How to Make Homemade Caramel Ice Cream (Egg Free)

Kath November 17, 2017

Since I have been using this simple ice cream recipe, there seems to be no end to the number of adaptations I can make with it. This caramel version came about when I was making a Carrot Cake for my Dad’s birthday in August, the recipe coming from the blog My Name is Yeh.

The carrot cake called for making caramel. I can’t say I make caramel that often, it’s one of those things I feel can go wrong so easily. But after making it for this cake, and finding it went much more smoothly than I remember, I decided to make some more and add it to my favourite ice cream recipe to serve with the cake.

I have made it again since then, and I am so enjoying making (and eating) this new adaptation of my favourite ice cream recipe. And with the holiday season coming up soon, I am thinking this may need to be on our Christmas menu.

Speaking of Christmas, I am currently working on a festive baking e-book, filled with our family favourites for the holiday season. Anyone who is already a subscriber to my email list will receive a copy once the e-book is released - so if you aren’t a subscriber sign up now so you don’t miss out!

Caramel Ice Cream (Egg Free)

Ingredients for the Caramel:

75g white sugar

1 tbsp water

65g heavy/double cream

55g unsalted butter cubed, at room temperature

Ingredients for the Ice Cream:

165ml milk

6 tbsp white sugar

250ml pouring cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

To make the caramel, place the sugar into a small saucepan, and stir in the water. Cook over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar until it starts to bubble. Then stop stirring (and don’t stir again or the caramel will crystallise), and leave to cook for a further couple of minutes or until the caramel has turned amber in colour. If the caramel isn’t cooking evenly, swirl the pan to encourage the caramel to colour evenly.

Reduce the heat to low, and add the cream. Stir until the cream has combined with the caramel. Continue to stir and add the butter little by little so each piece has time to melt before the next is added.

Once all the butter has been added and is well combined, remove the caramel from the heat and allow to cool.

Ensure the caramel has cooled right down before using to make the ice cream. Alternatively, make the caramel the day before, store in the fridge and bring down to room temperature before using to make the ice cream.

To make the ice cream, whisk the milk and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved and the milk has become frothy. Then add the cream, the vanilla, and the caramel. Whisk until combined and the mixture has thickened a little.

Transfer mixture into the bowl of an ice cream machine, and process according to machine instructions. I found the churning process took about 10-15 minutes. When ready, the ice cream should have thickened, be softly frozen like a soft serve ice cream, and be clinging to the paddle of the ice cream machine. When ready, transfer ice cream into a freezer safe container (at least 1L capacity) and freeze overnight.

Reference: ‘Lomelino’s Ice Cream’ by Linda Lomelino (Roost Books, 2015), p.13; Carrot Cake with Hawaij and Tahini Caramel by My Name Is Yeh.

Baked Vanilla Doughnuts with Blood Orange Icing

Kath September 22, 2017

Since I really enjoy reading other people’s favourites lists, I thought I would start my own and post some here on the blog or in my newsletter now and then. I find I discover new blogs, recipes, books and podcasts through other bloggers lists, or through similar round ups on podcasts, so I hope you can find the same here!

This new blog post from Beth Kirby of Local Milk - I love Beth’s honesty, and acceptance around the fluidity of her blog and it’s changing focuses over time, and her talk of slow living as “deciding what really matters to you and saying no to everything else”.
This Carrot Cake from My Name is Yeh - I made this (sans tahini) for my Dad’s birthday last month. It is now my favourite carrot cake, as the combination of the hawaij spices, carrot and caramel were just perfect!
A Bookish Baker’s blog post on why she is no longer niching her blog - In all the noise around monetising blogs, being an expert on one thing and there only being one path to follow for all this to be successful, sentiment such as that expressed in this post are so welcome and necessary.
Courage & Spice Podcast: The Podcast for Humans with Self-Doubt - This is a fairly new podcast from Sas Petherick, who has done extensive research on self-doubt. I am loving hearing Sas’ advice and interviews so far, they often feel like they are great personal pep talks letting me know that self doubt isn’t just something I experience, and there are things I can do to alleviate these feelings and start to boost my confidence.
‘Not Just Lucky’ by Jamila Rizvi - I can’t stop recommending this book (sorry to those who have already heard my insistent arguments on why they should read it!). If you are female you will probably be able to relate to this book. Jamila focuses on women and the work environment, and I can honestly say I related to so much more than I ever thought I would. There were so many moments where I thought, ‘Oh other women feel this way too?’, ‘I’m not the only one?’, and ‘OMG it’s like Jamila knows me’. It’s good to know you aren’t alone in how you feel, particularly in the work environment, and Jamila gives some great advice on how to deal with the gender inequalities that plague our workplaces.

But now on to the doughnuts (or donuts? 🤔I never know which). They are extremely simple to make - they take about 10 minutes to cook, which makes them not only slightly healthier than the traditional fried doughnuts but also much quicker to make. To intensify the vanilla flavour a little, you could use some vanilla sugar instead of the white sugar. I used blood orange juice in the icing, because I love the colour, and I still have lots of blood orange juice frozen from last season!

