whoo hooo! my first daring bakers challenge!! swiss roll ice cream cake!

well besides the fact that i am super excited to finally be able to participate in the daring bakers challenge, i am super excited to share this post with you... its quite the feast for your eyes!! this was a really fun first challenge because of all the different baking techniques i needed to use, so it kept me quite busy! i kept the flavors pretty simple, i didn't want to go way out of the box on my first attempt and totally blow... so i played it safe... and i have to say, my little Neapolitan swiss roll ice cream cake was quite yummy! it was a perfect treat for these hot summer nights!


the recipe for this month’s challenge was brought to use by Sunita, of Sunita's World- life and food... the recipe has been adapted from the swiss swirl ice cream cake taken the Taste of Home website, in which slices of Swiss roll are used to line a bowl and then filled with vanilla ice-cream, hot fudge ice cream topping and chocolate ice cream... but we get to fool around with the recipe and make it our very own...

here you go everyone... i hope you enjoy it!

homemade vanilla bean ice cream:

taken from dorie greenspans "baking from my home to yours"

ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 moist and plump vanilla bean
6 large egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

directions:
1. bring the milk and cream to a boil in a large heavy bottomed sauce pan
2. scrape in the vanilla bean seeds and the bean pod into the heated cream, remove from heat, cover and let sit for 30 minutes, then return to heat and bring back to boil
3. meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until very well blended and just sightly thickened
4. still whisking, drizzle in about 1/3 of the heated cream to temper the eggs yolks
5. whisking all along, slowly pour in the remaining hot cream
6. pour the mixture back into the sauce pan, and cook over medium heat, until the custard slightly thickens (between 170 - but no more then 180 degrees)
7. strain the hot custard to remover the vanilla bean and any pieces of cooked egg
8. refrigerate the custard until well chilled before churning into ice cream

after the custard had been churned into submission and a creamy ice cream was in its place, i halved it... one remained vanilla bean, but the other was the base for a strawberry white peach ice cream.


for strawberry-white peach ice cream:
ingredients:
1 pint of fresh strawberries, cored and sliced
2 white peaches, peeled and diced
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. sugar
1 pint of homemade vanilla bean ice cream

directions:
1. combine strawberries, peaches, lemon extract, and sugar until well blended and swimming happy together in their juices
2. refrigerate for at least 2 hours so they have enough time to get to know each other and macerate, this will help the strawberries and peaches to release some of their natural juices
3. soften the vanilla ice cream and fold in the fruit
4. freeze until your ready to gobble it down!

chocolate swiss roll with sweetened vanilla mascarpone:
swiss roll ingredients:
8 ozs. chocolate
2 tbsp. rum, or brandy
3 tbsp. water
7 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt

directions:
1. preheat you oven to 350, and line a 15x13 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper and grease thoroughly
2. over a double boiler, melt the chocolate with the water and liqueur until smooth, set aside
3.beat the egg yolks and the salt until thick and pale, then stir in melted cooled chocolate
4. whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form
5. add a dollop of the egg whites to the yolk mixture to lighten it, then carefully fold in the remaining egg whites
6. carefully pour the batter onto the prepared pan, and spread evenly
7. bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven, cover with parchment and a damp towel, and let cool for 1-2 hours

for the mascarpone filling:
6ozs. mascarpone
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners sugar
and heavy cream, add little by little to reach desired consistency

directions:
in mixer, with a paddle attachment blend all of the ingredients together until smooth and creamy

to assemble the swiss roll:
1. invert the cake onto a piece of parchment that has been dusted with powdered sugar
2. spread the filling evenly across the cake
3. carefully start rolling the cake, pausing at each turn to make sure it is holding tightly
4. refrigerate for a few hours, slice and enjoy!

for the hot fudge center:

i have been using this recipe i found on "smitten kitchen" for homemade hot fudge, and i always have a mason jar full of this goodness in the fridge, ready for when the ice cream monster attacks my will-power!

to assemble the swiss roll ice cream cake:
1. arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other... then begin to arrange the swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl...cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes)
2. soften the ice cream you want to place on top, for me it was the vanilla bean... then take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the plastic wrap and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices... spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl... then recover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour)
3. add the homemade fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm ( at least an hour)
4. soften the second ice cream, which for me was the strabberry-white peach and spread it over the fudge sauce... cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set

5. remove the plastic wrap, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl... turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. *if the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water, the bowl should come away easily.

look at that ooey gooey chocolate fudge seeping out of the center of the cake... to quote dj tanner... "oh my-lanta!" <--- you catch what i'm throwing right?! haha... happy baking everyone!