So, here is my Ice Cream Cupcake entry for the May 2008 Cupcake Challenge that CupcakeProject and Scoopalicious put on. YAY! I did it. :)

See the ice cream cupcake roundup entries here :)

Miss Scarlet:Red Velvet Cupcake, Creme Brulee Ice cream, Meringue Frosting and Blood Orange.
This WAS a challenge and during this process I grew to be such a more profound and deep cupcake baker. :) Hahahaha. I am kidding but, I really did learn a lot and have more confidence in myself because I actually pulled this off without stress or strife.

I decided to make a red velvet cupcake since I have been wanting to make them for a long time. This was my first time making red velvet cake and I had a collection of different recipes but, I decided that Vanilla Garlics's Red Velvet recipe would be most trust worthy..... Which it was :). Although I used 2 tablespoons powdered red dye instead because that's all I had. The cake was amazingly velvety.
The First batch overflowed a little (always test a new cake recipe 1st that you have never made before to see how it's going to behave before you bake all the batter :)) It worked out though, I made a little side project with the "mess-ups"and some fresh farmers market strawberries. Red Velvet cupcake with a strawberry cream cheese topping. The strawberries were an amazingly yummy match for the red velvet cake.

For the ice cream I made creme brulee Ice cream. I am not sure if my way was the actual way but it worked for me. The hard part is not wanting to eat the creme brulee before putting it in the ice cream maker.

This was my second time making creme brulee ice cream-it's rich but sooo good with a nice light flavor not too sweet at all. First you must make creme brulee.......

Creme Brulee:
1/2 vanilla
2 cups heavy cream
3 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
Preheat an oven to 300°
Boil a pot of water to have on hand
Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise down the middle and scrape the seeds into a 2-quart saucepan Add the heavy cream and whisk to mix vanilla beans
Let simmer over medium-low heat until bubbles form around the edges and steam rises
Remove the saucepan from the heat and let steep for 10 minutes
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, salt and the 1/4 cup sugar until smooth
Gradually add the cream to the egg mixture and mix well with whisk
Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl
Divide the custard among ramekins and place the ramekins in a baking pan lined with a kitchen towel. Place on oven wrack that has been pulled out a little and then slowly add boiling water to fill the pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil
Bake until the custard is just set around the edges about 30-40 minutes
Place ramekins on a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 5 hours.
(if you are not making ice cream you sprinkle about 1 tablespoon granulated sugar on top of the chilled custard and caramelize the sugar on top with a culinary torch or the oven broiler. Eat with fresh berries or fruit. YUM!)
Moving on......
Once chilled, I used a spoon to scoop all the custard into my ice cream maker and let churn for 15 minutes.
Then I Poured the ice cream into the same rubber cupcake forms I baked my cupcakes in. Then placed in freezer until set 2-3 hours.

For the Frosting...I made meringue frosting from Cupcake Bakeshop
for a small batch:
3 egg whites
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine egg whites and sugar into a mixing bowl over a hot water bath.
Whisk until sugar is dissolved (110 degrees/a few minutes)
Take bowl off bath and beat 10 minutes
Add your flavor (don't add too much liquid)
Beat for another 10 minutes until stiff peaks and glossy
Scoop onto cupcake and sculpt with clean fingers
Lightly brown with culinary torch

It was my first time making meringue frosting and during the process I thought, BOY THIS IS A PAIN!!! But I stuck it out. From start to finish it took me about 35 -45 minutes. Once done, IT WAS WELL WORTH IT THE PAIN. You can shape it in such cool ways and toast it. It sooo much fun and it tastes really good. Really sweet but, good.

Garnishes I used: I happened to have a blood orange also from my farmers market trip earlier in the week. So I cut it into slices for a topper. As well as some experimental caramelized sugar I made with my culinary torch.

So that's it. I am not sure I would take a challenge on every month but, doing these challenges really helps you grow and learn new things. Hehe.

The END!

9 comments:

Stef said...

Totally gorgeous! You went completely above and beyond on this one! I'm drooling over the creme brule ice cream! I wish I liked meringue frosting better because it is so very fun to work with. Thanks again for participating!

Anonymous said...

Wow, these are so impressive and look awesome. Red velvet cake...yum!

Anonymous said...

What a great idea with the creme brulee ice cream. I never thought you could make it that way.
These cupcakes look so good.

Lisa said...

Fabulous theme. I'm feeling the south all over the place! And your creme brulee ice cream sounds so delicious I am almost ready to go out and buy an ice cream freezer.

And then your presentation - I love the layered look and individuality (especially that sugar spike). Positively inspiring!

OhioMom said...

These look absolutely amazing! I am happy to meet someone who, like me, thinks meringue is a PITA ... LOL !

Thanks for stopping by my blog :)

My Sweet & Saucy said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Looks like you have been doing a lot of yummy baking too!

Anonymous said...

Wow...cupcakes AND ice cream from scratch. Very impressed. These look delicious!

Anonymous said...

Wow, combining my two favorite things in one item...cupcakes and icecream. This just looks like one of those items that my nutritionist would be happy to recommend. Thanks Ivy for showing me that my "food dreams" can come true.

Donny Wisniewski

Ivy said...

Thanks Donny, you're the best!