• 5 fluid ounces (140 millilitres) milk
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) desiccated coconut
• A few drops of red or pink food colouring

HOW-TO

• Prepare an 8 inch (20 centimeter) square tin by either greasing it lightly or lining it with non-stick baking paper. You could also use a silicone baking tin, which needs no greasing or lining.
• Pour the milk into a medium sized heavy based saucepan or casserole dish. You want the milk to fill the pan by about half an inch (a centimeter).
• Heat the pan gently on a low heat until starting to steam, and then pour the sugar into a pile in the middle of the milk. Using gentle circular motions, stir the sugar into the milk without touching the sides of the pan. This prevents the syrup from crystallising later.
• Keeping the syrup on a gentle heat, mix until the sugar has dissolved into the milk and you are left with a slightly cloudy liquid. Using a wet pastry brush to wash away any sugar crystals that have formed on the sides of the pan.
• Once all trace of any grittiness and crystaliness is gone, turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow the mixture to boil and once boiling clip a sugar thermometer onto the pan and don't stir. As tempting as it may be, just don't do it.
• While the mixture is cooking away, fill your sink or wash basin with about 3 inches (7.5 centimeters) of cold water. This will become clear very soon.
• Boil the mixture to soft-ball stage, which is 115°C (240°F) (or you could boil to 118°C (245°F) for slightly firmer ice). Once the temperature is reached, take away the thermometer, bring the pan and dip the bottom in the cold water in your sink. This instantly stops the sugar from cooking any more and reaching the wrong sugar cooking stage.
• Leave the pan of syrup to sit for about 10 minutes, or until slightly cooled.
• Pour in the desiccated coconut and mix until the mixture is starting to become thick and slightly creamy. Pour half of it into a tin, and then mix a little food colouring into the remaining mixture in the pan to get a delicate pink colour. If it gets a little stiff, just return it to a gentle heat and mix until the right texture. Pour this over the white layer.
• Leave to set for about five minutes, and then score into pieces while still in the tin. This will make your life so much easier later.
• Allow to set completely, preferably overnight, and then turn out and cut where scored. Please, don't set it in the fridge: even thinking about the fridge while touching the coconut ice can cause it to crystallise and have a crunchy texture.

This is delicious on its own, but even nicer when smothered in chocolate... as most things in life are. As you may have noticed the pink is a little red, but you could make it any colour you wanted.

Homemade Box of Chocolates = WIN

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, it's my parents' wedding anniversary tomorrow and I decided to embark on a quest to make a selection box of chocolates from scratch. And here she is!!

The selection includes milk chocolate coated:

• Coconut ice (topped with little shreds of coconut)
• Chewy caramel (topped with a sprinkle of coarse salt)
• Creamy fudge (decorated with ridges made with a fork)
• Milk chocolate truffle (ball shaped with a dusting of dark cocoa)
• Praline truffle (ball shaped with pale cocoa dusting)
• Gooey orange fondant (drizzled with orange flavoured white chocolate drizzle)

For my first attempt at something like this, this turned out excellently! I'm so pleased with it, and am very proud of my efforts. Some didn't work, but those didn't go to waste as they were guzzled down by my siblings without any hesitation. It's all learning for next time... and there will be a next time.

I will upload all the recipes and make some photo tutorials for the dipping, and especially the moulded chocolates, which are the ones with orange drizzle. I used a silicone mould for those, in which I cast the melted chocolate. Weirdly enough, the casting technique is one I learnt from my time studying ceramic product design in college; the same principle, it turns out, can be used in chocolaterie.

The only change I would make is that I would spend a little bit more money on good quality chocolate for coating. The stuff I bought was cheap and wasn't tempered properly to start with, so tempering myself was almost impossible. I had to add some solid vegetable fat to make it flow and set nicer; don't worry, it can't be tasted.

I also made the box using a very simple technique.

• Take a piece of A4 card, coloured if you like.
• Using another piece of card cut to a 1½ inch (4 centimeter) width, draw a 1½ inch (3.8 centimeter) margin around all four edges of the card.
• Following the template below as a guide, cut along the red lines and fold along the dotted lines.
• Now, you have an A4 page with four little tabs. Fold up all four sides, folding the little tabs behind the short sides towards the middle. Glue together and allow to dry.

• To make the lid, follow the above instructions but make the margin around the page 1⅓ inches (3.5 centimeters) instead.

And now you have a lovely box to keep you chocolate in! Sit the chocolates in little cupcake cases and arrange inside.