Sometimes, I think my boyfriend and I are the only people in the world who don’t drink coffee. We don’t enjoy the taste of it, but we love the smell of it. And although we are predominantly tea-drinkers, we do enjoy tiramisu and other coffee-flavored desserts.
This came about as a gift for a friend’s birthday; she loves coffee-flavored anything. But as the weather started to change, I knew people would gravitate toward warmer desserts. Regardless, I hoped the party guests would make an exception for this, and they did.
There’s a sinfully chocolate brownie layer topped with a layer of chocolate-coffee ice cream. This ice cream tastes just like tiramisu. It’s made with mascarpone and has a lovely, boozy dose of brandy and Kahlua. You will have some ice cream leftover from this cake – but that’s a good thing, trust me.
The top layer is a simple, sweet cream ice cream that adds a bit of softness to the whole dessert. It’s the ice cream equivalent of whipped cream, and its airiness is just what the cake needs, as it’s rather rich and sweet.
Enjoy and happy baking!
Chocolate-Coffee Ice Cream Cake Adapted from a recipe from Food 52 Makes 1 8-inch cake
For the brownie layer: 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup flour
For the chocolate-coffee ice cream: 2 cups mascarpone
½ cup heavy whipping cream
½ cup 2 percent milk
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
¼ cup Kahlua
3 Tbsp. brandy or dark rum
3 oz. high-quality dark chocolate, melted
For the no-churn ice cream: 1 cup heavy cream
7 oz. condensed milk
2 Tbsp. bourbon
Pinch of salt
Brownie Layer • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch springform pan.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan. Remove melted butter from the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and let cool.
• Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat together the sugar, eggs and vanilla on high until pale. Whisk in the chocolate and butter.
• Gently stir in the flour until just combined and no white streaks are visible.
• Pour into pan and bake for 24 to 28 minutes. Let cool completely.
Chocolate-Coffee Ice Cream • Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until combined and smooth. Chill in the refrigerator until cold, about 1 hour.
• Add the ice cream base in your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
• While this ice cream maker churns, pour in the melted chocolate. The chocolate will harden and break into little pieces in the process.
• When the ice cream maker is finished, break up any remaining large pieces of chocolate. Store in an air-tight container in the freezer until ready to use. The ice cream should be soft enough to spread easily when assembling the cake.
No-churn Ice Cream • Beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the other ingredients.
• Store in an air-tight container in the freezer until ready to use. The ice cream should be soft enough to spread easily when assembling the cake.
Ice Cream Cake • Once the brownie is cool, spread the ice cream evenly over the top, stopping ¼- to ½-inch from the top edge of the springform pan. Store any leftover tiramisu ice cream in the freezer.
• Place the pan in the freezer about 2 hours until ice cream hardens.
• Spread no-churn ice cream on top of the chocolate-coffee ice cream. Place back in freezer for 1 hour to harden.
• Decorate with chocolate shavings, sprinkles, chocolate sauce or cocoa nibs, if desired, and serve.
This article appears in October 2013.
