The Corkless Mind

Tag: ice cream

  • Affogato and chocolate muffins with a coffee sugar

    Affogato and chocolate muffins with a coffee sugar


    This is another amazing recipe from Delicious Australia, and was said that it was inspired by a three ingredient dessert bread recipe by the revered Matt Preston. He is someone I look up to, aspiring to be as great a food writer as he is, with so many of the greats like the late A.A Gill being the ultimate food writer for me. 
    This recipe can also be found in the latest issue of delicious Australia. Do yourself a favour, subscribe to their magazine. It’s like Christmas every single month, for me there’s nothing better than being gifted premium food articles and aspirational food writing and of course mouth watering food photography that visually inspires me to recreate those spectacular shots.


    I added my own little twist to the recipe with the addition of dark chocolate and coffee liqueur. My sister and her soon to be husband gifted my partner and I a bottle of locally produced Beaver creek  coffee liqueur that I cracked open and used in the batter for that extra kick of coffee.

    Affogato and chocolate muffins in a coffee sugar: 

    Ingredients: 

    300g self-raising flour, sifted

    750ml vanilla ice cream, softened

    165ml canola/sunflower oil 

    1 free-range egg, lightly beaten 

    150g caster sugar 

    3 teaspoons of instant coffee granules, crushed

    2 tablespoons of coffee liqueur 

    100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped. 

    Method: 
    Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. 

    Sift the self-raising flour in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the softened ice cream, egg and oil till combined. Add this to the flour and fold gently till just incorporated. Add the coffee liqueur and chopped chocolate and gently fold again to combine slightly. Pour into a muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. To make the coffee sugar coating, lightly crush the coffee granules in a pestle and mortar and add to the caster sugar, and taking each muffin and dipping into the sugar mix until coated on the top and/or sides if you will. Serve with your favourite espresso or coffee liqueur. 

  • Corn flakes cereal milk ice cream

    Corn flakes cereal milk ice cream

    a melting Corn Flakes Cereal milk ice cream

    For the first 10 years of my life, being the youngest gave me that prized golden first choice of choosing the cereal for the month when we went grocery shopping. My favourites alternated between, Cocopops, Rice Crispies and Corn flakes, whatever I chose my sister had to suck it up and eat. This all changed when I became the ‘middle child’ and my preferences as the youngest fell away. So as an ode to my glory days when I used to antagonize my older sister and reign supreme as the youngest. So in that spirit I recreated a Christina Tosi dessert with cereal milk being front and centre! Christina Tosi is the chef and founder of Milk Bar, many of you will know her from Dave Chang’s Momofuku as the highly acclaimed and inventive pastry chef. 

    I saw this ice cream trending not too long ago, many travel to New York City solely to experience this unique and coveted dessert. For me, one of two highlights of eating a bowl of Corn Flakes was the sweet flavoured milk at the end when all of the crunchy flakes are quickly devoured so as to not get soggy. The second is of course the crunch. 


    I’m something of an ice cream addict. When I do, I love making from scratch, but hate the fickle tempering process with the egg yolks. So i’d much rather visit my favourite ice cream parlours in and around Cape Town for my frequent fix. I spotted the recipe on Food52 and made an exception to make this interesting recipe. With that last batch of ice cream and dignity down the drain from my previous failed attempt at ice cream and fierce bravery(fake or not) as I attempt this batch of ice cream. 

    I am happy to report that yes, it does indeed taste of ice cream, not exactly soft serve, but it will do. I love how the taste of the cereal milk really shines through although it’s not overpowering. I love the velvety smooth texture. The specks of vanilla from the vanilla paste really does it for me. 

    The photos were taken just before noon today, the weather is not exactly ideal for the natural light that I needed but again, with the use of reflector boards and white backgrounds I made it work somehow. 

    Do you have any favourite foolproof ice cream recipes? Share them in the comments section. Sharing is indeed caring 🙂 

    This post was collated whilst listening to the album X By Ed Sheeran.

  • Buttery Popcorn Ice cream

    Buttery Popcorn Ice cream

    Popcorn ice cream with a dark miso caramel

    I’ve been wanting to recreate this recipe for some time now, and it’s just another excuse to use my awesome Ice cream attachment for my mixer. Combining two things I just can’t go without… 
    I’m a frequent cinema goer and for me no movie is complete without my tub of butter flavoured popcorn, the same can be said for long walks on the Promenade on a gorgeous sunny day with my favourite local artisanal ice cream. I love all the effort that goes in to making good ice cream, however it is rather complicated if tempering egg yolks is not your thing then may I suggest a no-churn ice cream, something which Nigella Lawson masters quite effortlessly, amidst many other things! (Spot the Nigella fan) Thus I can only aspire to being consistently great at making ice cream, I will however leave it to the experts. I found that the fat in the butter and double cream, if not passed correctly through a sieve and at the exact temperature it needs to be when churning, can create clumps in the mixture and thus gives a ‘sticking to your palate’ type of feel (face palm) I decided to add copious amounts of the most umami caramel I’ve ever had to make it acceptable for consumption and of course styling. I made a really dark caramel with a touch of miso and flaked sea salt. I quite like taking the caramel further, again it all depends on your palate. I love how the miso complements the dark velvety smooth caramel and makes it even more indulgent! The correct recipe can be found in the book NOPI by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully. I however used a basic ice cream guideline and deviated from there… When deviating sometimes is not the right idea, and  I certainly learned that. 

    Styling tip 101: if making a dish for a shoot that needs to be styled, the dish should look appealing and equally taste good if you want great results for the shoot. If all else fails, try and style the dish to look like the desired result that you require by (like me, if you made ice cream) drizzling over caramel or chocolate sauce with a few toppings like 100s/1000s sprinkles or chopped up chocolate or flaked/ toasted nuts or berries. 

    Popcorn ice cream with a miso dark caramel

    The photos were taken yesterday morning, taking advantage of the perfect light in my living room and that my partner was home yesterday to help pour over the caramel whilst I shoot. This I call a win-win!