Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte.....

So far all the recipes have been interesting and fun to prepare, and this one was no exception. I used one of the optional ice cream flavors and since there are just two of us, I decided to make individual servings instead of one large torte. I made the Burnt Sugar Ice Cream (page 432) and added 1/2 cup of Skor Toffee Bits 5 minutes before the ice cream was done churning. The toffee bits gave a bit of texture to the ice cream and tasted very good! I did not have small individual molds and when I priced them at the restaurant supply they were $4 each, so off to Home Depot I went and found large PVC slip fittings the size I needed for 95 cents, LOL. I lined the fittings with parchment paper; the only problem with these molds was I had to put them in a sandwich bag and then into HOT water to loosen them enough to push out of the mold. Not really a big deal but something you need to think about if you were to do several for a dessert course; maybe unmold them ahead of time and just leave in the freezer until serving time. I then plated them in a pool of homemade caramel sauce and sprinkled them with coarse sea salt! I found the ganache to be a bit firm and I think my layers were too thick, I might make this again but with thinner layers of ganache and more of the ice cream layers. This was the first time I have made ganache, it was easy and tasted yummy! I will use the leftover ganache to make chocolate truffles, leftovers are good!

10 comments:

Engineer Baker said...

I love the inventiveness - PVC pipe was a perfect sub! And your layers are so even; you must not have an uneven freezer like I do :)

Unknown said...

PVC piping...genius! These look great.

melly~ said...

GENIUS!
My husband will totally appreciate this when I tell him I need some PVC!
Beautiful torte. Well done.

Maria said...

Amazing work! I love how your tortes turned out. They are so gorgeous!

Teanna DiMicco said...

PVC Molds! Why didn't I think of that! So genius!

Bungalow Barbara said...

Yum, burnt sugar ice cream, toffee bits, caramel sauce with a touch of sea salt...it all sounds so good! And your minis are very cute, too.

PheMom said...

LOL!! I went to Lowe's for the same purpose but decided to just use paper molds and only make two. I still want to go get some "rings" for other uses, but the sales folks weren't too helpful that morning and couldn't help me find what I needed. I'll check HD next. Great job! Yours look beautiful and perfect!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Wow, my mind boggles with wondering just HOW you got those precise layers inside of a PVC pipe? I had a hard time in a full size pan. Great looking mini's and nice flavor combo.
Nancy

Jules Someone said...

Totally clever! And those tortes are adorable!

Olga said...

wow, that's quite elaborate! Looks very elegant.