Week Fifteen - Red Velvet Cake

This flavor serves as a very late birthday present to one of my sister-in-laws. She loves red velvet cake so I figured I'd try to create a flavor of ice cream she could enjoy for her birthday. Her birthday was almost two weeks ago but it's the thought that counts, right? So Happy Belated Birthday, C!! Hope you enjoy!

In trying to decide how to make a flavor of ice cream based on a flavor of cake, I went back and forth between flavoring and coloring the ice cream itself to mimic the flavor and deep red color of traditional red velvet cake...or just adding cake to the mix. Although it might seem like the easy way out, I opted for the latter for two reasons: one, I thought the flavor would be more authentic (and more interesting) than if I were to try to make a (probably gross-looking) red ice cream that had that slightly-chocolatey-yet-not-chocolate flavor; and two, I wanted to mash ice cream and cake together. Because it's fun. And because who doesn't like ice cream and cake mashed together? Haters, that's who.

My love of mashing ice cream and cake together started early on in my childhood, when I was seven or eight, and witnessed the fine folks of PeeWee's Playhouse mix a cake with ice cream to create a "pudding" treat. My siblings and I were charmed by this idea and would make our own "pudding" at every birthday celebration from then on. It was and continues to be a totally awesome way to eat cake and ice cream. So check it out, haters:

Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
3 cups red velvet cake (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)

 1. Pour the milk and heavy cream into a saucepan and heat over medium high until bubbles start to form around the edge.

2. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar and whisk to combine.

3. Add a small amount of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Once combined, slowly pour egg mixture into the milk mixture, whisking constantly to avoid curdling. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon.

4. Pour through a fine sieve into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it down directly on top of the mixture. Refrigerate until completely cooled.

5. Transfer cooled mixture into bowl of ice cream maker and churn. Add the cake halfway through, allowing it to mix throughout the ice cream. When completely incorporated, transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze.

 I need to figure out how to take non-blurry photos.