{TWD} Chocolate-Banded Coffee Toffee Ice Cream Torte

{UPDATE: I packed this with ice packs in a cooler and brought it to an impromptu family gathering this evening. It stayed solidly frozen and sliced beautifully (see picture above, although the Bailey's layer was a bit softer than everything else). The relatives loved the torte - gave it a "10" rating. They patiently waited while I photographed the slices. I felt like such a dork! My brother-in-law told me I needed some mint for garnish and he went into the garden and cut me some! The best part: I got to leave the leftovers in their freezer for them to finish.}


For this week's Tuesdays With Dorie challenge Amy of Food, Family and Fun chose: Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte on pages 288-289 of Dorie Greenspan's book Baking From My Home to Yours. You can also find the recipe in Amy's post of her beautiful version of this torte.

I love the way this torte looks in Dorie's book, and I immediately started to think of wonderful flavor combinations. Coffee ice cream is my favorite, and it would go beautifully with the chocolate ganache. yummmm.

But then I realized that while I was heading into a bunch of entertaining, none of the events lent themselves to this dessert. I gave serious consideration to sitting this one out (after doing the first 5 challenges that have come up since I joined). But the coffee/chocolate combination was calling to me, so I made the torte, and will keep it in the freezer until "needed"!


I really wanted to do two different flavors of ice cream - one for each of the layers, so I picked up a pint of Haagen-Dazs Bailey's and a pint of Haagen-Dazs Coffee. And some Heath Bits 'O Brickle Toffee Bits for the very top.

The ganache wasn't difficult; melt the chocolate and butter, whisk in sugar, then add a bunch of eggs (pasteurized):


It tasted good, but I kept thinking of the 14 T. butter and the eight eggs. Yipes!

I decided to make the torte in a rectangular pan, so I did some volume calculations and decided that my trusty slim loaf pans would hold about as much as an 8" springform (which I don't own). This loaf shape will be easier to store in my freezer, and I thought the slices would look good. I oiled the pan and lined it with parchment paper to help with the eventual un-molding.


I softened the ice cream in their containers in the fridge, and stirred with a wooden spoon until it was spreading consistency. The coffee ice cream:


My ganache measured just over 750ml (3+ cups), so I used 250ml for each of the three chocolate layers. When I added the ganache it seemed to melt the ice cream under it, and the ice cream seeped up around the sides a bit. I tried to get the layers smooth so the slices would show even layers.


There was just enough room in the loaf pan for the final ganache layer!


The Verdict:

I wanted my two different flavors of ice cream to look different in the torte, but unfortunately the coffee ice cream and the Bailey's ice cream were the same color.

I missed the part about freezing the torte for at least 6 hours, so I unmolded it and tried to cut it too soon :( Even with a warm knife, the ice cream squished out the sides under the pressure from the knife. It's back in the freezer now, and I'm going to see if it will harden correctly. However, I can report that the flavor is wonderful: chocolate + coffee + Bailey's + Heath = sophisticated mocha delicousness punctuated with crunchy toffee.

Yum!!!

I might be bringing this to a family gathering Tuesday evening (not sure if it can travel the 15 minute drive without melting too much) and will report back on how people liked it.