The August 2009 Gourmet Magazine cover featured a glorious stack of ice cream sandwiches. So many food magazines, so many covers but that one I remember the best. I’m still sad that the magazine shuttered. I have fond memories of walking through the Conde Nast building and up to the Gourmet floor where the scripted black logo sign hung at the entrance. I worked with their events team at one point and I’m grateful to have collaborated with such an iconic magazine when I had the chance. Okay, enough reminiscing, and onto the sandwiches!
I did quite a bit of tweaking but the overall flavor profile is similar to that of Gourmet‘s Lemon Ice Cream Sandwiches with Blueberry Swirl.
Brown Sugar Cake from Gourmet
I read the comments and many noted that the cake layers were too thin so I did the recipe 1.5 x. I don’t normally use foil in baking, so I used parchment instead. The cakes baked beautifully. I kept them in for 10 minutes.
Creme Fraiche Ice Cream from David Lebovitz (link to Lottie + Doof blog)
I’ve made this recipe once before and loved it. I made my own creme fraiche which is super simple and half the cost of buying it. Serious Eats has a great how-to.
Olallieberry Compote based on Blueberry Compote from Gourmet
I also read that there was a lot of extra compote left so I made 1/2 the recipe and still had a bit leftover. I liked that in the cover photo, the middle was primarily ice cream with just a bit of compote peeking through at the top so I held back on how much I used. I put tablespoon-sized dollops all over the top and swirled just enough to incorporate, without tinting the creme fraiche ice cream too much.
Assembly
Immediately after I churned the ice cream, I spread it into the pan, on top of the bottom cake layer. It was the perfect consistency for spreading. Then I added the the olallieberry compote. The top cake layer was very fragile. I think if I froze it ahead of time, it would be easier to transfer and place on top of the ice cream. And in that case, I would have not increased the recipe. It was a little sweet and I wanted the tangyness of the creme fraiche to come through more. I think having less cake would help. Note: the Gourmet recipe calls for lemon ice cream which is more assertive so I think that pairing would be more balanced.
I wrapped the pan in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight before cutting. I didn’t need to heat the knife and it cut nicely. I got 8 generous-sized sandwiches or 16 squares.
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