Banana-Bread Ice-Cream Cake delivers double the comfort with rich Vanilla Ice Cream complementing the classic homemade bread. A warming hint of rum lingers on the tongue.
Banana-Bread Ice-Cream Cake
Makes 1 (10-inch) cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups cake flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup Brown Butter (recipe follows)
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup cane syrup
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups ripe bananas, puréed (approximately 4 bananas)
- 2 quarts Vanilla Ice Cream (recipe follows)
- Garnish: fresh strawberries, honey, and edible flowers
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 10-inch springform pan with baking spray with flour. Line bottom with parchment paper, and spray again; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate medium bowl and using a mixer at high speed, beat Brown Butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add cane syrup, and beat to combine, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce mixer speed to low; add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in 3 batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Add rum, vanilla extract, and bananas, beating to combine.
- Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake until a wooden tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, or until cool enough to handle. Freeze for 6 hours, or overnight.
- Spread Vanilla Ice Cream over cake layer. Freeze for 6 hours, or overnight. To serve, unlatch springform, and run a knife around edges of pan. Remove parchment from bottom of cake. Garnish with strawberries, honey, and edible flowers, if desired. Cake can be stored, frozen, in a freezer-safe container for up to 1 week.
Brown Butter
Makes ½ cup
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter, softened
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until butter begins to foam, turns a golden color, and has a nutty aroma. Remove from heat. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve* into a heat-tolerant bowl. Let cool to room temperature. Butter can be stored, refrigerated, in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
*You may substitute cheesecloth for a fine-mesh sieve, if desired.
Vanilla Ice Cream
Makes approximately 2 quarts
Ingredients
- 3 cups half-and-half
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped, seeds reserved
- 9 egg yolks
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine half-and-half, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, vanilla bean, and reserved vanilla seeds. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking often, until sugar is dissolved. Remove mixture from heat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks until smooth. Using a ladle, pour 1 cup hot half-and-half mixture in a slow, steady stream into yolks, whisking constantly. Add another cup half-and-half mixture, whisking to combine. Transfer mixture back to pan, whisking to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until temperature registers 170° on an instant-read thermometer or mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve* into a stainless-steel bowl set in an ice-water bath. Let cool completely, stirring often.
- Transfer mixture to an airtight container, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Using an ice-cream maker, freeze half-and-half mixture according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Freeze for at least 4 hours before serving. Ice cream can be stored, frozen, for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
*You may substitute cheesecloth for a fine-mesh sieve, if desired.
