Swiss swirl ice cream cake-Daring Baker

I have been a horrible daring baker. I missed the last two daring baker challenges and I'm really late on July's challenge. Better late than never right?!

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

I made this swiss swirl ice cream cake using a vanilla swiss roll and a lime sorbet. This cake was the dessert for my friend's baby shower and it was a hit! Yipee!! I personally had a problem with it. My problem was the texture of the cake didn't quite match the texture of the sorbet. I think a regular ice cream might have been better. By the time the cake got to a softer consistency, the sorbet was already melted.

I ended up eating the sorbet part on its own, then waited for the cake to thaw a bit and finished it off then. I have to say I love the sorbet!!! I will definitely make other sorbets using this recipe. I'm thinking of lychee sorbet with a bit of mint?! Here are the recipes.

Swiss roll ice cream cake
inspired by Taste of Home

For the cake:
6 medium sized eggs
1 cup of caster sugar + extra for rolling
10 tbsp of all purpose flour, sifted (see note)
2 tbsp of boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans

1. Preheat the oven at 400 degrees. Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.

3. Add the flour, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.

4. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.

5. Place the pans in the center of the preheated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the center is springy to the touch.

6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.

7. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.

For the filling:
2 cup of whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
5 tbsp of caster sugar

1. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.

2. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.

3. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of 1/2 an inch should be fine).

4. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

Lime Sorbet
From Cook's Illustrated, Entertaining Spring 2009

2 tsp zest from three or four limes
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 1/2 cup cold water
1 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar (see note)

1. Combine zest, lime juice, water, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir on and off for several minutes until sugar is dissolved. (Rub finger along bottom of bowl to see if sugar has dissolved.)

2. Pour mixture into airtight container. Refrigerate until mixture is no more than 40 degrees. (if mixture has been stirred over bowl of ice water, it may already be cold enough, and this step may be omitted.)

3. Pour chilled mixture into container of ice cream machine and churn until frozen. Freeze.

Assembly

1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices (approximately 2 cms each ).

2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.

3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).

4. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm (at least 1 hour).

5. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.

6. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

Note:

• *The original recipe uses 1 tbsp of vodka, but since I was making this for my pregnant friend, I omitted it. Cooks illustrated states that the alcohol improves the texture of the sorbet.