Tuesdays with Dorie: S’mores Ice Cream Cake from Baking with Dorie

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe  is S’mores Ice Cream Cake from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking with Dorie – an epic dessert that I wasn’t sure I would be able to make in the “canicule” (heatwave) we’re having in Southwest France right now. I had a little bit of hope as temperatures dropped last week for a couple of days but of course on the day I planned to make this, it was forecast to be 38˚C (with a high temp around 7pm, so not even cooling down to eat/ to serve this.

Dorie says:

THIS CAKE IS BIG AND BEAUTIFUL. I went with the name “s’mores” for concision. If I’d wanted to be truly descriptive, I’d have had to add something about the salted peanuts in the graham-cracker crust, the three different flavors of ice cream, the hot fudge sauce that becomes velvety in the freezer, the layer of peanut-butter marshmallow crème and, oh yes, the toasted marshmallows. The cake is very easy to make, but it takes time. You have to let each layer firm in the freezer before you can move on to the next.

Choose any flavors for the ice cream that you’d like, or use just a single flavor. I’m partial to vanilla, chocolate and coffee for this, but you needn’t be as conservative as that. The only thing that’s important about the ice cream is that it be a premium brand—a thick, slow-melting kind is best for beating and refreezing.

So yeah – layers and time and a freezer. Ok, I have a freezer and I had time. Just wasn’t sure I needed the “serves 16” size cake (or, really, all the giant layers – the original recipe calls for three PINTS of ice cream – one pint per ice cream layer!). I also don’t happen to have a springform pan here in France and don’t have *much* use for one so didn’t want to buy one specially for one recipe. I DO have a silicone tart pan that’s around 8-inches in diameter and about 3-inches high so figured I would halve the recipe and make it in that – for a shorter stack of layers that would work well to serve 5 people for dinner (and then some, obviously!).

None of the components are difficult to make – it just takes TIME – each layer needs between 45 and 60 minutes in the freezer before you can proceed – I gave mine 45 minutes because they were thinner layers and it seemed to be ok – but the entire way through the process I was not certain it would work – figured it either wouldn’t set/ wouldn’t cut or be too hard. In fact, I needn’t have worried but I reckon if I had made the full quantity, in my small freezer here I would have wanted to space the process over two days, not one.

My layers:

1. Biscuit crumbs (spéculoos) + butter, pressed into the pan, then chilled then baked 8 minutes.
2. Chocolate ice cream from Phillipe Faur
3. “Fudge sauce” (basically melted chocolate and cream with corn syrup if you have it (I didn’t)
4. Peanut butter + marshmallow fluff (I hope Dorie appreciated I had to go into the “American” aisle of the supermarket for this one. Also a small jar cost something like $6!)
5. Vanilla ice cream from Phillipe Faur
6. More of the fudge sauce

And that was (more than) enough! Dorie tops hers with torched marshmallows but apart from not wanting to buy marshmallows AND fluff, I felt this was probably sweet enough. And it was!

Said 8-inch pan made enough for 5 of us with leftovers for at least 4, if not 5 more serves. It’s VERY rich.

BUT: it set beautifully AND cut beautifully too! Given the 37˚C temperatures (at 9pm when I served this), I think I did ok! Not with the photos, though – excuse them! Too busy actually entertaining and enjoying the moment to style this!

Would I make this again? Truthfully, no, it’s not my thing (to make, that is, I would never say no if someone else made it). If I’m going to spend a whole day on something, I’d rather it be croissants or something like that. But, baking your way through a book, you learn a lot and I’m grateful to have tried the technique (and hey, I could definitely make it again is fomeone requested it so…).

Get the recipe for S’mores Ice Cream Cake on p 143  of Baking with Dorie or here.

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Buy Baking with Dorie on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store geographically closest to you) or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Then join us over on Tuesdays with Dorie and bake your way through the book!

 

 

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Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “Baking with Dorie” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions 100% my own.

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