London Fog Ice Cream

The Earl Grey tea with the hint of vanilla combined with the creaminess of the ice cream makes this London Fog ice cream hard to resist! 

Anyone else excited for the Royal Wedding this weekend? Personally, I cannot wait to see Meghan's dress! I love her style, and she is becoming such a style icon. I'll bet her dress is fabulous and will have an impact on wedding fashion for years to come. In honour of the Royal Wedding,  I made this delicious London Fog ice cream. 

I am a tea person. My shelves are filled with various varieties. From oolongs to matcha, I love them all but I always start my day with a cup of earl grey. I love a London Fog latte. The hint of vanilla with the bergamot in the tea and the creaminess of the milk - delish! One of my favourite little ice cream shops in town makes the most delicious London Fog ice cream and with their made in house cinnamon waffle cones it is heavenly! As soon as I opened my ice cream maker for Christmas, I knew that I wanted to recreate their London Fog ice cream at home. 

Ice cream always takes way longer to make then I expect. I alway forget about the multiple cooling times required to chill the custard and the ice cream. The ice cream bowl for your ice cream maker also has to chill for 12-15 hours! So while the active time for making ice cream isn't much, there is a lot of waiting around and anticipation for the finished product. Let me assure you that its worth it! Since the ice cream bowl for the mixer has to chill overnight, I decided to cold steep my earl grey in the milk overnight to extract the most flavour from the tea. By cold steeping, the tea maintains its flavour and doesn't get bitter over time. The finished ice cream has just enough Earl Grey flavour that you can identify the type of ice cream you are eating but it's not overpowering and the light vanilla flavour comes through as well. 

London Fog Ice Cream

Note: Place your ice cream maker bowl in the freezer the night before you plan to make the ice cream. The ice cream custard requires 4 hours of cooling before churring and an additional four hours in the freezer after its been churrned.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ c milk

• 6 tbsp loose leaf earl grey tea

• 4 large egg yolks

• ⅔ c sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 ½ c heavy cream

Directions:

The night before place your ice cream maker bowl in the freezer to chill. Combine cold milk and earl grey tea leaves. Allow to steep in the fridge overnight. Strain tea leaves before use.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale. The mixture will be a bright yellow at first but should pale with mixing.

In a medium saucepan, over low to medium heat, heat the tea infused milk and vanilla until lightly simmering, remove from heat.  To temper the eggs, ladle about half of the milk mixture into the egg mixture. Whisking constantly to avoid scrambling the eggs. Slowly pour the tempered egg mixture into the saucepan with the remaining milk mixture. Return the mixture to the heat, and stir slowly but consistently until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Stir in cream.  Chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

Once chilled completely, transfer to ice cream maker and churn ice cream according to the directions of your ice cream maker. It should take around 20 minutes to churn your ice cream and will be finished when the ice cream has a soft serve consistency. Once churned, transfer ice cream to a freezer container. Freeze until solid (approx. 4 hours).

Lemon Rosemary Meringue Cake

A delicious, savoury twist on a classic dessert. This Lemon Rosemary Meringue Cake is a winning combination.

Last week we went for dinner at a new restaurant in town that I have been super excited to try. They are known for their small sharing plates and delicious cocktails - two of my favourite things. The meal was delicious - it started with a cheese board and ended with a lemon rosemary dessert that came in a jar. As soon as I had my first bite of dessert, I knew that I wanted to recreate something similar. I decided to use the same flavours - the lemon, the rosemary and a meringue but change up the actual dessert and create a cake instead. 

I love the combination of the lemon with the rosemary. The rosemary brings a fresh unexpected twist to these otherwise classic flavours. I think its fun to use something typically savoury and turn it into a dessert. It adds a level of complexity to the flavours. 

We have to talk about the lemon curd filling. I considered making it its own post because its just that good. I could go on and on and on about it. But I will keep it short. Make it. Put it on everything (or eat it with a spoon). You can thank me later.  It has the perfect amount of sweetness to balance out the tart of the lemon and the egg yolks give it a beautiful yellow hue. Not only is it delicious but helps to keep this cake super moist.   

