Raspberry ice cream and dark chocolate

Serves 6 Desserts and puddings

Advertisement

Method

First make the ice cream. Soak the leaf gelatine in a shallow dish of ice-cold water to soften. Put the raspberries and 100ml of water into a pan and bring to the boil, then tip into a food processor and blend to a purée. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean pan, return to a medium heat and simmer until reduced by half.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the cream to the raspberry purée,
stir and bring back to a simmer. Pour the hot raspberry cream onto the egg and sugar mix, whisking. Immediately squeeze out the excess water from the gelatine and add it to the hot raspberry mixture, whisking until fully dissolved. Leave the mixture to cool, then cover with cling film and chill to set.

Once set, whisk in the cream cheese. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and pipe into 6 individual moulds. Freeze until firm, then remove from the moulds, wrap each one in cling film and return to the freezer until ready to serve. Clean the moulds.

To make the chocolate mousse, soak the gelatine in a shallow dish of ice-cold water to soften. Pour the milk and 300ml of the cream into a pan and bring to a simmer. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cocoa together in a large bowl.

Pour the hot milk onto the egg and sugar mixture, whisking. Immediately squeeze out the excess water from the gelatine and add it to the hot mixture with the chocolate, whisking until melted and smooth. Leave to cool. Whip the remaining 200ml of cream in a separate bowl until it begins to hold its shape, then fold through the cooled chocolate mixture. Spoon into a piping bag and chill until ready to serve.

To make the chocolate sugar, put the sugar and glucose into a pan over a medium heat and heat gently; the mixture will start to colour and form a caramel. Cook until it reaches 158C/216F, then take the pan off the heat and add the chocolate. Beat with a spatula until fully emulsified, then pour onto a silicone baking mat to cool.

When the chocolate caramel mixture is no longer sticky but still hot, place another non-stick silicone mat on top and roll the caramel out to a thin sheet. When cold, break up the mixture and place in a food processor. Blitz until it is as fine as possible.

To make the tuiles, you will need to make a template – a plastic ice-cream tub lid is ideal. Measure the circumference of the mould you have set the ice cream in (by holding a piece of string around the mould and checking it against a ruler), then add 5cm to this length. Check the height of the mould, too. Cut out a strip with these dimensions from the plastic lid and discard it. The lid with the strip cut out is your template.

Preheat your oven to 170C/ 325F/Gas 3. Place the template on a large non-stick silicone mat on a baking tray. Using a fine sieve, sift around 3tsp of the caramel dust into the template
to create an even layer. Carefully lift off the template and repeat to shape another 5 caramel
dust strips. Place in the oven for around 4 minutes to melt the dust and form caramel sheets.

Remove from the oven. When the caramel is no longer soft but still pliable, wrap each strip around a mould (the one used for the ice creams) and press the ends together to seal; the caramel will set quickly.

If the strips set before you manage to shape them, pop them back in the oven briefly to soften again. Once shaped, they are ready to use (or you can store them in an airtight container, if making ahead).

Put the raspberries and sugar into a pan over a medium heat to dissolve the sugar. When the mixture starts to bubble, give it a stir, then simmer for 5 minutes. Tip into a food processor and blitz to a purée, adding a little water to loosen if necessary. Pass through a fine sieve. Leave to cool.

Around 10 minutes before serving, take the ice creams from the freezer, unwrap and place one on each serving plate. Slot a tuile over each. Snip the end off the piping bag and pipe the chocolate mousse evenly over the ice cream. Top with raspberries and a trickle of syrup and serve.