If you ever go to Sweden (and I hope you do!), there is one thing you’ll quickly learn. Swedes love their coffee. In fact, we’re one of the heaviest coffee drinkers on earth. We almost drink twice as much coffee as Americans here in the States. Crazy right? I think it has something to do with that it gets so dark in the winter time. You need a whole lot of energy to stay awake during those dark hours. And then in the summer, you’re already addicted to the caffeine, so might as well keep on going. Everyone following my logic? Good.
Layers of heaven, that’s what it is.
Regardless. You can imagine my enthusiasm, when Laughing Man Coffee wanted to sponsor a giveaway here on bitterbaker! Are you kidding me? It made my week! Kind of funny too that they’re running a campaign focusing on things that make you happy. Coffee definitely makes it to the top of that list for me. Seriously. It has to be good coffee, though. If it’s bad coffee I’d just rather have nothing at all.
This baby could be yours! Read further down below the recipe on how to participate in the Laughing Man Coffee Giveaway.
So after a little while, this lovely little smelling box landed outside my door. Samples! Yay! (and there’s one in there for you, too! Read below on how to participate in the giveaway). Have you guys ever grinded coffee beans? I suggest you try it. It smells amazing. Really. And then the coffee is just a little bit more fresh than normal. It was hard to find a favorite out of the samples I tried. I really liked the Peru one, but also the original and the Mocha Java. They were all really, really good (and as a Swede, I know my coffee); full flavor, but not bitter or sour, even though I usually brew it pretty strong. To be really honest, I was relieved it was good. Remember I don’t drink bad coffee?
Hard to pick a favorite.
So now to the fun part – baking! I love ice cream, I love meringue, I love berries and I love coffee. So to celebrate this giveaway I thought of making coffee custard ice cream. But no matter how much I love ice cream, it felt a little boring to just have it on its own. So I paired it up with a chewy meringue (seriously, the best meringue I’ve ever made) and some unsweetened blackberries, to balance all the sweet stuff.
Looks pretty good, right?
And now to the really fun part – free stuff! Just enter below in the little widget. The Giveaway will close in a few days, so make sure to share with your friends (you might have to treat them to a cup of coffee if you win). The prize is one bag of 12 oz Organic Laughing Man Coffee, their home blend. It’s yummy, you guys, you’ll love it!
Enter Laughing Man Coffee Giveaway Here!
Coffee ice cream blackberry meringue cake
Total time: 1 hour to make the meringue and the ice cream, then 3-4 hours to let the ice cream cool. Then 5 minutes to put the cake together!
Ingredients meringue
- 6 egg whites
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
Ingredients coffee custard ice cream
- 4 egg yolks
- pinch of salt
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup strong coffee
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1 cup heavy whip cream
Toppings
2 cups blackberries, fresh or frozen
caramel sauce
Instructions
Start by making two meringue cakes. Heat up the oven to 305°F. Prepare a water bath by boiling water in a pot. Place a metal bowl on top of the water bath and put the egg whites, the sugar and the lemon juice in there. Beat with an electric beater until the meringue gets thick, for a good 5 minutes at least. Spread out the batter to two equally large round cakes (approx. 9 inches in diameter) on baking sheets. Bake at the lower rack of the oven for 1 hour. Take out the meringue and let cool thoroughly.
Meanwhile, make the coffee ice cream. Again, prepare a water bath by boiling water in a pot (or use the same one). Place a metal bowl on top of the water bath and mix egg yolks, powdered sugar, coffee and a pinch of salt in the bowl. Whip by hand over the water bath until the coffee custard gets foamy and thick, it’s a fairly quick process. Take the metal bowl off the water bath and add the butter, 1 tbsp at a time. Let the coffee custard cool. Meanwhile, whip the whip cream so that it gets thick. When the coffee custard is cool, mix the whipped whip cream and the coffee custard in a bowl and pour it into a round spring pan (9 inches in diameter). Freeze the ice cream for at least 3-4 hours.
If you’re using frozen blackberries, defrost them in the microwave, and then mush them to a sauce with a fork (do the same thing with fresh blackberries, except you don’t need to microwave them). If it’s really watery, just pour some of the juice out.
Time to put the cake together! Peel off the meringues off of the baking sheets. Make one cake the bottom layer. Take out the coffee ice cream from the freezer and place on top of the meringue. Spread out the blackberry sauce on top of the coffee ice cream. Place the second meringue on top of the blackberry layer and top off with some caramel sauce. All done!
Small tip: If you’re not eating the cake right away, let it wait in the freezer. Take out the cake about 20 minutes before you want to eat it, that’s when it will taste the best!
Meringue in the making.
Stack a layer of homemade coffee ice cream on top of the meringue.
Add some mushed blackberries
Stack the second meringue layer on top. Almost there! Only missing some caramel sauce..
Here we go. Feels much better now.
Now, the tricky part is cutting the cake. It’s not going to be pretty.
But who cares about a little messiness right?
Still looks delicious to me.