Baked Vanilla Doughnuts with Blood Orange Icing

Ingredients:

135g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarb soda

65g white sugar

60ml milk

60g Greek yoghurt

1 egg

40g margarine/unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

canola oil spray

For the Icing:

200-250g icing sugar

2 tbsp blood orange juice, approx.

selection of sprinkles, 100s & 1000s, dried edible flowers etc, to decorate

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and spray a 12 hole doughnut pan with canola oil spray.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and sugar. If your bicarb soda is a bit lumpy, sift to remove the lumps - there’s nothing worse than biting into a baked good to find a lump of baking soda in there!

In a jug, whisk together the milk, yoghurt and the egg. Ensure the egg has been fully mixed into the other ingredients. Add the melted margarine and the vanilla bean paste and whisk until combined. Pour this into the flour mixture and mix until just combined - don’t over mix. Similar to muffins, these will toughen up if over mixed.

Place a medium/large piping bag or zip-lock bag over a large glass to it is easy to fill. Spoon in the batter, then pipe into the donut pan, ensuring you only fill each about three quarters the way up - there is plenty of raising agent in the batter so they will rise and expand, and if each doughnut is overfilled the hole in the centre will disappear!

Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the doughnuts are slightly golden and spring back to the touch.

Allow the doughnuts to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack, using a small icing spatula to gently prise the out if necessary (don’t use a knife as you may scratch your tin in the process).

Once the doughnuts have cooled, make the icing by mixing the 200g of the icing sugar and 1 tbsp of the blood orange juice together. If the icing is too runny add more icing sugar, if it is too dry add a little more blood orange juice. You don’t want to the icing to be very runny or it will all run off the donuts, and take any decoration with it!

To ice the doughnuts, dip the top side of each (the side that was facing down in doughnut pan), into the icing and twist to ensure it is evenly coated. Remove and allow any excess icing to drip off. Leave each doughnut to sit with the icing on for a minute or two, then decorate with the sprinkles etc.

Reference: ‘Sally’s Baking Addiction’ by Sally McKenney (Race Point Publishing, 2014), p.27.

Challah Doughnuts with Blood Orange Glaze - made by Molly Yeh

Local is Lovely Workshop, July 2016 - A Photo Recap

Kath September 1, 2016

I feel like I'm always saying this, but it's been a while since I posted anything here. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen what I've been up to in the past month or so, including attending another wonderful weekend away at a Local is Lovely Workshop.

I was lucky enough to attend the first ever Local is Lovely Workshop back in November 2014 (posts here and here), and always knew I wanted to go back. When I saw Sophie (Local is Lovely) and Luisa would be teaming up with Molly Yeh (My Name is Yeh), I knew this was a best opportunity to go back to Kimbri Farm. Meeting Molly, and all the other workshop participants was just super lovely. I never tire of meeting new like minded people and listening to how food and photography intertwines their lives. I also never tire of Sophie's amazing food, and the wonderful opportunity of being in the country and having an amazing setting to relax in and shoot great photos (almost no styling needed!).

I have included a few of my favourite photos from the weekend, and yes, those blood orange challah doughnuts were as good as they looked (Molly has the recipe on her blog just FYI!)!

I would also like to recommend a really great podcast called My Open Kitchen, put together by Sophie Hansen and Skye Manson, which has just released it's first episode. During the first episode Molly is interviewed (which was recorded during the time she was here for the workshop), and its a really great interview. The whole podcast is great to listen to and I for one loved listening to it on the train home from work - a much more enjoyable ride than normal!

Apart from spending time at amazing workshops, I have been working and trying to enjoy baking in our new kitchen as much as possible. I have been in the kitchen so much that I have hardly been on the computer (to edit photos and write blog posts!), in a few weeks! I do have recipes in the works and things ready to post here, I just can't stand spending the whole weekend on the computer and not in the kitchen! Especially as I have four months of not cooking to make up for!

Anyway, I have some delicious things coming to the blog soon (or my version of ‘soon’, I should say), including a blood orange cake which I am quite excited about. I made it a couple of weeks ago and I’m pretty sure I ate most of it myself, which when you see the cake you will understand the seriousness of that statement!

For now I’ll leave you with my photo recap of the wonderful weekend that was the Local is Lovely Workshop. Don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Instagram Story for what I’m up to in the kitchen in between blog posts!

Rhubarb & Olive Oil Cakes - Made by Molly Yeh

Molly icing her cake with tahini buttercream

Molly decorating her cake - complete with a marzipan kangaroo!

The beginnings of challah doughnuts - making the dough

Challah doughnuts with Blood Orange glaze

Beautiful fresh produce from Epicurean Harvest

Caramel Ice Cream (Egg Free)

Baked Vanilla Doughnuts with Blood Orange Icing

Kulinary Adventures of Kath

Food Photography, Recipes & Baking