The eighth sin - chocolate

This is one super dense and rich chocolate ice cream designed to seduce. My first lick of this confection, and I was instantly hooked (lined, and suckered). I was looking for a really dark and chocolate-y chocolate ice cream, and this is one recipe that max out all my expectations.

The eighth sin - Chocolate

With an original name as "chocolate velvet ice cream", one could expect great things from it. I would imagine that this could totally make up an eighth deadly sin. When I was making the ice cream, the mixture was really really thick, and the colour was a very very dark fudgy brown colour. Be sure to use really good quality chocolate and cocoa powder, that's what gives it the intense colour and flavour. I used Lindt 70% chocolate cos I still had some leftover, and I opened my newly bought bag of Valhrona cocoa powder.

I was a silly girl though. While going through the usual motions of the churning process after chilling the  mixture overnight, I noticed after a few hours that the super thick custard didn't seem to freeze very well. Panicking, I reconsulted the recipe again, only to realise dumb lil' me didn't read the line "Transfer custard to bowl of a standing electric mixer and beat just until thick and fluffy."

Yes, folks. That's one step you would please not omit. I took out the tray of still-not-yet-set custard-after-half-a-day-of-churning, and inserted my beaters in there. After a few seconds of whipping, there was an immediate difference in the texture of the custard. The colour lightened considerably as the mixture seemed to be less fudgy and more liquidy. The volume increased slightly too as the mixture became fluff-ier. Testing, I inserted the tray back into the freezer, crossing my fingers this time round. And ho! After half and hour, when I took the tray out to churn it again, the custard was just starting to set as usual. *totally wasted like half a day doing a not productive mock "churning" process". Meh.

The ice cream stayed nice and creamy even though we stored it for some time in the freezer. Nah, it didn't remain long in the freezer because we didn't like it. It was because anything more than a tiny scoop of this dessert is sure to develop a sore throat. This is how potent the ice cream is. 

This is some lethal stuff, I'm telling you. Make it and weep. ;)

Chocolate velvet ice cream (adapted from Erin at Erin's Food Files)

170g fine-quality bittersweet chocolate 

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
3 large egg yolks

Chop chocolate. In a heavy saucepan whisk together sugar and cocoa powder until combined and whisk in cream and milk. Bring mixture just to a boil, stirring occasionally. In a bowl beat yolks until smooth. Add hot cream mixture to yolks in a slow stream, whisking, and pour into pan. Cook custard over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until thicken. Remove pan from heat and add chopped chocolate, whisking until melted. Pour custard through a sieve into a clean bowl and cool. Chill custard, its surface covered with plastic wrap, at least 3 hours, or until cold, and up to 1 day.
Transfer custard to bowl of a standing electric mixer and beat just until thick and fluffy. Freeze custard in an ice-cream maker. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and store in freezer.