For the last few weeks I’ve been thinking about a Valentine’s Day themed dessert to make. Normally I would use this as an excuse to make something fancy and elaborate, but I was in the mood for something a little simpler. I had almost decided to just skip making something red or chocolaty for Valentine’s Day; but when I saw this recipe posted last week I instantly decided that I had to give this a try.
Rich chocolate desserts are sometimes a little too intense for me, which is probably why I love red velvet. It still has a hint of wonderful chocolate flavor, but the richness is cut with the tangy buttermilk. Plus, you really can’t go wrong with anything that involves cream cheese frosting!
Red Velvet Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 3/4 cup plus 3 tbl. sugar, divided
- 1 1/2 tbl. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, I used low-fat
- 1 tbl. liquid red food coloring
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 4 oz. cream cheese, cold
- 2 1/2 tbl. unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1 tbl. vanilla extract
- 2 tbl. heavy cream
Directions
- Combine the heavy cream, 3/4 cup of sugar and the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk occasionally until the mixture is warm and the sugar and cocoa have dissolved. While the cream is warming up, combine the egg yolks and remaining 3 tbl. of sugar in a medium bowl. Slowly pour the warm cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly Pour the mixture to the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 170 degrees.
- Place a strainer over a large bowl and pour the hot egg and cream mixture through the strainer. Stir in the buttermilk, red food coloring and vanilla. Cover and chill until the mixture is completely cool.
- Before you are ready to churn the ice cream, prepare the cream cheese frosting. Beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stir in the confectioners’ sugar and mix on low until combined. Add the vanilla and heavy cream, beat for 2-3 minutes on high until fluffy. Set aside.
- Freeze the ice cream in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructors. Alternate layers of ice cream and cream cheese frosting in a storage container. I found it easiest to put the frosting in a pastry bag and pipe it in layers on the ice cream; it doesn’t really matter what shape of pastry tip you use. Freeze the ice cream until firm then serve and enjoy!
Makes: About 1 quart
Beautiful!! I was looking for a festive & romantic dessert idea for valentines day! Can’t wait to try this out
I hope you like it!
Wow, this looks heavenly! I love red velvet desserts and I wish I had an ice cream maker to try this.
Oh, that’s a bummer you don’t have an ice cream maker! David Lebovitz has a post on how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker, I haven’t tried this technique before but it might be worth a try. It wouldn’t work well with the cream cheese swirl in this ice cream, but you could follow his technique to make the red velvet portion of the ice cream and then just drizzle on some frosting before you eat it.
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/07/making-ice-crea-1/
Oh, thanks for the link! It’s a promising method (though kinda tedious haha.) But I’ll have to try it some time! Thanks!
haha, yeah, it’s definitely more tedious that using an ice cream maker!
OMG Please ship this to me now…. this looks unreal. Red Velvet always gets me.
haha, I wish I could share! That would help prevent me from eating all of it
Red Velvet Ice Cream.. taking it to a new level! Thanks so much for sharing. Also, you have done a great job with your photographs. Just started a blog myself and taking pictures can be the most difficult part! – Brittany
http://www.brittanyblum.com
Thank you so much! I agree that the photography is the hardest part, especially this time of year when there isn’t much natural light.
Oh my goodness gracious, I must try this. Thank you for posting!
This looks sooo good!! I can’t wait to try!