Let's face it, we all love ice creams. I might have met some "unfortunate" folks, who claim (claim, because I still have doubts about this one) not to have liking for chocolates! But I still have to meet anyone, who doesn't like ice creams. The degree of love and the flavour of love might vary, but its one taste, which unifies everyone across the globe. So shame on me, who claims (yes again the deceptive word claim) to be a food blogger, to have not posted any ice cream recipe. No excuses for such a sacrilege is acceptable. No not even that it's the first summer, since the blog came not existence. And definitely not having an ice-cream, does not even count as an excuse. And so, what if you don't want eggs in ice cream and still want to get a smooth creamy texture. let me think of a better excuse, while you drool over these delicious ice creams. Or better still, make your own!!
In order to make up for this sacrilege, I decided to have two treats in this post - Chocolate Ice Cream and Mango Ice Cream. One for me and one for him. Yes, how sweet!! Choosing the flavours was the easy part, but I was not sure if without ice cream maker and eggs, if I would be able to get the right texture and taste. Thankfully yes.
These pictures tell us that a picture doesn't always tell the truth. I mean the ice cream was far better than what I have been able to capture. Though I did give it a sincere shot, yet the heat and softness of the ice cream didn't become friends. And also to be honest, I have been on a little inspirational cloud lately. Yes after reading this article of Mellissa, a lot of my self doubts about photography and blogging have been cleared. You know how it is when you start with hardly any knowledge of the craft or technicality and you try to replicate what you see good around. That's great but only if it doesn't bring down your confidence or stops you from finding (as Melissa says) 'your own voice." Yes she has really inspired me. Do read it for yourself. And get ready for some bad, dark, broody, not so great pictures from me, while I learn to play around. would be great if you join me in this experiment by providing a critique of my pictures or for that matter the blog itself. OK for now we can leave these poor ice cream shots aside. Take any picture of mine and tell me what you like or dislike about it, or suggestions for improvement; and I would love you even more!! Seriously I would really appreciate that. And now back to the Ice Cream Recipes.
Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients:
Double Cream - 300 ml
Milk - 2 tbsp
Powdered Sugar - 50gm/ 2oz (Or even better, use icing sugar, sifted)
Vanilla Essence - 1/2 tsp
Dark Chocolate - 125gm/ 4 oz, roughly chopped (I used mix of bitter & almond chocolate)
Single Cream - 2tbsp (I used double cream itself)
Method:
- Put the double cream and milk in a bowl and whisk, until stiff
- Stir in the sugar and vanilla essence. Transfer to a freezer container and freeze for around 30 mins, till it begins to set slightly
- Melt chocolate with the single cream in a double boiler. Stir until smooth, then set aside to cool.
- Now remove the ice cream from the freezer container to a medium bowl. Add the melted chocolate and quicly stir it with a fork , to mix it evenly
- Return it to the freezer container. Cover and freeze until set, 4-5 hours.
- Transfer from the freezer to the refrigerator, 30 mins before serving to soften it slightly.
- Serve it chilled plain or with a chocolate sauce. Either way it will taste great
Mango Ice Cream Recipe
Recipe from here
Ingredients
Mangoes - 4 medium or 2 cups mango pulp
Sugar - 1/2 - 3/4 cup, as per sweetness of mangoes
Lime Juice - 1 tbsp
Cream - 500 ml
Vodka - 1 tbsp (Optional)
Method:
- If using fresh mangoes, peel, cut and puree the mangoes. Ensure there are no fibres remaining, as in it's a fine puree. Chill it for 15-20 mins
- Now put mango puree, cream, sugar and lemon juice in the blender. And blend it well.If using vodka, which helps in lending softer texture, add it in the end, and blend it for a second or two
- Transfer it to a freezer container. Cover and chill for 2-3 hours till it starts getting firm. Then with a hand mixer, mix it well and place it back in the freezer. Repeat this process 2-3 times, at the interval of 3-4 hours.
- Freeze overnight and by morning you will have a creamy yummy mango ice cream.
Observation: While making this ice cream, I realized that it was a combination of the steps used in Mango Fool (combining puree, cream & sugar) and the steps of Mango Granita (freeze till soft, then beat, the re-freeze).
Now before Reva kills me for not sending any entry to her event, here it goes to Ice Cream only, started by Pari, and to Bookmarked Recipes, Serve it Chilled and Mango Recipes.
mango icecream and choclate are superb
ReplyDelete1st time here wonderful space do visit my side
Looks lovely but I must say the mango is what really has me salivating 8)
ReplyDeleteSeriously am drooling over that bowl of wonderful mango and chocolate icecream,fantabulous!
