Caramel frozen custard

Dark caramel dissolved in a rich egg custard, with a pinch of salt. Thick and deep.

Here all the sugar is caramelised and the caramel is then “let down” with hot milk and cream. Six yolks turn the caramel milk into a thick custard that, once frozen, is reminiscent of caramel pudding. Compared with salted caramel ice cream, the custard is denser, more yellow and tastes more like crème brûlée.

Type: Frozen custard · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Challenging

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 170 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
  • 300 g whipping cream 33 % (hot)
  • 500 g whole milk 3.5 %
  • 25 g skimmed milk powder
  • 30 g dextrose (glucose powder)
  • 120 g egg yolk (6 yolks)
  • 2 g salt (about 1/3 teaspoon)

Making the mix

  1. Heat the milk with the milk powder and dextrose and stir to dissolve. Heat the cream separately.
  2. Melt the sugar dry in a wide, heavy-based pan and let it brown to a deep amber. Don’t stir — just swirl the pan.
  3. Take off the heat and carefully pour in the hot cream a little at a time — the caramel will bubble up. Stir until smooth, then pour it into the hot milk.
  4. Whisk the yolks in a bowl. Whisking constantly, pour in a third of the hot mixture in a thin stream, then tip everything back into the pan.
  5. Stir over a low heat until the custard reaches 82–84 °C and coats the back of a spoon. Don’t let it boil.
  6. Strain into a bowl set in iced water and stir in the salt.
  7. Cool the custard, stirring now and then, press cling film directly onto the surface and age in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

  1. Switch on the ice cream maker 5–10 minutes ahead so the bowl can pre-chill.
  2. Pour in the chilled mix no higher than the fill line (with a smaller bowl, churn in two batches) and churn for 25–35 minutes, until it is thick and glossy and holds its shape like soft-serve.
  3. Transfer to a chilled container, press cling film onto the surface and leave to harden in the freezer for an hour.

Frozen custard should contain very little air. Churn only until it is thick and glossy, no longer — a long churn just beats in unnecessary air.

Total time: 6 h 45 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

  1. Take the frozen bowl out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
  2. With the machine running, pour in the chilled mix — no more than two-thirds full; freeze the rest as a second batch.
  3. Churn for 20–30 minutes, until the ice cream thickens. There’s no point going longer — by then the bowl has warmed up.
  4. Transfer to a chilled container and leave to harden in the freezer for an hour.

Freeze the bowl for at least 24 hours beforehand (until you can no longer hear the coolant sloshing inside). The mix must be thoroughly chilled.

Total time: 6 h 40 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

  1. Divide the chilled mix between CREAMi tubs, filling each no higher than the MAX line (a full batch makes about two standard tubs).
  2. Put the lids on and freeze on a level surface for 24 hours.
  3. Place a tub in the machine and run the Gelato program.
  4. If the ice cream is crumbly or powdery, run Re-spin (many users add 1–2 tablespoons of milk first).

Programme: Gelato

Only some models (such as the Deluxe range) have a Gelato program. If yours doesn’t, use the Ice Cream program. A standard tub holds about 470 ml, a Deluxe tub about 700 ml. Don’t fill above the MAX line, and freeze it level — the machine doesn’t handle an uneven block well.

Total time: 29 h 20 min

Stages

Preparation
20 min
Cooking
25 min
Cooling
30 min
Ageing in the fridge
4 h
Churning
30 min
Hardening in the freezer
1 h
Total time
6 h 45 min

Serving and storage

Frozen custard is best soft, at −8 to −12 °C — ideally right after a short hardening. If it comes from the freezer, let it soften in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Up to a week in a sealed container with cling film on the surface. Thanks to the yolks it stays smooth longer than egg-free ice cream, but it’s best on the day it’s made.

Tips

  • Judge the colour of the caramel on a white plate: a drop should be deep amber, like strong tea.
  • Once you add the cream, the caramel may seize into lumps. Don’t worry — it will melt again over a low heat as you stir.
  • For crunchy bits, stir crushed caramel brittle (caramel poured onto baking paper and left to set) into the custard at the end of churning.

Why it works

Caramelisation breaks some of the sucrose down into glucose and fructose, which have almost twice its anti-freezing power. The custard is therefore a little softer than the calculation suggests, since it counts caramel as ordinary sugar. The bitter caramel compounds also reduce the perceived sweetness.

Sources