Homemade Eucalpytus Ice Cream and a Mini Olive Oil Cake

Homemade Eucalyptus Ice Cream & A Mini Olive Oil Cake

June 12, 2015

“I have captured scents in nature and presented them to your exquisite taste” -La terrazza dell’eden

A couple of years ago, the Mister and I went to Italy, as you may recall. Our dinner at Hotel Eden was unforgettable—especially the dessert. When I took the first bite of eucalyptus ice cream, I literally wanted to eat it in slow motion to savor the experience. It was beyond incredible. Slightly minty and refreshing, yet oooh so creamy and sinful, it paired perfectly with the apricot rosemary tartin with caramel sauce.

When I was assigned dessert for our Lovely Dinner, I knew I had to try to recreate that ice cream. If you can believe it, I only found one recipe online and truthfully I wasn’t wowed. So, I set out to develop my own. It got rave reviews at our soiree, so I wanted to share the recipe. I served it with a gluten free mini olive oil cake tweaking a recipe I found on Rip + Tan. Bon Appetit!

Homemade Eucalyptus Ice-Cream

*Makes approximately 2 quarts

2 cups whole milk

2 cups half and half

1 cup sugar

4 egg yokes

approximately 10 eucalyptus leaves (I used Eucalyptus glaucescens which has round leaves and are easy to find in floral shops or Whole Foods. If you are using a larger leaf, like what we used for garnish, you won’t need as many.)

Instructions:

Bring the milk, half and half and sugar to 165 degrees. Then, turn down the heat and add the eucalyptus leaves and steep for approximately 20 minutes, tasting every 5 minutes to make sure it isn’t too strong. Add the milk mixture to the egg yokes in a separate bowl, whisking constantly. Let cool. Chill in the refrigerator over night (or until very cold). Then, churn per the instructions in your ice cream maker manual.

Recipe Note: This recipe is inspired by Eucalyptus ice cream I had at the very fabulous hotel La Terrazza dell’Eden in Rome. It is best served as an accompaniment—I did olive oil cake. They did an apricot and rosemary tartin with caramel sauce.

Gluten-Free Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Adapted from Winnie Abrasion at Healthy Green Kitchen (Found via Rip + Tan) **I adapted slightly

Ingredients

Cake

•3/4 cup rice flour brown

•1/2 cup almond flour

•1/4 cup almonds ground

•2 tsp baking powder

•1/4 tsp salt sea salt

•2 tsp lemon just the zest

•1/2 cup yogurt plain, or sour cream or crème fraiche, at room temperature, 6 oz.

•1 cup sugar

•3 egg at room temperature

•1/2 cup olive oil fruity

Syrup

•1/4 cup powdered sugar + extra for coating

•1/4 cup lemon juice

Instructions

1To make the cakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray or brush 2 mini loaf pans (8 count) with olive oil. Or, if you only have one pan, make in 2 batches. In a bowl combine flours, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt. Add lemon zest and mix. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, eggs and olive oil. Whisk well to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in the 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake for 15 minutes on a wire rack.

2To make and add the syrup: While the cake is cooling, combine 1?4 cup powdered sugar with 1?4 cup of lemon juice. Whisk so that the sugar dissolves into the lemon juice. After the cake has cooled for 15 minutes, remove the sides of the spring form pan and prick cake all over with a fork. Drizzle the syrup over the cake. Cool the cake for an additional 30 minutes.

Dust with powdered sugar.

Recipe Notes

Cake can be made up to two days in advance and covered. It is best on the second day.

Photo by Christine Chang