The meringue frosting is quick and easy to make. It whips up to a beautiful glossy shine and browns up nicely under a boiler (or you can use a kitchen torch - which I really need to invest in!). To brown the top of my cake using the oven, I preheated my oven to the broiler setting. I filled, stacked and frosted the cake on a piece of parchment paper and transferred the cake to a clean baking tray. The meringue will brown quickly in the oven, so be sure to keep a close eye on it! It will only take a minute or two for the meringue to brown.

Lemon Rosemary Meringue Cake

Makes: One 6 inch cake

For the Cake 

1 c sugar
Zest, from 1 lemon
2-3 sprigs of rosemary
1 ½ c cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½  c butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
½  c milk

For the Lemon Curd

3 egg yolks
¾  c sugar
¼ c water
¼ lemon juice (juice from 1 lemon)
Zest from lemon
¼ c butter, cut into cubes

For the Frosting

3 egg whites
1 c sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 6 inch round baking pan, set aside. In a food processor, pulse together the sugar, lemon zest and rosemary, until just combined and the rosemary is broken down into smaller pieces. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium-high speed cream together butter and sugar mixture until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Slowly alternate adding in the milk and flour mixture, ending with the dry. Mix until just incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow cake to cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Lemond Curd - In a saucepan combine egg yolks, sugar, water, lemon juice and zest. Simmer over medium heat, stir constantly until mixture starts to thicken and boil. Allow mixture to boil for 2-3 minutes then stir in butter. Boil for an additional 1-2 minutes then remove from heat. Allow to cool completely

To make the frosting - Over a double boiler heat together the egg white and sugar for 5 -7 minutes, whisking constantly. Transfer mixture to a clean kitchenaid mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on high for 5 - 7 minutes or until stiff glossy peaks form.

To assemble the cake - Torte cake into three even layers. Place your bottom layer on parchment paper. Spread a thin layer of meringue followed by a generous layer of lemon curd.  Top with your second layer of cake, repeat filling process and top with your final layer of cake. Using an off set spatula, frost cake with an even layer of meringue. If desired, brown meringue using a kitchen torch or oven broiler. If using the broiler, transfer your cake to a baking tray. Place in oven for 1-2 minutes or until meringue is lightly browned. 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Frosting

These vanilla cupcakes with milk chocolate frosting are the perfect birthday (or everyday) treat. They are simple, classic and delicious! 

This April weather has seriously got me down. We had a huge ice storm here this weekend. If you looked outside you would have sworn it was January and not almost May! We were stuck inside all day on Sunday, since the car was completely frozen over. I made a huge pot of tomato sauce for dinner and decided that we needed something classic and comforting for dessert.  The vanilla cupcakes are delicious and moist. They have a great crumb and nice bite to them. The real star here however, is this whipped milk chocolate frosting. It is light, fluffy and oh so delicious.  The frosting on its own reminds me of a big glass of chocolate milk. The sweetness of the milk chocolate makes the frosting lighter than your traditional chocolate frosting made with either cocoa powder or semi sweet chocolate. 

I decided to keep the cupcakes fairly casual. I didn't use my usual cupcake decorating technique but instead I used an off set spatula to quickly frost these cupcakes. I couldn't wait to dig into them and I love the more relaxed look this frosting technique gives. There is something nostalgic about it. Of course I had to add sprinkles! They brightened up the cupcakes (and the grey weather that we have been having). 

Vanilla Cupcakes With Milk Chocolate Frosting

Makes: 1 Dozen

For the Cupcakes 

½ c butter, at room temp

1 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½  tsp baking powder

1 ½ c flour

½ tsp salt

½ c milk

For the Frosting

1 c butter, at room temp

3 c powdered sugar

100 g milk chocolate, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, over medium speed cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one a time, scraping down the side of the bowl after each addition. Mix until just incorporated. Add in the vanilla. 

In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. On a low speed, add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Add the milk, followed by the remaining flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Do not over mix. 

Fill cupcake liners 1/2 to 2/3s of the way full. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to wire rack to cool completely. 

For the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, over medium-high speed cream together butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.  Switch to a whisk attachment, over medium speed, mix in melted chocolate. Whisk on medium - high speed for an additional 2-3 minutes or until frosting is light and fluffy.  Once cupcakes are fully cooled, frost as desired.