ReplyDeleteI am going to bookmark this chocolate ice-cream !!!
ReplyDeletePerfecto!!
ReplyDeleteYou guys are too good. I was so unsure of posting these pics, thinking thy arn't good enough. But u all have made me feel better. thanks!!
ReplyDeletewow this looks very yummy!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Blogging!!!!
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Let me introduce you to one weird who does't like ice cream and that's me !! yeah .. i don't like .. don't know why!!
ReplyDeleteBut i scream ice cream .. along with my hubby .. who can eat it for lunch or diner :)
The title of your post very well expresses how I am feeling right now seeing both of your yummy ice creams :))
ReplyDeleteUS Masala
That mango icecream definitely screams summer to me! The chocolate icecream looks so smooth, almost like a mousse :)
ReplyDelete@kankana You have knocked me out, with this one!!
ReplyDelete@Manju Yes ypu have nailed it. The chocolate ice cream was really very smooth.
ReplyDeleteI agree, who doesn't like ice cream. Two great recipes. Thank you for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful looking ice creams here and great clicks!
ReplyDeletewow.....
ReplyDeleteboth looks gr8 dear...
bookmarked it :)
Anamika,
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderfully written post. You speak of self doubts and I understand what you mean. When one looks at other photographs to learn, it is all too easy to get discouraged because of how good some are and how much we have to learn. But what is important is realizing that we have much to learn. That opens the way to improvement and as we look at the progession of posts and photos in our blog, it is reassuring to see how they get better as we go along.
You know I also am just getting started with food photography, so my ratio of mistakes to successes is still pretty high. Any photo critique that I give has to be tempered with knowing that...
Of the photos here, my favorite is the second one, the mango ice cream shot from above. The dark background, with the even darker corners, really pushes the dish and ice cream forward into my view. The simple white dish seems just the right size for the serving and the orange color of the mango asks for attention without being too loud. The lighting is appropriate for the texture of the ice cream and the fact that it is softening just makes it more real; it would be softening in front of me right now and I would look forward to the 'juice' that is left behind after I'm done eating it.
The diagonal lines of the mat work to add a bit of 'tension' to the image and help move the eye towards the dish. To my western eye, I would have preferred if the diagonals ran from upper left to lower right, but that is not a big deal here. It would make it stronger if the diagonals were rotated clockwise a bit.
As for the dead centering of the dish, this is a topic of much discusssion. I believe that it would improve the composition if the dish were not centered and if there were another prop, perhaps the spoon that I need to devour this, to balance it.
The last thing that I would improve, and I am still trying to get this right myself, is the styling of the scoop of ice cream. It needs to be scooped out of its container so that the round part is showing. This would make it even more luscious. If you wanted to take a bite out, it would show even better. I saw this photo on the Food Styling and Photography Facebook group and although the scoops there are not perfect, they do look natural.
A lot of words, already. Keep cooking and taking pictures. I will keep looking and commenting. You have a supportive community of which I'm happy to be part of.
Richard
Girl , U have knocked me out... both the icecreams looks yum. I especially like the second pic - the dark background looks very nice against the pale yellow icecream. My only suggestion is that it could have been a little closer to the ice cream. The melted ice cream gives a more luscious feel to the pic. Great work dear:)
ReplyDeleteI am SO happy to have come by this post (and your blog too, its gorgeous!) as mango ice cream is a close contender for my favourite type and i do not have an ice cream machine either, basically this is just plain perfect! It sounds so achievable too, i hope i will give this a whirl sometime very soon indeed :) really looks delicious
ReplyDelete@Richard Haber Thank you so much Richard for your lovely words and time! Only an expert eye has the ability to see such nuances in such a seemingly simple picture. I appreciate all the points stated and would be honest enough to say that I was so taken by the thought of taking a click before it melts, that I didn't do justice to the composition or aesthetics. But then there's always a next time. Hope to hear more from u!!
ReplyDelete@Reva Thanks dear!!
ReplyDelete@The Procrastobaker Do share your experience of it!!
ReplyDeletethanks for the shout out! I DO love ice cream but I'm lactose intolerant and it seems to be the one thing that my lactaid pills don't work on. So I save it for very special treats! But if I could, I'd have one scoop of each please!
ReplyDeleteVery Nice Blog. Please have a look into this recipe too Bengali Sponge Rossogolla Recipe on
ReplyDeleteIndian Vegetarian Food Recipes