During the hot summer season, what better way to cool down other than with some ice cold refreshing treats? And you’re in luck because the recipe that we are sharing with you today is a recipe by the MasterChef Australia guest chef, Christy Tania. Through this recipe that we’ve shared today, find out how you can make ice cream floats during the hot season in the comfort of your own home with Thermomix®.
MasterChef Australia Season 9 Ice Cream Float Recipe
Vanilla Semifreddo with Cherries Soaked in Cognac
Main Ingredients:
200 grams of caster sugar
80 grams of water
120 grams of egg yolks
60 grams of egg whites
600 grams of thickened cream
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod
100 grams of whole cherries chopped, preserved in cognac (reserve liqueur)
Colouring mixture:
300 grams of cocoa butter
600 grams of white couverture chocolate
3.2 grams of titanium dioxide
Yellow lipo-soluble food coloring
Red lipo-soluble food coloring
Pink vanilla white chocolate ganache:
200 grams of thickened cream
200 grams of couverture white chocolate
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod
50 grams of glucose syrup
4.4 grams of titanium dioxide
Electric pink food coloring
Chocolate cherry bonbon and chocolate cone:
440 grams of 72% dark couverture chocolate
Dark chocolate truffle shell
Reserved cherry liqueur
Glucose syrup, for assembly
Non-freezing dark chocolate sauce:
50 grams of lukewarm water
1 gram of methyl cellulose
200 grams of thickened cream
100 grams of glucose syrup
50 grams of dextrose powder
50 grams of cocoa powder
40 grams of unsalted butter
85 grams of 72% dark couverture chocolate
Hydrocolloid:
280 grams of water
5 grams of xanthan gum
8 grams of methyl cellulose
Sugared helium glitter balloon:
350 grams of isomalt
73 grams of hydrocolloid
Pinch platinum silver powder
Fruit leather string
Cooling spray
Tempered chocolate signature logo
Instructions:
Step 1: Preparations
Place egg yolks in the mixing bowl and mix at speed 3 until it turns pale in colour.
Then, pour in 120 grams of sugar and 50 grams of water to the mixing bowl and set it to mix for 118°C at speed 1. Once done, pour the yolk mixture through the lid hole and continue mixing until the mixture cools.
Step 2: Meringue
Add egg whites and sugar into the mixing bowl and mix at speed 4 for 3 minutes until soft peak forms and set aside.
Add in remaining sugar and water and mix at 118°C until thoroughly combined. Then, mix the egg whites and sugar from before until the mixture thickens and turns glossy. Set aside once done.
Next, add in the cooled meringue to the pâte à bombe mixture. Set the setting to whip at speed 4 until combined. Do not overmix. Set aside once done.
Add in thickened cream and vanilla seeds in the mixing bowl and start mixing at speed 4 until soft peaks are formed.
Gently fold the whipped cream into the egg yolk mixture until just combined. Add the chopped cherries and fold again.
On a flat tray, place a sheet of seven-centimeter half sphere molds. Level the surface with a spatula. Place the molds in a blast chiller until completely frozen.
Once it freezes, remove it from the blast chiller and unmold. Using your palms, warm the flat side of two half spheres and stick them together.
Use your fingertips to smooth the seam gently. Insert a skewer into the ball and stand the ball up in a wooden holder. Return it to the freezer to harden.
Step 3: Colouring mixture
Put the cocoa butter and white chocolate in a Thermomix jug set to 60°C on speed 2. Mix for about 8 minutes, or until the mixture melts completely.
Once it melts, divide the mixture between two stick blender canisters. Add a bit of yellow food color and titanium dioxide to one canister. Blitz it with a stick blender until the color mixes well. Set aside.
Add red food color to the second canister and blitz it. Transfer the red color to a spray canister. Set aside.
Step 4: Pink vanilla white chocolate ganache
Put the cream and glucose in a Thermomix jug. Set it to 40°C and speed 2 for 5 minutes to gently warm the mixture. Once it reaches 40°C, add white chocolate and scraped vanilla seeds.
Mix for 7 minutes, at 40°C on speed 2 until mixture is well combined. Then, add the titanium dioxide. Mix at speed 6 for 10 seconds.
Add in food coloring. Mix it on speed 6 in 10 second intervals, until the mixture becomes smooth and emulsified.
Transfer the ganache to a glass bowl, and let it sit in the blast chiller for three minutes. Do not let the ganache set. Put half the ganache into a piping bag and set aside.
Step 5: Chocolate cherry bonbon and chocolate cone
Put 300 grams of chocolate in the mixing bowl and melt in 30 second intervals, until chocolate reaches 50°C. Remove from heat once done.
Then, add the remaining chocolate and stir until the chocolate melts and cools until 27°C.
Then stir the chocolate at 10 second intervals until it reaches 31°C.
Step 6: Chocolate cone
Place a sheet of bouchon molds onto a baking tray. Using a large metal spoon, fill two of the molds to the top with the tempered chocolate. Let it sit for a minute.
Turn the molds over and let the excess chocolate drip. Level off the surface of the molds with a spatula.
Turn the molds upside down and place them on a tray lined with acetate. Put the tray in the freezer to let the chocolate set. Put the remaining tempered chocolate into a piping bag.
