Chocolate Cappuccino Ice Cream
I first made this ice cream three years ago and was surpised that an ice cream with a few egg yolks and half & half could taste this rich. It has incredible chocolate flavor. If you have ever had dark chocolate gelato ice cream, the texture and flavor of this ice cream is very similar.
This recipe is heavily based on the “Cappuccino—Toffee Crunch Ice Cream” recipe from the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library book, Ice Creams & Sorbet. However, the only thing cappuccino about this ice cream is the cinnamon, otherwise it is all dark chocolate and coffee with just a touch of cinnamon; I didn’t feel the original recipe title gave the chocolate justice. I added a little more half & half—it’s almost too rich, otherwise—and espresso powder to suit my taste.
Taking a cue from the original recipe, I served this with some chopped Coffee English Toffee that I had tucked away. Although I originally stated that this toffee had a coffee flavor that came on fast and strong, after it aged a little over a month the coffee flavor was extremely subtle and smooth. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the cup of ice cream and toffee seen in the picture!
If you have made home-made ice cream before, you will be a little surprised at how thick the final cooked custard base is—I thought I was making cook & serve Jell-O pudding at one point! The egg yolks, cocoa powder and melted chocolate make for one dense ice cream. My only regret is that this only made one batch of ice cream, whereas most of the ice cream recipes yield two batches. I still have a little leftover chocolate and will probably make another batch this weekend since everyone who had some was sad to see it disappear so quickly.
Ingredients for making Chocolate Cappuccino Ice Cream.
Add espresso powder to half & half.
Add cocoa powder to half & half. Valrhona cocoa has an amazing color/taste.
Whisk egg yolks and add sugar until light yellow and fluffy.
Subtle cinnamon flavor comes from cinnamon stick.
After slowly adding heated half & half with egg mixture, heat until finger dragged across spoon leaves track.
Pour hot custard mixture through chinois to remove lumps.
Add chocolate, stir until melted, add Kahlúa and then chill in ice bath.
Pour chilled mixture into ice cream maker and freeze.
The recipe, with detailed instructions and complete photo gallery, can be found on the Chocolate Cappuccino Ice Cream recipe page.
