When every leaf is a flower...

I still remember myself rhapsodising about my love for Spring on this blog only a few months back, but now that the Autumn is upon us, I am feeling equally excited about it.

And why shouldnt I be feeling so? To me, Autumn means family, love and memories.  There is actually so much to rejoice about in Autumn. With numerous birthdays in the family, our wedding anniversary coming up in a week and many other events, the season actually means a collection of cosy gatherings, rich feasting and beautiful memories at ours and I love enjoing every moment of it. From crunchiness of leaves beneath the shoes, picking of chestnuts with my son on our way to the nearby grocery store to cooking up colourful and comfort foods in the kitchen, and watching TV in the evenings with a warm blanket wrapped around -  everything gives a very homely, sincere and comfy feeling.

I know, most of you must be expecting to see some pumpkin, squash or apple recipe now but since I really wanted to use up my summer leftovers from the freezer before taking a complete start to the new season, thought it would be nice to make something out of those that would also fit the new category. Here is the birthday cake I made for my husband on the weekend - a blend of both summer as well as winter flavours with a crisp autumn-y decor...









Ice Cream Log Cake - A Mosaic of all Seasons

Ingredients:

Sponge Cake
Vanilla Ice Cream
Chocolate Ganache
Cornflakes, Cocoa powder and Icing sugar to decorate
3 sheets of parchament


Prepare the ganache first by heating and then mixing 450 g of heavy cream into 375 g chopped dark chocolate. Add 3 tbs of butter, stir, wait for 10 minutes, cover with a wrap, set in the refrigerator and allow to cool. Tip: Check this post for help but dont forget to adjust the quantities and no need to whip it as well. Just place in the refrigerator for a few hours until a thick yet spreadable consistency is achieved.

Make a sponge cake in a rectangular baking tray. I used my regular oven tray, i.e. about 17 x 14 inches (43 x 36 cm) and baked for only 10-12 minutes . Once the sponge is ready, take out from the oven. Allow to rest in the tray for 5 minutes and then carefully remove the parchament by turning upside down onto another sheet first and then transfer again on a third sheet having the upper side on top again.






Make a roll of the used parchament and place it on the cake and start folding the cake making a swiss roll.







Set aside to cool completely.

Take out the ice cream from the freezer and allow to soften a bit. This will help in spreading a neat layer without having mess with the cake crumbs etc.







Roll up the sponge keeping the paper outside. Cover the roll with the parchament and put in the freezer for an hour.





Take out the cake and coat with the prepared chocolate ganache.
Draw lines with a fork to give wood effects. Sprinkle with icing sugar, decorate with marzipan mushrooms, cornflakes etc. Tip: Make sure to put the left over cake in the freezer and take out again ca. 20 min prior to serving (depending on the weather).







Happy birthday to my crazy, wonderful, loving hubster!! You are simply the best darling and your son and I love you very very much. Wishing you a great and blessed year ahead with everything around you love the most :)





Comments

  1. happy birthday to your husband! How lucky he is to have been the recipient of this delicious ice cream cake-yum! I like the step by step photos you did here. I have not had an ice cream cake in years, this was also a reminder of my childhood- we got ice cream cakes occasionally on the 4th of July.

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  2. I used to have problems rolling normal swissrolls so don't know if i can manage rolling it, leaving it to cool then filling and rolling again, last time i made it i was a teenager though so maybe i should try again...the results look amazing

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