Mocha Almond Semifreddo - WSC, BSFIC, LOL OMG!

After dipping my toe in the chocolatey waters of Choclette & Chele's We Should Cocoa last month, I was on a bit of a roll and keen to have another go. This month's challenge ingredient, set by Laura at How to Cook Good Food, was almonds. This presented a slight problem. I love almonds, and I think they are absolutely divine with chocolate, but as one of my colleagues is allergic to nuts it meant that I couldn't take my dish in for polishing off by the sweet-tooths I work with.

I was going to have to come up with something less-sweet, that Paul would eat.

Fortunately he had vaguely mentioned an interest in a dessert, which I'd filed away in the ridiculously large portion of my brain dedicated to food. Coffee icecream. Since one of my all-time-favourite ice cream flavours is Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge, a blissful combination of coffee, chocolate and almonds, I knew there was something I could do there.

Then I saw that Kavey's Bloggers Scream for Ice Cream challenge for this month was chocolate and knew that an ice cream with chocolate and almonds was definitely the way forward.

Chocolate fudge ripple - or should I call it a fudge sink?

I decided that a mocha semifreddo, with a ripple of chocolate fudge sauce, liberally studded with smoked almonds would be just the thing. I had to re-assess my plans pretty quickly because the weather was just not cooperating with getting the smoker out. I blanched and roasted my almonds in the end.  Then I found, at the back of the chocolate shelf in the cupboard, some coffee amaretti biscuits, given to me as a Christmas gift (not telling you which Christmas...), which I thought would tie everything together nicely.

Let's not say how long these amaretti have been in the cupboard

The only slight problem that arose with the execution of my plan was that the ripple didn't ripple. It sank. Straight through to the bottom. There was a lovely fudgey base, a lovely fudgey top and no fudge in the middle. I have a theory about how to overcome it for next time though, which I will share in the recipe. Because of the rich sabayon base to the semifreddo, you get a creamy, smooth-textured ice without needing to churn it.

Upside down Miss Jane

Mocha Almond Semifreddo (makes about 8 slices)

Half quantity of David Lebovitz's chocolate fudge ripple recipe, chilled

3 eggs, separated

100ml seriously strong coffee, still warm

100g caster sugar

300ml double cream

3 coffee amaretti biscuits, chopped into chunks

100g almonds, blanched and roasted 

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, coffee and 2tbs of the chocolate fudge ripple in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until it is quite thick (coats the back of a spoon) and frothy. Remove from heat.

Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.

Whisk the cream to soft peaks.

Fold together the cream, egg whites and coffee sabayon, then fold through the amaretti chunks. Pour into a loaf tin lined with cling film. What I did was then drizzle half the remaining fudge ripple onto the mixture, cover it and freeze it. Next time, what I will do is cover it, put it in the freezer for an hour, THEN ripple the fudge through when the ice cream has a bit more stability. After another half hour in the freezer, drizzle a bit more fudge on top and sprinkle the semifreddo with the almonds, pushing half of them down into the almost-frozen mixture and leaving half scattered on top. Freeze again for at least a couple of hours. Serve cut into slices, with any remaining fudge ripple on the side, for the incorrigible chocolate fiends.

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