Step 7: Cherry stems and chocolate cherry bonbon
Line a tray with an acetate sheet. Make a 3mm opening in the piping bag and pipe four discs of tempered chocolate, about 12mm in diameter. It will form the seal for the chocolate truffle shell.
On the acetate sheet, pipe four slightly bent lines, with a curl at one tip (this will form the cherry stems). Place a silicone sheet of half sphere molds onto a flat baking tray.
Put the truffle shell onto the silicone mold to prevent it from rolling. Leave a little room at the top of each half shell. Fill it with the reserved cherry liqueur, using a syringe.
Remove the tempered chocolate seal and stems from the freezer. Pipe a bit of melted chocolate around the rim of the truffle shell. Place a tempered chocolate disc on each truffle shell to seal.
Ensure the truffle isn’t leaking by placing it upside down. Place the truffle on a tray. Put it in the freezer for 10 minutes to let it set.
Now, put the tempered chocolate piping bag into a large ziplock bag. Seal it and put it in the Thermomix sous vide setting preheated to 30°C to keep warm.
Unmold the chocolate cones once they set. Line a small round tray with baking paper and transfer them to the freezer to harden.
Step 8: Non-freezing dark chocolate sauce
Put the methyl cellulose and lukewarm water in a small bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside to activate.
Put the cream and glucose syrup in a Thermomix jug. Set it to 50°C and on speed 2 for 6 minutes. Keep the machine on to let the mixture stay warm.
Then, add dextrose, butter, cocoa powder, and dark chocolate. Mix for a further 6 minutes at 50°C on speed 5.
Add the methyl cellulose mixture and continue to mix for another five minutes at 50°C on speed 5. Transfer the mixture to a squeeze bottle. Set it aside in the freezer.
Step 9: Sugared helium glitter balloon
Place one-third of the isomalt granules into the mixing bowl and stir at 200°C until it melts.
Once melted, sprinkle another one-third of the isomalt granules into it and continue melting. Again, sprinkle one-third of the granules and melt. Set the temperature to 100°C and stir until it cools down to that temperature.
Add the platinum silver powder and mix. Once combined, put the setting at 100°C to keep warm.
Step 10: Prepare the semifreddo ball
Remove the semifreddo ball from the freezer. With the help of a stick, dip it in the yellow color mixture. Rotate to coat it evenly.
Let the excess mixture drip off. Make the ball stand upright to prevent it from forming a drip point. Let the chocolate layer set and dip it again. Repeat the entire process.
Place the ball on the stick back into the wooden holder. Put it in the blast chiller to harden.
Step 11: Color the chocolate cones
Remove the chocolate cones and truffle from the freezer. Place them on a lined baking tray.
Spray the red colored mixture on the truffle shells and chocolate cone. Put them back in the freezer for five minutes.
Once the chocolate cone sets, remove it from the freezer. Put the truffle on the tray containing the cherry stems. Put it back in the freezer.
Pour the non-freeze dark chocolate sauce into the chocolate cones about half way. Put the cones in the freezer.
Step 12: Decorate the semifreddo ball
Remove the semifreddo ball from the freezer. Then, remove the stick and place it with a drop of glucose on a round tray lined with a Silpat mat.
Put the tray on a motorized turntable. Take the piping bag containing the pink vanilla white chocolate ganache and create a spiral pattern. To do that, start from the top and pipe the ganache around the sphere.
Put it into the blast chiller to set.
Step 13: Assemble Chocolate Cone, Ball, and Chocolate Cherry Bonbon
Once the ganache sets, remove it from the blast chiller. Take the piping bag containing the tempered chocolate. Pipe chocolate on the rim of the chocolate cone and place the ball on it.
Pipe a bit of the tempered chocolate on the top of the ball, at the center. Fix the chocolate cherry bonbon on it. Pipe a little more tempered chocolate on top of the cherry. Make the cherry stem stand on it with the curl at the top.
Set the chocolate with a cooling spray. Pipe a small dot of tempered chocolate on the back of the tempered chocolate disc. Fix the disc to the side of the cone.
Transfer the ice cream to the freezer.
Step 14: Hydrocolloid
Put water in the canister of a stick blender. Sprinkle the methyl cellulose and xanthan gum over the top. Blitz it until the mixture is just smooth and white.
Transfer the mixture into a vacuum seal bag. Put the bag onto a vacuum seal machine to remove the air and seal the bag. Place the sealed bag at sous vide setting at 70°C. Leave the mixture in the machine until needed.
Step 15: Making the balloon
Add 73 grams of the hydrocolloid mixture to the isomalt. Stir to incorporate it completely. Leave the mixture on the induction to keep warm.
Attach one end of a plastic hose to a helium tank. Dip the other end of the hose into the isomalt mixture. Swirl to coat it with the mixture.
Lift the hose slowly out of the isomalt mixture and release the gas slowly at a steady speed. As the balloon starts forming, turn the hose right side up. Continue to release gas to form an isomalt balloon.
Once the balloon forms, wrap the fruit leather string around the bottom of the balloon. Avoid touching the balloon. With the help of the string, seal the balloon and remove it from the hose.
Step 16: Assembling the floating ice cream
Remove the ice cream from the freezer. Wrap the bottom of the fruit leather string around the curly tip of the cherry stem. Stick the bottom end of the string to the stem with the tempered chocolate.